Friday, July 4, 2008
A couple of weeks ago many of our former Hyper Island students did very well in the “world championship in advertising” in Cannes, France. The winner of the Grand Prix was a company called Perfect Fools, which is the work place of eleven former Hyper Island students. Here is an interview with one of them: John Wolst.
Congratulations John! What did you do to win?
- We were nominated in the The Cannes Lions festival which is regarded as the the most prestigious international advertising festival. Together with Forsman & Bodenfors we won a Grand Prix lion in the Media category with a campaign we produced for AMF (a Swedish pension fund). By uploading a picture of yourself from the campaign site or sending it as a MMS from your cellphone you can see how you might look as a 70 year old.
That does sound interesting. Why do you think you won the Grand Prix?
- I think it was the combination of a great idea and a unique and easy way to interact with the campaign by using your cellphone. Regardless of where you encountered the campaign, if it was through the TV commercials, banners or posters on the street, you could directly take a photo and send it. A few minutes later you got an image back of how you could look as a 70 years old. I think those things made it a winner.
How does it feel to have won such a huge award? And what does it mean for the company?
- What can I say... it feels great! And it confirms that we at Perfect Fools are on to something in what we are trying to do and what we as a company believe in.
What kind of work does Perfect Fools do?
- We are a digital agency producing innovative online campaigns.
For lots more about us and our most recent work check out our website at www.perfectfools.com.
Eleven out of a staff of 34 come from Hyper Island, why is that?
- Hyper Island's focus on digital media makes it a great education for people who want to work with the web. I think that is the main reason why there are so many former Hyper Island students working at Perfect Fools. We have also welcomed many interns from Hyper Island through the years, which of course is another reason. That was for example how I got in.
When did you graduate?
- I was a part of Crew11 so i graduated in 2007.
When you look back, what do you think of your own Hyper Island experience?
- I had a good time at Hyper Island. We put a lots of energy in most of the projects and I remember all the long nights we where working to make our deadline.
What did you learn at Hyper Island that you find useful today?
- The best thing with Hyper Island was gaining the experience of working with so many different personalities. You had to find your roll in each of the project groups and learn how to cooperate with all sorts of people. I got to know myself much better, how I ticked in different situations and groups.