Happy New… February!?

What! We’re a month into 2012 already? And so it goes, eh? A happy, if not ever-so-slightly belated, New Year wish to each of you from the IHAVEANIDEA team.

Assuming the Mayans miscalculated (at least that’s the attitude I’m taking), there is much to look forward to this year. With Portfolio Night 10 on the seems-far-but-will-be-here-before-we-know-it horizon, a new year of Tomorrow Awards future-thinking brilliance yet to be unveiled and new Giant Hydra projects starting to flow through the network, 2012 has all the makings to be a success.

Given our varying degrees of seasonal acceptance (i.e. disdain for winter), the IHAVEANIDEA team continues to work virtually, spread out across the U.S., Canada, and now the U.K. and South America. In addition to the core team you know and love, two new superstars are contributing to make this year’s Portfolio Night bigger and better than ever. Sarah West, who is based out of London as the Global Manager of Portfolio Night, has been behind the scenes, deftly readying our present and future agency hosts for the best event to date. Luis Oreamuno, who is based out of Panama, has joined the team as a contributing writer and will be bringing you all of the Creative Bites and Ready to Shine action on PortfolioNight.com from now until May 23^rd, as well as some content for How’d You Get In? and our Ad Celebrity Book Lists on IHAVEANIDEA.org.

Up-and-coming young creatives, have you been polishing your portfolios? May isn’t that far away!

Of course we can’t help but be insanely excited about Portfolio Night 10. With nearly ten cities signed up already, including Athens, Austin, Budapest, Helsinki, Montreal, Philadelphia, Stockholm, Toronto, Dublin (and a Mumbai agency host is soon to be announced), the roster is already shaping up impressively! Keep an eye on the City Page of PortfolioNight.com, the Portfolio Night Facebook and Twitter feed for the latest city additions. If you don’t see your city on the list and want to help make it happen, reach out to Sarah to begin the conversation. She would be happy to provide you with more information.

Speaking of portfolio preparation, Ignacio will be busy throughout the month of February, working with a team of Protégés through Feast by iStockphoto’s Mentorship program. The topic is communicating creativity and developing the portfolio of the future. Thank you to all who applied to the program; Feast had significantly more applicants than usual and reported it was some tough competition to create a shortlist of participants. Ignacio recently shared some thoughts on the topic here on IHAVEANIDEA, and will undoubtedly bestow the wisdom of his experience on the Protégés. We’ll share a bit more about the Protégés with you once their mentorship month is complete.

The HydraHeads have been gearing up for a busy 2012 with new Giant Hydra projects kicking off this month. With a network of more than 500 qualified, talented creative minds ready to contribute brilliance, the results are always spectacular. Brett is working hard to profile some of these talented minds on GiantHydra.com, so check in over there, on Facebook, Twitter or sign up for the monthly newsletter to learn more about what Giant Hydra can add to your work, projects and agency. If you’re not a HydraHead, but think you have what it takes, apply here: http://gianthydra.com/signup.php.

And the Tomorrow Awards. Ah, the Tomorrow Awards. After a brilliantly exhausting, fun and inspiring Conference and Ceremony in Amsterdam in November, we are already looking toward this year’s Awards. Looking back for a moment, did you ever see the video recap that our friends at Umbrella pulled together? Check it out and reminisce with us.

It makes me even more excited for the events ahead. Have you seen any work future-facing enough to garner a Tomorrow Award? Tell us about it. And who would you love to see speak?

And thus, we embark on the adventure that will be 2012, thankful to have each of you along with us. Ignacio, Brett, Nat, Brendan, Sarah, Luis and I look forward to crossing paths or working with you this year. Shaping the future of the industry we all love for the better; let’s make it happen together.

Brianna Graves
Operations Manager, Writer
IHAVEANIDEA