MELBOURNE DESIGN WEEK GOLF NETWORK
What started as an idea at The Standard ended up in two events for Melbourne Design Week, supported by The NGV. One of which was the few select sports based networking events for MDW. We pitched the idea to show that not all golf days are for finance bro’s.
THE PROCEEDINGS
The plan for the day included some mincing about time on arrival, as we all know networking can be god awful. We know (as creatives) that this was an area we wanted to disarm the normal tensions of networking and allow it to be pub-like. Come to hang, listen to a panel discussion if you are keen, if not, eat the double stacked d’affinois and drink Heinekens. Fuckit, we wouldn’t have been offended if you wanted to get straight to the golf and do as many laps around the booked out 2 holes we had at Royal Park Golf Course. But everyone was keen and floating around carrying their creative air and somehow meeting in the middle through golf chats. What a scene set of ultra stylish, street edged creatives finally finding a tribe.
NECESSARY COLLIDING WORLDS
A very necessary discussion point we wanted to bring to the people, which is why you come to these sorts of things, to gain some sort of insight or network (rather obviously) that contributes to your practice. We wanted the design community to confront the two aspects that often need to find a balance in order to succeed. Creative practice and how you market that in today’s world. Where does your brand begin and what is actually involved in rolling this out across channels like social media and websites. How do they work together without seeming mainstream. How can they cross pollinate and find success without being overly creative or typically optimised and consumed into the norm.
WE TALKED
To further unpack this, we decided to invite Jes Egan - The View From Here, Brand Design Studio. Grant Ferguson - Calibre9 SEO Specialist Agency. Harry Moody - Grasp Social, Social Media and Content Creation. Our own blood and co-founder of Found, Lance Peach, pried into their practice with his intentions set on exposing how each discipline needs one another, and ultimately, how we can achieve this. 45mins later there were questions from said creative scene wondering about all sorts of angles to disrupt and grab attention. A personal favourite was “How can design influence change in the aristocratic, white old men tradition that still dominates in golf?” The answer is in the very brand that brought you this blog (If anyone has made it this far), and wears many masks to get in front of the clubhouse, fashion, traditions, aesthetic and idea of golf as an enterprise.
Yeah, the talk was great.
WE PLAYED
Finally, golf. Golf different. The first group of golf heads, that could’ve rolled in straight from a skate comp, was a loose 10 ball. The tee box was a stage where all shots were celebrated. Easy paced groups followed happily until dark and still squeezed in a final lap of the Par 3 (1st) and driveable Par 4 (9th). Big ups to our golf coach, a young, long haired, welcoming young blood who made all the first timers feel comfortable with fun warm ups and see-ball-hit-ball approach on the iron range. Closest to the pin was short but tricky with the green running away from the hole in almost every direction. There was a winner and that concluded the event.
All in all, we brought together a community from the cracks of a society that is so heavily blanketed in polyester watermelon polos and an exclusive reputation by nature. We no longer need to fit into this. If that’s your jam? Cool, we will meet you with mutual inclusivity on the tee box.
Keep it connected out there.
