by Trent Rentsch
One never knows where a Creative experiment will take them. The summer before our 3rd and 4th grade years, my friend Tom decided to make an experimental parachute out of a blanket, and took a free fall off a garage roof. I won’t lie, the summer wasn’t much for him, what with the full cast on his arm. In college, many years later, a late night experiment in Creating our own beer resulted in the two of us a drinking a case of beer (we needed empty bottles to fill, after all). The experiment left us both embarrassingly hung over and less interested in beer, for at least a few days.
My latest Creative experiment took a turn as well, and nearly drove me to drink. The “Love For an Audio Orphan” contest, as you might remember, had its first run last year, with a surprisingly good turn out, so I expected this year’s contest to really explode. So I waited for the first entry... and waited... and waited some more. It was nerve wracking for me... what if I hosted a contest and nobody came? Did I make it too tough this year? Would even one brave Creative bite? I knew there was interest, but my in-box was full of nothing. The entry deadline was looming... the suspense...
And then, the first entry appeared. Then, another, and another. And by midnight on July 15th, I had 7 wonderful entries in the contest. “Only 7?” you might be saying. For my part, I get it. Taking 3 admittedly weak audio elements, and turning them into a truly Creative Promo or Ad is a daunting task, especially when we all have plenty of “Real Creative” work to plow through every day. If you intended to Create an entry and just plain ran out of time, I completely understand!
As for the Lucky 7 this year, wow, what an effort from each and every one of them! I appreciate the thought and effort each of them put into their entry, and when you hear the entries, you’ll agree that each one excelled in their own unique way.
Take Pat White, for example, with his fun ad for “2 Lips Flowers,” turning the sound drop into a character from the flower shop. Then there was BD Nance, turning Mr. Sound Drop into a stingy Banker for his Cash contest promo, and the frogs, what you might hear when you ask for money at the bank. Last year’s champion Chadd Pierce returned with another wildly quirky send up about a dot com florist specializing in “Swamp Flowers.” First time contestant DJ Mike put together a solid “what do I do for Valentine’s Day/Song of the Day” promo (a combination that’s daunting itself). Andrew Fraser showed us how it’s done in the UK, and what an entertaining promo he weaved of all the elements! Patti Ford cracked me up with her florist ad, Creatively disguised as the tale of a poor sap who forgets his wedding anniversary. And then there was Chris Williams, who embraced the low fi sound of the sound drop to Create a conversation between a doctor and patient about feelings, for yet another florist ad. Wow. I am honestly humbled by the Creative directions each of the Lucky 7 took. Only 7? Only 7 super strong entries... judging will not be for the faint of heart. And lucky for me, it’s not my choice. Now it’s up to RAP’s Gold Members to vote. We’ll announce the winner in a few days.
I’d like to thank all of the Lucky 7 who played this year. Thanks for taking these orphans and giving them a home. Someone is going to take home a sweet prize package in just a few days. As for those of you who didn’t play, drop me a line... we might do this again next year, but like any Creative experiment, it might need some tweaking, so I’d love to hear your thoughts. Finally, there’s the matter of what started this contest in the first place... don’t forget about those orphans hiding away in your studio, in that old CD library or stashed amidst the 20,000 other sound files on your hard drive. As you hear from our contestants, you never know where they’ll take your Creative.
Trent Creates Words, Voices, Audio and Music. His professional home is Krash Creative. Drop him an email at: