It was my first team away day at Skylark when our MD, Nina, gave us a creative challenge: ‘If we were to submit a video for the Creative Shootout 2025, what would it look like?’ At the time, I never imagined that just two months later, we’d be walking through the doors of BAFTA, psyching ourselves up to present to over 200 people. But life is unpredictable!
What is the Creative Shootout?
The Creative Shootout is a unique competition, teams of creatives from agencies all over the UK come together to tackle a brief for this years chosen charity. Presented at BAFTA, each team has just four hours from learning what the brief is to creating a campaign and convincing the live audience and judges to choose them as the winners! Those winners then go on to bring their idea to life with the charity.
When Nina told us that this year’s chosen charity was Epilepsy Action UK, it hit home for me in quite a few ways, and the longer I went on the Creative Shootout journey, the more I realised just how many people had their own personal, and family stories with epilepsy.
Mine was Terry. To apply for the finals of the Creative Shootout you have just 60 seconds to make a video on why our agency should be chosen to be a finalist.
Terry
Terry is the dad of a close friend of mine. He is currently a stand manager at Ashton Gate football stadium in Bristol. He’s had epilepsy his whole life, but never lets it stop him from living as normally as possible. With Terry in mind and the exciting discussions about the Creative Shootout, we thought, ‘Let’s do it, let’s go!’ So, on the same Saturday, we decided to film Terry (and luckily, Bristol City were playing – and they won too!). Armed with nothing but my phone, a tripod, and a whole load of questions, we created a mini documentary about Terry and submitted it as our entry the following week.
Finals Day
After a hectic week filled with back-to-back shoot days and as much prep as we could manage, we headed to London by train, buzzing with nerves and excitement. Upon arriving at BAFTA and getting our first glimpse of the competition, it wasn’t long before we were drawing straws to decide who would go first and finally receive the brief.
This year’s brief was themed ‘Shattering The Stigma’ How do we make epilepsy impossible to ignore? We had just four hours to create a campaign that ‘reframes perception, ignites emotion & drives action’. We headed over to the event’s partner meeting space over at the plush Huckletree offices off Oxford Street.
At the start, four hours seemed like plenty of time, but looking back, the whole day flew by. Before we knew it, our four hours were up, and we were using every spare moment to practice our pitch.
On stage nerves
On top of the already 300 plus people in the audience, we were also being judged by leading agency executives such as, Tanya Whitehouse from Elvis, Nicky Bullard Mullenlowe, Daniel Fox-Evans Kraftheinz, Olivia Blairman Coolr. The most nerve-wracking moment wasn’t the announcement of the winners, but rather the live reveal of the audience vote. After each pitch, audience members used their phones to rate how the presentation made them feel, from an angry face to an excited one. We all stood on stage and anxiously watched as the votes came in, which turned out to be fine and smiley faces all around!
After a couple of hours the winners were announced with Boldspace taking home the glory. Their concept centred around the question “Would you trust?”. Some of their examples included, “Would you trust your baby with a stranger?” and “Would you trust your friends not to leave you at a festival?”.
For some people, these are not luxuries or choices. When you live with epilepsy, the possibility of a seizure can occur at any moment. In those moments, the care of your children may fall into the hands of strangers. It’s a powerful awareness campaign, highlighting everyday situations that become far more challenging for those living with epilepsy. It also emphasises how crucial it is for the public to be informed on how to respond. A very well-deserved win with a campaign that can make a real difference.
After party!
After a hectic day and several proseccos later, it was lovely to chat with fellow competitors and mingle with industry experts, a rare opportunity for someone like myself so early in my career. And what better way to end the night than with a Chinese at 1 am in Chinatown surrounded by your team, laughing and looking back on what was a great day.
What were the learnings?
One of the most valuable takeaways from the Creative Shootout 2025 was the importance of mindset and preparation. We kicked off our prep with a powerful training session, ‘F*ck Fears, Let’s Flow’ led by Matt Follows, which focused on unlocking our alter egos and finding the confidence to showcase our best selves on stage. As a creative, I learned not to get bogged down in the finer details of an idea too early on. Instead, it’s crucial to streamline the brainstorming process and focus on the bigger picture. Time management was another key lesson, breaking our day into focused sprints for brainstorming, creating, rehearsing, and refining helped keep the momentum going.
As the most junior member of the team, this experience felt like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Standing on the BAFTA stage was an unforgettable moment and who knows, maybe next time we’ll be checking off the Oscars!
Becky Lomas