HK4As creative chairman Iris Lo: students are being spoon fed, not encouraged to think
Iris Lo
The head of the creative committee for Hong Kong’s top advertising body has said that the territory’s education system needs to breed a greater degree of confidence in students.
Iris Lo, ECD/MD of DraftFCB Hong Kong and the chairman of the HK4As creative committee, told Mumbrella: “I do not think the education system is encouraging students to stand up and defend their thoughts and ideas. They are used to being spoon fed rather than encouraged to think.”
“The confidence levels in young people are low. You see very few people their raise hands to ask a question or challenge the brief when we run a seminar or a briefing. They will always ask you off stage,” she said.
Lo was chairing the judges the the HK4As Student Awards on Friday. Students were tasked to tackle a brief to promote the value of advertising to society.
She said of the work this year: “The overall standard was not high this year, but I don’t know if all the participants are studying the relevant subjects. I would say the standard was pretty much what I expected.”
Lo noted that much of the work was weak conceptually.
“The winning pieces are those that at least had a complete idea. The majority seemed to find it hard to put together one solid thought,” she said.
“A lot of the participants did not read the brief carefully, and were producing work for the wrong advertiser and the wrong target audience.”
The other judges were Barbara Fu, co-ECD at JWT Hong Kong, and KC Tsang, assistant professor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Finalists were selected from Birmingham City University, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong Design Institute and Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
The winners will be revealed at the HK4As Kam Fan awards presentation on 30 November.
Would be interested to hear how agencies can try and overcome these issues with current staff. If this is an education issue then how can agencies change this when students become employees?
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