By Nihal Tharoor-Menon

Us and Them

Up until now we’ve been in friendly competition only with each other, but recently the stakes have changed.

A point Kennedy made in his last SCAB resonated with me.

We are now in competition with schools across the world for that widest of pencils. And I believe it has brought us closer together.

Not that we’ve been divided as a class. I must say SCA is the most relaxed and fun working environment I’ve been in.  But our intake has been reluctant to share ideas.

And I think I’ve shared and tried to help others more in the last few weeks than in the entire year.

It has been incredibly rewarding.

I’m not patriotic and not much into football but boy do I love it when the World Cup comes around.

For a brief moment I give in to the ‘us and them’ mentality, embrace a passion of all things England – and a contempt for everything else.

There is something strangely satisfying about it…

If I am truly honest, this is the first time I have really wanted everyone around to me to smash their briefs.

For their own success, yes, but more because I want the world to know what brilliant minds we’ve got here. I want the other ad schools to stand in awe.

Anyway, D&AD won’t last forever, and neither will these ‘us and them’ thoughts.

But I believe after enjoying that sweet feeling that comes from sharing ideas and helping others, this us mentality will continue in the months to come.