Back to School for Coast Digital at BIMA D-Day 2013

Yesterday an event which gave an insight into the digital world took place in schools across the UK. The day was called BIMA D-Day, and was established by the British Interactive Media Association.

BIMA D-Day is a nationwide event which provides the opportunity for the digital agencies, such as Coast Digital, to connect with students in schools to showcase what agency life is like, how exciting working in the industry is, and helping them discover the potential careers available to them in the future.

Here at Coast Digital we had the pleasure of working with The Stanway School yesterday to help host their BIMA D-Day. Sam Antrobus and I went down for the day to give some insight into the digital industry and assist the students with developing their challenges.

Focused around three key digital scenarios, the challenges immersed the students in the sort of planning, design and innovation processes that we face in the industry daily. They were:

Mobile App Design Challenge – Challenging the children to think into the future and envisage how technology might develop through practical applications, this scenario also inspired them to visualise how their application could be applied to the masses.

Social Media Challenge – Focused upon designing a campaign for a new fashion store, the Social Media Challenge required children to take into account everything from the theme of their branding, to the way their store would engage with users within the digital domain.

Digital Design Challenge – A thought-provoking and in-depth scenario, the key to this challenge was to create a digital solution that was originated with an end user from the local community in mind. From devising a microsite to Smartphone integration, children had to envisage how their solution could be applied on a vast digital scale.

So once the gauntlet had been laid down, how did the children of The Stanway School react? In a nutshell, absolutely superbly!

It was hugely inspiring to be in a room filled with so much creativity energy, innovation and enthusiasm from everyone involved. All of the ideas the students presented for mobile applications and social media campaigns were incredible, and easily have the potential to be developed further.

We had a fantastic time during the BIMA D-Day (even if it was quite strange being addressed as ‘sir’!) and if the students of The Stanway School are anything to go by, then it’s safe to say the digital industry is going to be a much more talented place in the near future!