That Speech
“I’m taking my talents to South Beach!”
If you are a recently converted fan of basketball like I am, then you are sure to remember this now very famously quoted speech by Lebron James after announcing he was quitting his hometown team Cleveland Cavaliers to join Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade on the roster of the Miami Heats.
Well, Lebron has gone on to win two NBA finals in succession, picking up the MVP award on both occasions to add to all his personal accolades and titles. Surely here is a legend in the making.
Now, while I’m grounded enough to realise that I’m no Lebron James, I found myself faced with a similar situation last year that would have seen me also take my talents to South Beach. Not like I actually enjoy water bodies that much — I once tried to learn how to swim but gave up midstream. More on that later.
I registered to be a part of a competition that would have taken me to the prestigious Miami Ad School in Miami (though I made enquiries about the New York campus). I was one of the 10 finalists after a preliminary round of creative tests.
In the end, I was offered the scholarship and I duly informed family and a few friends of my plans to ‘relocate’. Then I got thinking, I had always nursed the ambition to attend Miami Ad School, who wouldn’t? But then did I really want to leave everything I had toiled for for years to go study for a 2-year diploma with specialization in Art Direction, Copywriting or Digital Photography? I thought I could put in a decent effort in those areas already but then what do I know? Also despite it being a scholarship, the outlay was still very huge and not even the lure of ‘God’s Own Country’ nor the idyllic backdrops of Miami was enough in the end! I eventually made the tough decision to shelve the idea to discover and develop new skill-sets for myself.
I have spent all my life having to make critical decisions and I find that I am never afraid to pull the plug whenever I’m required to. I want to use this opportunity to thank all my friends and family that supported me through this period. My mentors Dayo Adefila and Babs Sonde, my ever supportive family (especially my father and my brother, Temidayo), former colleagues Kayode Bakare, Ibhaze Uduehi and Faith (who assisted with storyboards for my entry), my Boss and Creative Director at the time, Colin Morris, my buddy Emeka Ihejirika, on whose wedding I had to attend the final briefing whilst still performing my Groom’s man functions and to my best friend, Booms — words are inadequate to express my gratitude to all of you. I need to also use this opportunity to send a shout out to my friend and fellow entrant in the competition, Awosanma ‘Osama’ Olaniyi (formerly at DDB Lagos). He’s now studying at the San Francisco campus. Break a leg dude!
For the final round, we were briefed to develop a campaign for Ipad within 48 Hours. Here are the print executions from my entry:
You may find the full campaign here.
Originally published at bedouinnation.com.
