Addictlab: accelerating talent and generating innovation

Addict Lab

okay, i might be a million years late here, but i have just been introduced to Addictlab by a reader. From what i can tell, Addictlab is another creative gathering, except it’s got a lot more purpose than some of the stuff that’s out there. one might compare it with a property like Pecha Kucha, except it does a lot more than showcase opinions via an aggrandised brainstorm.

it has 2 sides to it: a creative side and a business side.

if you’re a creative, you sign up and put your work and inspiration on the site. depending on the needs of the active projects, you will be called upon to brainstorm and work in a freelance capacity. if you’re a business looking for a creative solution, you browse through the work that’s been done and can use what you like as reference. you then brief addictlab, and they brief their creatives, and together you come up with a solution. the solution can be anything from a first-phase brainstorm to a fully executed ad campaign to a street squad who hit the town with stencils to the development of a new product entirely. it connects brands with young, creative people who offer a very real service: they engage with your brand and make it their own. Addictlab also offers research and insight services, which makes complete sense.

i would love to see how this works in South Africa, where it seems to be now open for business. i’m signing up as we speak. watch this space.

Pecha Kucha Nights Cape Town

Something i’ve been dying to blog about for a while is that we’ll be running Pecha Kucha Nights in Cape Town, and the date for the first event is set at 17 June 2008. this is super exciting – sharing ideas, passion and inspiration is something we try to do as much as we can, and something we started doing with IG Assembly, which we held 2 months ago. we’re going to let that go gently and take over custodianship of an internationally successful platform – Pecha Kucha is growing all the time in cities all over the world.

we’ve got a few things to knuckle down, mainly the venue, as we need somewhere that’s not too big but not too small either, since we’ll need to have space to project the talks. for those of you who’d like to get involved, i’ve started a group on facebook which you can join to be kept updated. otherwise go to the the official site and drop us a mail. we’re still establishing speakers so you’re welcome to submit yourself if you want to show your work. just be sure to stick to the 20 slides at 20 seconds each guideline.

we’ll need to receive your presentation by the 16th of June as well so we can line up all the work.

so yay. for those of you who love design and creativity, this is something you’re not going to want to miss. best of all, it’s free. xx

IG Assembly 01

so we held our first round of experimental ‘idea altruism’ talks – a lot of fancy words to describe an informal get-together where inspiring young people share their work, ideas, dreams and opinions in an environment that is non-judgemental. we held it at the office, and our first speakers were Brad Armitage – he of Vida e Caffe fame, Guiseppe Russo – owner and founder of One Small Seed magazine and Khaya Nongalaza – manager and part owner of Maphindi’s hotspot in Nyanga township. to say the least, it was inspiring, and although we weren’t sure what we were doing with the evening, it turned out really well.

here’s the flyer:

we had a few issues – such as not having a neutral timer to keep speeches short (the idea is that everyone has 6 minutes in which to speak but we all ran hopelessly overtime). and we didn’t order enough pizza since we had a bigger turnout than we initially thought, but it was really great to see people who are so different at first appearance connect through a shared mindset, which is totally our objective. we’re hoping to have IG Assembly once a month, alternating in Joburg and Cape Town, so we’re busy planning Jozi as i write this. some pics from the evening:

grant from B-Boy group Ill Rock taught us about the history of b-boys, break beats and how it’s not just dancing, but high-performance athleticism.

Uno took us through his ‘My Documents’ folder – amazingly voyeuristic interest here, thoroughly enjoyed it.

Guiseppe Russo told us about his vision for One Small Seed in South Africa, and about how we need to set a standard and not settle for second best, just because we’re in South Africa.

Brad Armitage told us how he and his partner set up coffee legend Vida e Caffe, with a dream and ever-zealous perfectionism. we can all be grateful to him for Meia de Leits. he also spoke about his new premium beer projects he’s been working on, packaged in champagne bottles. awesome.  you can buy them at Vida.

the crowd, listening.

some pre-talk dance moves went down.

Paul van der Spuy spoke about some of his past projects, as well as his new venture – Speed Way Cafe, which draws inspiration from the Ace Cafe biker bar in england.

more of the audience.

chilling on the steps during a break.

and Chumi simply told us who she is and what inspires here.