Over a course of four rainy days, over 700 students attended the Crowbar Seminar, held from 15-18 Jan 2007 at the Singapore Management University, in conjunction with the Creative Exhibition. The Creative Exhibition featured works of the winners and finalists from the Singapore Creative Circle Awards 2006 (CCA) and the Crowbar Awards 2006.

Students from various polytechnics and tertiary schools braved the rain on Monday evening to receive words of wisdom from Ng Tian It of Batey Singapore, Jackson Tan of Black Design, Eric Yeo of Ogilvy & Mather and Goh Wee Kim of BBDO Singapore.

Crowbar Awards 2006 Co-chairman, Calvin Soh of Fallon Asia while on a ferry in Hong Kong conveyed a very clear message through the 4As Executive Director, Chua Bee Hong, “the key ingredient local talents need to inculcate is self-believe; believe in yourself, your abilities, your talents. Spread your wings; think regionally, not just locally”.

The second day saw Benjy Choo of Kilo Studio, Tan Lui Kun and David Teo talking about interactive advertising and exploring with Flash.

Robert Gaxiola of Bates Singapore walked us down memory lane on the third day with “The Golden Years of the Crowbars” giving advice on the good and the bad, while Desmond Tan of Two Oceans and K.C of Moviola shared their personal experiences as film directors.

It was full house at SMU’s Conference Hall on the last day. Sebastian Tan of The Shooting Gallery and fashion photographer Geoff Ang shared with the crowd striking photographs and explained how they were done.

Who would have guessed that the 3rd most influential person in the media, marketing and advertising industry, Lim Sau Hoong of 10AM Communications, is a musician? The melodious tunes in the TV commercials was composed by Sau Hoong herself.

Having been in the industry since 1978, Patrick Low of Y&R shared his learning experiences, feeding students with handy guidelines to “never prejudge an idea and that ignoring good advice can be suicidal”. He was asked by students how best to refresh ideas, to which he replied, “Behave like a sponge, open up to new things, absorbing things, and never do the same thing twice, but with a fresh approach”.

Inspiring and nurturing young talent is what the 4As aims to do. SMU student, Dominic Cai, who’s majoring in Marketing & Corporate Communications, could be seen at every session. Inspired by the speakers, his advice to those who didn’t attend, “take a look at what previous winners have done, to understand their work and “steal” ideas.” At the end of the day, the rule of thumb is always to “think out of the box”.