Putting Singapore’s young creatives ‘On the Spot’ with LIA.
We’ve partnered with LIA to open the doors for greater learning and mentoring for young creatives in Singapore through the Creative LIAisons Global Coaching Academy.
The ‘On the Spot’ competition is the first of its kind in Singapore. In contrast to most challenges of this nature, where much of the thinking happens virtually, for ‘On the Spot’ everything was done before a live audience. It all began with a live briefing by LEGO. Following the briefing, each team had one hour to crack the idea before submitting it to the judging panel. From the initial 23 teams, the jury chose 10 Finalists, who were then given the opportunity to present their idea using only five (5) slides. They had 10 minutes to present. This was followed by a Q&A session by the jury as well as jury feedback.
“We wanted to recreate the beautiful chaos of real world agency deadlines by stripping away the safety nets. We forced these rising stars to lean on their best tools: their gut instincts and raw talent. The vibe in the room was electric. Definitely not your typical, polite creative competition. It wasn’t just a race against the clock but seeing who could dance in the constraints. By killing the ‘overthinking’ that usually slows our industry down, the event saw a level of grit and creativity that was honestly a breath of fresh air. By letting young talent stand toe-to-toe with industry legends in real-time, we’re closing the gap between “the next generation” and the “hall of famers.”
Aaron Koh, CCO of GOVT VCCP and ‘On The Spot’ co-organiser.
For the participants, the 60-minute format was a total adrenaline shot, acting as a professional pressure cooker that forced teams to find the ‘North Star’ of a brief while the clock was ticking.
The challenge wasn’t about creating picture perfect decks, but about decisive thinking and rapid-fire teamwork. The kind of ‘battlefield’ skills creatives actually need in a world where trends move faster than a Slack notification. Since there’s only so much you can do in an hour, the format included a Q&A segment, where teams could defend their logic and stretch their ideas on the fly based on the jury’s feedback. This led to Jury having to work almost as hard as the contestants. Forget looking at high-budget case study videos; they had to look at the ‘bones’ of the ideas, and they were very impressed with what they saw.
“It was amazing to see so much talent on display. The brief from LEGO was fun and the ideas we saw were imaginative despite the short time the teams had to work on it. All the finalists did well when they articulated their ideas and fielded questions from the jury. So heartiest congratulations to the winning teams as they rose to the top despite very close competition. Well done!”
Laurissa Levy, Creative LIAisons & Global Initiative Director of LIA.
“LIA and Creative LIAisons are grateful for both the partnership and the sponsorship of all those who were involved in making this event a success. The judges also did an amazing job with their relevant questions and comments. It is gratifying to see others share the same passion as LIA when it comes to supporting, nurturing and coaching the next generation of creatives. We know that winners will benefit greatly from both our onsite programme in Las Vegas and our Virtual Coaching programme. Many who have had the privilege of learning from both these programmes have seen a tremendous growth in their own career trajectories.“
Barbara Levy, President of LIA.