Halloween is upon us. It’s that magical time of the year when we sacrifice pumpkin spice lattes in the name of artisanal gourd crafts. Oh yes. The Swim Team set out to carve a pumpkin.
Not just any old pumpkin, but the Holy Gourd of pumpkins.
Utilizing our creative finesse, we got to work.
First, we cracked into market research. Our findings:
- Influential pumpkin carvers were going for a traditional look this year.
- 99% of people prefer a simple carved pumpkin to one that’s been laser-cut.
- Carving instead of painting would raise Instagrammability by 44%, with a RT potential of two or more.
Then, we penned a creative brief that could make a strategist cry.
Our goal? To cut through the clutter by literally cutting through a pumpkin.
From there, we gathered creative minds and ideated. We asked ourselves, “Should we give the pumpkin a Twitter account? What if the pumpkin doesn’t want to be carved? What if we crowdsource the carving by leaving the pumpkin and tools outside our office?”
Surrounded by hot cider and autumn snacks, we settled in for a long night.
We sketched. We scribbled. We mocked it up for proof of concept. We drew those circles around everything like people do with logos. We didn’t really know why, but we did it.
At times, it wasn’t pretty.
Tempers flared. Criticism went a little too far. But through a sea of tasteful critiques and mature, productive arguments, we narrowed our ideas to what had the greatest potential. It had to involve humor. Simplicity. Puns. Pumpkins.
Then things got really interesting. We took out the knives and started carving with the precision of an art director. Meaning, hurriedly and with “Ctrl + Z” on repeat in our heads.
We used the only tools we know how to use: small but sharp office supplies. We avoided paper cut after paper cut in pursuit of a handcrafted pumpkin that could grace the cover of Communication Arts.
It was risky, but the only thing riskier was not taking a risk.
Our relentless precision seemed to be paying off.
Visions of Cannes flashed in our heads. We dreamed of Matt Bellassai discussing our pumpkin with disgust. We prayed for trolls to hate their hardest on our pumpkin. Then we’d know we truly made it.
Finally, the reveal was upon us. We all put on our best black turtlenecks and took to the stage (our kitchen). We stuck an iPhone in it and in unison proclaimed, “This changes everything.”
We’re proud to announce the Swim Creative Pumpkin Concept is:
Pumpkin Pie Chart
Startling Pumpkin Stats
- 55% want to be carved, while the other 45% are looking for other career options.
- 61% consider themselves pumpkins, 33% consider themselves gourds and 6% don’t want to be labeled.
- 29% of pumpkins start to mold within the first week. (Swim Creative’s pumpkin was in the 5% that molded within the first day.)
- An astounding 89% hate It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown with 55% believe that it degrades pumpkin culture.
- 27% are interested in what they taste like, while 73% don’t get the hype.
It looks like a fun place to work. Nice looking staff!