Steal the Show: Your 13-Week Crowbar Awards Game Plan

Steal the Show: Your 13-Week Crowbar Awards Gameplan was written by Ken Bates, Senior Copywriter at FCB Chicago. Ken has been instrumental in the Breaking and Entering Experiment. He’s an advertising encyclopedia and an extraordinary copywriter.

You should definitely connect with him on LinkedIn: Ken Bates

Waiting to “feel inspired” is like waiting for lightning to strike. The truth is, inspiration doesn’t come before the work — it comes from the work. Start by showing up, getting curious, and getting your hands dirty. Research obsessively. Ask dumb questions. Sketch bad ideas. Make messes. The best creative ideas are rarely born perfect — they’re uncovered, shaped, and sharpened by momentum. So stop scrolling, start scribbling, and let your brain go places it’s never been.

This schedule is not meant to keep you on track— it’s meant to get the fire burning. Let’s break in.

WEEKS 1–2: Deep Dive into the Brief & Research

Goal: Absorb the brief and understand everything that surrounds it.

• Read the brief and take notes. Highlight/underline all the interesting bits. You’ll come back to these a lot.

• Learn about the target audience. What are the problems that are going on in their world? Become the target audience. Okay, but like don't steal their identity, just mentally put yourself in their shoes. Chill out, dude.

• Study the brand category. Know the good and bad work that's in it. Can you figure out the open space you can fit into? Figure out how to put your idea in there.

• Research the problem, find relevant articles, and take notes on them. Does this category make you think of any movies? TV Shows? Art pieces? Tik Toks? Steal from everywhere and twist it to make it new.

WEEKS 3–4: Insight & Strategy Development

Goal: Craft a sharp insight and strategic foundation.

• Find true human truths behind the problem. Is it that you’re not quiet yourself when you’re hungry? (Snickers) Maybe it’s that Las Vegas is not just a place but a mindset? (Las Vegas Tourism)

• Talk the problem out with your partner. Come up with as many insights and ideas as you can.

• Write just headlines. Just draw doodles about the problem

• Spend a week writing by yourself.

• Spend a week writing with your partner.

• Make fun of the brief. What idiot wrote this thing? The best answers are always so simple. Should they just throw money at the problem? Why has no one done this before/Think through the pitfalls and pressure test every idea.

WEEKS 5–6: Ideation Sprint 1 (Quantity > Quality)

Goal: Generate lots of ideas. Explore widely.

• Dont filter yourself. Barf, butt, boogers, say anything and everything. Nothing is off the table/ the table is even on the table. Maybe the answer is to just table it for now.

• How does this look in print? Film, radio? In VR? Explore as many formats as you can.

• Maybe it's a 360 campaign that redefined a category? Maybe it's a one-off execution, but the kind that people won't forget about for years to come?

• Keep coming up with ideas. There is no such thing as enough.

WEEK 7: Shortlist & Refine Concepts

Goal: Narrow down to 3–4 promising concepts.

• Show your favorite ideas to friends, family, life patterns, that man you see at the bus stop every day. Does this make sense? Can you explain this to a stranger in the elevator?

• Select ideas with the strongest strategic connection + creative spark

• Cut down the ideas to your team's favorites

• Show a valued mentor the ideas. Get early-round feedback on what they're vibing with. Then take the advice and make things better. Cull it down to your favorite 1 single idea.

• Make light ad lobs for the work to show that the idea works outside of an idea statement.

• Flesh each out in more detail. Thinking about where this idea needs to act, live, and be in culture.

WEEKS 8–9: Execution Sprint

Goal: Bring your concept to life.

• Blow out the campaign with your team. Get in fights about how this can best be done. Break up and get back together and make the work better.

• Rewrite the headlines. Shorter is always better, but how do you say it in the most interesting and most unexpected way? Say it straight, then say it great.

• The simplest design idea is always the best. But that doesn't mean it's all about minimalism. Maybe it's an avant-garde or art deco thing? Maybe it's more bohemian? Whatever the solution is, make sure it logically makes sense for the campaign.

• Start writing the case study and storyboarding if you’re making a video submission.

WEEK 10: Feedback Round

Goal: Gather critique and review from creatives or trusted sources.

• Show people whose opinion you trust. Get their feedback and take it in. If you think they're wrong then tell them to fuck off. It's your idea, and you need to protect the core of what you love about it. You are the final Creative Director of your portfolio.

• But also, you need to be open and willing to learn and grow. So be honest about where you’re falling short and where it can be better.

• Sometimes, you just need fresh eyes on the project because you’ve been in the weeds with it for too long.

WEEK 11: Polish & Perfection

Goal: Improve every detail.

• This is where you separate the adults from the children, the good ideas from the great ones. Can you prove how good your idea is?

• Show, don't tell them.

WEEK 12: Final Prep

Goal: Get everything submission-ready.

• Double, triple, quadruple, quintuple check your work.

• Read everything out loud. Get annoyed with your voice because you've read it out loud so many times. How can it be better? Do all the links work? Are the pixels in the right places?

• Are the files in the right format? Jpegs? Mp4? PNGs? LMFAO? Whatever those mean, make sure they’re easily accessible and legible.

WEEK 13: Submit & Celebrate

Goal: Submit early and take a breath.

• Submit ahead of the deadline.

• Backup all your files.

• Treat yourself — you earned it.