Perhaps one of the hardest things to do in a world lived predominantly online is to stand out; to grab attention where attention is due and to say enough that it will carry above the noise. Particularly in a year that has seen our entire worlds migrate to a virtual setting.

To overcome this virtual fatigue and stand out from the crowd we’ve already seen young creatives set up their own agencies and others travel the world in a virtual campervan. And now Very Serious Partners have taken agency TikTok accounts hostage in a bid to secure a placement.

The Partners, SCA2.0 Brixton graduates Oliver Finel and Alex Morris, have reserved the agency names on TikTok and plan only to release them once their demands, laid out in a ransom video on Twitter, have been met. Agencies include adam&eveDDB, AMV BBDO, Uncommon London, Lucky Generals as well as industry publication Campaign Magazine are all in the firing line.

With a deadline of midnight on Thursday 12th November, the pair have already started uploading content onto the accounts and will only cease to do so once agencies start meeting their demands.

The pair have been on two creative placements since they graduated but, as the coronavirus crisis only worsened, they were finding less and less opportunities available to them. So, they decided to take matters into their own hands.

In a statement the Very Serious Partners said: “FOR TOO LONG, THEY HAVE SLEPT ON TIKTOK AS A CHANNEL, SAYING ‘IT’S JUST FOR TWERKING TEENS’ AND ‘LET’S ADD IT TO THE END OF THE BRIEF IF THERE’S ANY BUDGET LEFT’… OUR DEMANDS ARE SIMPLE. IF THEY GIVE US A PLACEMENT, WE WILL RETURN THE ACCOUNT TO THEM. UNHARMED.”

The Very Serious Partners are demonstrating the power of creativity under constraint, of making noise not simply for the sake of it but to stand out. With the next generation of creatives already finding it tough to break into the industry, ideas such as this highlight the next wave of creative brilliance. The industry would do well to pay attention.