Creative Circle

The Advertising Creative Circle of Great Britain was founded on 8 October 1945,[1] at a luncheon at The Trocadero Hotel, London.[1] The concept can be traced back to, H.F. Crowther (Director of Advertising Agency Rumble, Crowther & Nicholas) and G.R. Pope (Advertising Manager of The Times).[1]

At the time, Crowther and Pope felt there was no other advertising organisation concerned exclusively with the craft of visualising, writing and designing advertising,[3] and so decided to create an Advertising Creative Circle that could "not only provide a forum for such creative men, but [also] contribute to raising the status of advertising as a profession".[3]

The Creative Circle has been awarded the best of British advertising creativity since 1986.[4] There are several levels of awards presented on the Honours Evening. From commendations, through to Bronze, Silver, and Gold, and ultimately, the Gold of Gold award for the single best piece of work that year. The President also presents a personal award to the person or organisation that has had the greatest impact on advertising that year.

The Creative Circle Role Reversal Seminar was created in 1968[29] by Sam Rothenstein – a copywriter who believed that creative standards don't just depend on advertising agencies but on clients too.[29]

The concept of the course is simple: one of the best ways to understand someone is to put yourself in their shoes.[30] So, a group of middleweight marketers take on the role of an advertising agency creative department. While agency Creative Directors take on the role of the clients.[31]

The marketers are grouped into "Agency" teams and made to pitch against each other for a piece of business (as happens in the real world).[29] The "Agencies" are given a creative brief from a fictional client simultaneously. They then have 72 hours to conceive and produce a pitch-winning idea. This includes deciding upon a strategy and slogan, then creating and designing ad executions, across all media – they're then expected to film, edit, and present a television commercial in that time.[32]

Each "Agency" is assisted by a professional Creative Director, to keep them on track, and an Art Director (known as a "Tutor" or a "Wrist") to help them turn their ideas into visuals and storyboards. A film crew and production team are also on hand to help with the filming and editing of the commercial.[29]

After the 72 hours are up, the "Agency" teams pitch their ideas to the fictional clients – a consortium of real Creative Directors – who then select a winner.[32]

The course is designed to give marketers the opportunity to see things from the point of view of their agency – learning through doing – which often gives them a completely new perspective on that relationship.[29] It's also renowned throughout the industry for late nights and much drunken bonding, giving clients and agencies an insight into each other's worlds.[33] It's even been known to influence real-world client/agency relationships, with one story speculating that many years ago, Guinness switched its multimillion-pound advertising account to J. Walter Thompson as a result of one such seminar.[31]

The Role Reversal Seminar ran unbroken for precisely 40 years, always taking place in one of the UK's top universities – including Cambridge and St Andrew's[34] – before settling for the last 20 years at Trinity College, Oxford. Over those 40 years, the course attracted thousands of marketers, but was closed in 2008 due to financial constraints.

• Official Site
• Winners Archive 2003–2011