John Polanco, a Copywriter/Hip Hop artist and Creative LIAisons alumni shares his take-aways from Creative LIAisons:
My experience at Creative LIAisons in October 2023 was a peak in my (so far) short, but mountainous ad career. It created the environment for me to form relationships with art directors from Malaysia and Latvia, writers from Paris and Dallas, and creatives from every other corner of the world, all while being able to share my perspective as a hip-hop artist from the Bronx, writing for Google’s Creative Lab at the time. For most of us, it was our first time in Las Vegas, and for some, their first time in the U.S.
It took a while to digest it all. One day, we’re pitching creative ideas to Daymond John like an episode of Shark Tank, with diverse teams of creatives who had just met, working through language barriers and the creative process to build out full-blown concepts in a matter of hours. Then I’m gaining a wealth of knowledge from panels featuring people such as, Amélie Ebongué, Merlee Jayme, Guan Hin Tay, and Brian Collins. And of course, there was the chance to understand the granularity of the judging process for LIA. Although it's often ignored, we all know the importance of being IN the room. So being invited to be around all levels of creative leaders was fruitful. And the rooms got heated, with the most minute details of the work carefully vetted. Sitting in on the judging of the awards fine-tuned me as a creative, because I remember being a sponge in those discussions, when deeply rooting strategy and research into my craft.
My main takeaway from the Creative LIAisons experience is that creativity has many shapes and forms, but the more interconnected they are, the better. Not only for advertising, but for shaping the lens through which we see the world. I still work on cool projects with a few of my friends from the program, and miss many of them too. I’m deeply grateful for having had the opportunity to be part of the London International Awards Creative LIAisons program, and for the nomination from Oriel Davis-Lyons.
