Minds (Wide) Open Competition at MSU connects cultures

I bit my lip to hold back tears, I shoved my phone deep into my backpack so I could pretend it wasn’t actually 4:30 a.m., and downed the rest of my Red Bull. I could no longer keep track of whether it was my first or third of the evening, and I was barely able to stay awake long enough to read the messy notes in front of me.

I realized I was staring blankly at the keynote presentation, when I heard my mentor’s exasperated voice, trying to bring my attention back to business.

“Caitlin… Caitlin are you getting this? Are you ready to go again?”

Again. The word I had been hearing all night. I could feel the frustrated "no" on my lips, ready to end the torture once and for all, but I knew "no" wasn’t an option.

I signed up for this. I wanted this. I chose this.

It was the final night of MSU’s College of Advertising+PR Minds (Wide) Open Competition.

Minds (Wide) Open was a creative advertising competition that placed MSU students in groups with students from the Hong Kong Design Institute, WPP School, and Shanghai Normal University. Each group included about six Chinese students, two American students, two prestigious advertising mentors, and a translator. All of the groups were presented with a creative brief, and then we were given exactly a week to create a winning campaign.

The brief challenged each group to create a campaign that motivated Chinese and American students to interact with each other and develop lasting relationships.

Prior to the competition starting, I was anticipating that the brief would involve a tangible product. I was not prepared to create a campaign surrounding an abstract idea, and I was intimidated.

To make matters worse, communication in my group was slow and difficult. Only two of us spoke fluent English, and half the Chinese students spoke Mandarin, while the other half spoke Cantonese. Communication would have been entirely impossible had it not been for our very patient translator.

Over the course of the week, my group and I worked night and day. And I quickly found myself developing relationships with people I might never otherwise have talked to. By Thursday, I was amazed that I had found mutual interests, made inside jokes, and created lasting memories with students from the other side of the world.

The competition was challenging us to find a way to connect with our foreign counterparts, and as we collaborated together to solve the brief, we realized we were doing exactly that.

The Minds (Wide) Open competition was exhausting. It was challenging. It was demanding. But it was also immensely rewarding.

My team bonded despite communication and cultural barriers, and it paid off. We placed first overall, and so, in a month, I’m headed to Beijing for another round.

As my team and I hugged each other around our trophy, no translator was necessary. It was very obvious how happy and thankful each one of us was.