Created For Creatives | A Podcast by the London International Awards

Imposter syndrome can strike at any point in your career. Liz Taylor, Global Chief Creative Officer at Ogilvy reflects on how in the advertising industry you need to back yourself - but when you can’t, it’s important to create your own board of directors who you can turn to for advice and a pep talk, it might be your partner, trusted colleagues, friends outside of your industry, even your mom.

Nicky Bullard, Group Chief Creative Officer for Mullen Lowe Group in London agrees, saying she still puts a lot of her success down to luck, no matter how hard she’s worked and what she’s achieved and it’s important to have people in your orbit who will champion you when you doubt yourself. Liz expands on that saying “you feel very rewarded when you can mentor, champion and help people’s career.”

Sitting down with host Joe Hawkins, Liz and Nicky discussed their roles as Global/Chief Creative Officers; how they approach managing people and projects and how even in these higher managerial positions they try to keep a hand in the creative.

Nicky and Liz were on the  2023 LIA Non-Traditional jury, which they said was a very fun category to judge, with campaigns that made the jury members laugh or with details that were a bit weird or threw something unexpected into the mix.

Getting your first shot working within this industry shouldn’t come down to luck or privilege. Take it from Tara, who got her dream internship based on what she refers to as a fluke. Tara says “this needs to change…we need to make those pathways for junior talent much clearer.”

Tara McKenty and Laura Florence are both leaders in their field and while sitting down with host Merlee Jayme, they said they feel they have a responsibility to create change and provide more opportunities for people coming into the industry and those already in it. 

Building your own sound library is a time saver, so it’s not unusual to discover that Sam Ashwell travels with a microphone in order to capture sounds from a coffee machine to the wind in a forest. And while Sam Ashwell has the advantage of technology in his pocket, Abby Sie has had a musical ear from a young age; she started learning the piano and violin before she was five and carries her musicality and learning into her work.
Both Abby and Sam sat on the LIA 2023 Music and Sound Jury. They discussed the power of audio to convey emotion, how a sonic signature not only adds value to brands, but can make a brand more recognizable and how AI is impacting Music & Sound in a positive manner. Both Sam and Abby use tools, such as AI, to enhance creativity saying it can save production massive amounts of time, however they also reflect on how AI generated content still has a long way to go. 

SHOW NOTES:

Vanish x Ambitious About Autism - "Me, My Autism & I":

Is AI coming for our jobs or will it become an important tool that allows more time for creativity? It’s a question that the industry is facing and one that our host, Carren O’Keefe, along with guests Wesley Ter Haar and Dissara Udomdej are wrestling with, both inside and outside of the Jury Room. 

Wesley ter Haar and Dissara Ohm Udomdej were both on the 2023 LIA Creativity in the Metaverse and Evolution Jury. 

SHOW NOTES

As businesses continue to develop and change in how they connect to customers, creativity is still the advantage that the advertising industry has in meeting customers and creating excitement around campaigns. Host Chris Smith was joined by LIA 2023 Jurors, Sabaa Quao and Matty Burton. Sabaa was on the inaugural Creativity in Business-to-Business jury and while the category may sound basic, there’s nothing basic about the work he saw, as it’s exciting to set the bar for a new category. Sabaa told Chris that even when you’re selling b2b, you’re still selling to a human, so clever and innovative storytelling using creativity is still a major factor in what’s going to cut through.

Sabaa commented, “nothing happens until someone creative comes up with something....you’re still going to need creative people.” He continues with, “I love saying to investment bankers just remember you have nothing to invest in until we come up with something, creative people have to take themselves much more seriously, because when we talk about the complexity of the world and who’s equipped, nimble and agile when thinking through a lot of complex situations, that is the very skill that is needed to solve a lot of the complex things that society is dealing with.”
All the way from New Zealand, Matty Burton joined LIA’s 2023 Digital and Use of Social Media and Influencers jury. Matty seconded Sabaa’s call on creativity, saying it’s exciting to see the industry changing in real time. He says social media’s evolving, but reminds us that businesses and content creators still need to go beyond basic use of a platform to  push, prompt and use it in new ways that challenge our basic understanding of social media and content.

Sabaa and Matty discussed trends and highlighted excellent pieces of work they felt met the criteria. 

Shownotes

“AIZOME WASTECARE Industrial Wast - Certified As Skincare” (2023 Creativity in Business-to-Business Grand LIA)

We know that collaboration and increasing diversity within our teams can lead to more effective and insightful work and in the health, wellness and pharma fields, that diversity must include science.

Eric Weisman and Renata Maia, 2023 LIA jurors, sat down with host Sarah Knights to discuss their recent moves from the consumer sector into the health and pharma fields. They highlighted creativity within this sector. Renata also underlined the importance of sharing the room with medical and scientific experts to create work that’s accurate and impactful. 

Show notes: 

Humour is back, AI is not King and work should be purpose driven.

“Advertising has the power to create systemic change. We want tangible action and to make a difference.” - Pia Chaudhuri 

Courtney Richardson and Pia Chaudhuri told host Carren O’Keefe that the campaigns sparking conversation in their juries are ones that are unashamedly drilling into our emotions, that are pushing the boundaries and are driving societal change, not just in the industry, but in the real world.

Courtney was on LIA’s 2023 TV/Cinema and Online Film Jury and Pia Chaudhuri was on LIA’s 2023 Transformative Business Impact and Creative Use of Data. 

Show notes:

There’s purpose in choosing what music to add to your advertising; the right mnemonic can create instant brand recognition. 

Our first guest Joel Simon, CEO/Chief Creative Officer of JSM Music spoke with host Tom Eymundson about his drive to start his own company (and his dislike of the term jingle).

Joel discussed his career, perspective on the industry, trends and more. 

“It’s an amazing business. I enjoy watching the technological advances that have happened” – Joel Simon

Our next guest, Marine Cremer, Music Supervisor at DDB Paris sat down with host Ralph van Dijk to discuss how the creative use of music and sound can enhance and draw attention to your brand.

Marine, who's passion for music started at an early age with her trips to the cinema, shares industry trends, talks about surprising work she saw in the jury room and her judging experience. 

Joel was on LIA’s 2022 Radio & Audio jury and Marine was on LIA’s 2022 Music & Sound Jury.

Show notes:

Podcast winners: https://2022.liaentries.com/winners/?id_medium=34&view=icons&range=w&clear_search_session=true

Radio and audio winners: https://2022.liaentries.com/winners/?id_medium=7&view=icons&range=w&clear_search_session=true

With so much content at our fingertips how can brands cut through and create spots that consumers actively want to seek out and watch?

Created for Creatives Host Chris Smith sat down with Disney’s Helen Pak and Brandon Butler from Majority in Atlanta for insights on their expectations of branded entertainment. Both Helen and Brandon say “advertising has to entertain us, because everything is competing with everything.” They further went on to emphasize that the message should be authentic and unique.

They also shared their thoughts on judging the Branded Entertainment category, discussed campaigns that hit the mark for branded content and trends that are inspiring; one of these being that people are starting to have fun again.

“I always love coming to these awards shows, because I leave so inspired by the jury, by the work and by the conversation. I get to share a wide selection of work that my teams haven’t seen and it’s reinvigorating.”

Show notes:

The role of Public Relations is to make a story as interesting as possible to the audience and to push, or as guest Fede Garcia puts it, “explode,” into mainstream media.

With previous experience in advertising, our two guests from the inaugural Creativity in PR Jury articulate their different approaches between creating an advertising campaign and developing a PR event.

Lauren Haberfield, Executive Creative Director at Edelman in Paris and Fede Garcia, the Global Chief Creative Officer at BCW explained to host Ralph van Dijk, that a good PR campaign centres around crafting a story or a conversation that connects and directly impacts the audience and the culture. It should move people. Fede went on to say that in PR it’s one’s job to find an angle where people care.

Lauren and Fede dove into the difference between advertising and PR and also discussed how their roles blend. 

They also talked about powerful work they saw within the PR category at LIA 2022 Judging and shared general advice to people entering, one being stop doing things just to win awards. Fede goes on to say “If you really have an idea that can change the world for the better, save lives, and help people, then you’re already a super hero.” Lauren in agreement with Fede says, “there’s an explosion of wanting to create noise, but that it is not directed.” She then explains that Edelman is about the purpose of the conversation, awareness building, what means/ends is the conversation going to, taking action and about what they are trying to generate from the conversation, not just making noise for the sake of noise. Fede expands on this saying that in the ad world you try to make ideas that capture the headlines and from a PR point why and what kind of conversation do you want to have and sustain. Did the idea go somewhere? PR also manages backlash from the media.

Lauren and Fede also talked about what is different judging at LIA versus other shows. Lauren says “this is the first time that Creativity in PR has been a category at LIA and that my jury is setting the tone for the category and what we want this award to mean for the future, which I have not experienced at other festivals.”

Fede says, LIA is a more relaxed environment with less politics. Jurors are more open because of the socializing outside of the jury rooms, which disarms people, so that there is a real sharing of opinions in and out of jury room, which makes it a great learning experience.”

Show notes:[1]

Creativity in PR 2022 All Winners:

Craftsmanship and its connection to the consumer was a recurring topic at LIA 2022 and in the Design and Package Design Jury it was a key-criteria as the jury considered the usability of packaging that was presented. Host Tom Eymundson sat down with Cinthia Wen, Head of Creative at Turner Duckworth in San Francisco and Alexander Schill, Global Chief Creative Officer and Partner at Serviceplan in Germany, who were both on LIA’s 2022 Design and Package Design jury. 

Cinthia and Alex shared their journey of how they ended up on their career paths, talked about the 2022 work entered, what makes great leadership, presenting ideas to clients, changes and trends they saw in Design and Package Design and what excited them in the jury room. 

Alexander Schill, says, “Empathy is the key to everything to be.a good leader. You need empathy to put together the right teams. You have to have empathy to understand the problem of the client and you have to understand the consumer.” 

Cinthia expands on this when it comes to presenting to clients and says that it’s ok when a client says no. She goes on to give advice that sometimes you have to co-create with a client; let them help build upon your team's idea to make it fit within their needs. 

Alex and Cinthia discussed their jury criteria and both agreed that usability is very important. Consumers need to understand the product and is it easy to use. Design can be beautiful and creative, but the product must be able to communicate what is contained within.

They also talked about the work in the room and they both touched upon (no pun intended) missing physical entries in Package Design as it is missing the physical touch which is helpful when judging the work. Alexander Schill states that “you have to teach young creatives to invest time and talent and passion into the craftsmanship. Investing in craftmanship makes the difference, especially in package design.”

Lastly, they talked about Design in a virtual world and the trend of content being socially responsible.

Listen for detailed insights.

Show notes:

Design Winners:

The jury, tackling non-traditional advertising said it can be anything except traditional or boring. Joana Mendes, President of Clube de Criação, São Paulo and Dörte Spengler-Ahrens, Managing Creative Director of JvM SAGA / Partner at Jung von Matt, two industry leaders, told host Chris Smith that their jury was not just looking for unique campaigns, but that they were also considering the craft of the work and how the work makes them feel.

Doerte and Joana, both from different parts of the world, shared their background, which is inspiring and barrier breaking. They speak about work they are proud of, what sparks joy when seeing the work and what they look for in the work. They both echoed the same sentiments that the work has to make an impact and touch someone emotionally.

They also discussed that impactful work doesn’t just have to be serious, stating that they both would have loved to laugh a little more in the jury room. Campaigns can have humour, while still reaching people's emotions and making a difference, saying that "joy is the most powerful human emotion."

Show notes:

Creative work often finds its footing on digital platforms. It is created by agencies, by brands and individuals and then shared across social media or generated as online advertising.

Tara Ford, Chief Creative Officer of The Monkeys was on the 2022 Integration jury, judging work presented across multiple platforms and channels. Tara stressed that the work needs to be purposeful and impactful and that ideas can’t just be hosted on different platforms; there must be value attached to having work on a platform. Tara says it is important to know why you made the work and why the idea was chosen for the platform.

Similarly, Melissa Eccles, Group Creative Strategy Director at TikTok Creative Lab on the West Coast, notes that when she was on the 2022 Digital & Social Media and Influencers jury she was considering how work was created and shared and how influencers were bringing their own distinctive creative flair to a campaign. She delved into how being just a creator differentiates from being an influencer. Melissa says, “that just because you publish a campaign on social media, does not make it social by nature.”

Please note: Melissa’s views are her own. She is not speaking on behalf of or representing TikTok in this interview.

Listen to the episode for more of Tara and Melissa’s insights into Integration and Digital and Social Media & Influencers, their jury room criterias, why work did or did not make it through, advice for entrants in the coming year, what influences the way they work and their overall creative points of views within the industry.

Show notes: