Visionary?
Being announced as the Global winner for the IMS 2016 Visionaries competition was an interesting moment for me personally and for my business, KRPT.
Firstly because only a month ago we we're all in dreamland when a teaser we created for a new event was launched to rave reviews on Mixmag with over 100k views and on-going commentary about the bespoke soundtracks we also created for the videos. The reaction was even better than anticipated and it's always satisfying when so many people enjoy your work
To then be announced as the "Global Visionaries Winner" for such an esteemed brand like International Music Summit shortly after was an interesting addition to my already floating state of mind as I suddenly went from seeing my storyboard to my face on Mixmag...fuck
The word "visionary" intrigued me even before this moment and as a team we always discussed the importance of thinking in terms of revolution instead of evolution when conceptualising ideas and strategies in business.
I would personally take inspiration from Da Vinci to Steve Jobs and Einstein in the same hour of Wikipedia escapism and to me the true visionaries have never been a question.
I'm a 25 year old who has a passion for music, advertising and business whilst others are finding ways to enhance our knowledge/well-being on this planet in ways I couldn't come close to, yet...
So "visionary" was always a term that I would quickly dismiss when looking at the wider picture as it's easy to feel small when comparing yourself to the "greats".
But then I was told I was missing the point;
The definition of "visionary" was:
adjective
1.thinking about or planning the future with imagination or wisdom.
"a visionary leader"
noun
2. a person with original ideas about what the future will or could be like.
"he is a visionary keen on policy-making"
I don't see myself as a visionary but better described as someone who was extremely lucky to find something they were passionate about that evolved into a life-long mission. Anyone with a plan that coincides with a time in the future is also visionary, so maybe we all are?
We could exist in a world of visionaries if we had reform from the educational process all the way to a change in approach on how brands engage with the next generation, maybe a lot of is also perception...
My purpose felt quite clear and many years ago we started KRPT because of the disconnect between our generation and most commercial entities.
This could've gone in so many directions but we decided to stay focussed on the way brands engage with our culture, finding new ways to support underground and emerging creators that deserve recognition.
We built a network of gatekeepers in every city that had a scene and quickly were in tune with all the latest opportunities, this network became our strength.
Before we knew it we had hundreds of creators who we're also representing our movement and mission; finding new ways to support the cultures we love by partnering with brands that genuinely wanted to grow them.
If one "visionary" has the power to change the world, imagine what 1,000 of us can do?
Join the movement, Support the scene, Fuck the system