SINGAPORE – As the world continues to change drastically — thanks to the widespread impact of the COVID-19 pandemic — the creative industry is also settling into a new rhythm. adobo magazine has been checking in with some of the world’s best, award-winning leaders in the communications industry to find out how they are doing.
Today, we peek into the mind of BLKJ Co-Founder Joji Jacob as he reflects on the word “clarity”, and what it means to the independent agency, especially at these unprecedented times.
“The virus picked its time very cleverly. The world is interconnected like never before. We have laughable leadership almost everywhere in the world. The supply chain has long been a one-way street. Many, if not most, of our economic models were built on insubstantial edifices. In comes the virus, and the world as we knew it is no more,” he mused.
The independent agency BLKJ was, of course, not exempted from these changes. The 80-strong agency, which was declared Creative Agency of the Year at both the Singapore Creative Circle Awards and the Hall of Fame Awards in 2018, also went through the tides and reassessed its workflows and values. In effect, the three-year old agency’s work StarHub, Scoot, Great Eastern, the Economic Development Board of Singapore, and the Ministry of Communications and Information, and more amongst its 19 clients, had also been refreshed with a fresh new sense of clarity.
“The best one can do in a crisis is to hunker down and take care of the corner of the world where circumstances have placed you. So I shall share what our agency has been up to and how we are moving forward.”
“For us as an agency, the crisis brought clarity.”
“The briefs became clear. As the usual business opportunities dried up in lockdown, the fluff disappeared and only the most urgent, pertinent, and relevant challenges and opportunities stood out. To their credit most brands put aside vanity projects and rushed to help the situation in tangible ways.”
“Ideas became clear. Working remotely, without the aid of 60-page keynote decks, mediocrity, and jargon-laden nonsense ran out of places to hide. We presented scribbles of ideas via WhatsApp and Zoom calls, and found that the good ideas were still understood, appreciated, and bought.”
“The opportunities became clear. Like someone quipped, COVID-19 became the Chief Technology Officer of most companies. Even as I write this we are working on projects that will help some of our brands put digital at the heart and centre of how their businesses operate.”
“Our culture became clear. As a young agency, we struggled to crystallise, much less verbalise, our culture. But during the lockdown it became clear that what we as a group of people do is ‘make things happen’. It’s as simple and that and as powerful. Although physically distant and boxed in by several limitations, our people came together to create a campaign that took an old traditional wet market online. We collected, translated, and disseminated messages of love from Singaporeans to the COVID-affected migrant worker community.”
Furthermore, Jacob also shared how this has affected his personal life, as someone who has always been completely dedicated to his work. Before founding BLKJ, he was the group executive creative director of DDB and oversaw an integrated creative department of 140 creative directors, copywriters, art directors, digital designers, and technologists. Under his watch, DDB Group Singapore became the most awarded Singaporean agency at almost every award show including Cannes. DDB Group was also Agency of the Year at the Marketing Awards, the Singapore Hall of Fame Awards and by Campaign Magazine.
Joji himself has been named Singapore’s Most Influential Creative Director by the Institute of Advertising Singapore and South East Asia’s Creative Person of the Year by Campaign two years in a row. He was the Chairman of Award School in 2012 and chaired the Singapore Creative Circle Awards in 2013. He was also the Cannes Jury President for Print and Publishing in 2016.
He shared, “My own priorities became clear. Finally this elusive thing called work-life balance seemed within reach. As a family we came closer. I enjoyed getting to my daughter better. I also found the time and motivation to start drawing again. And after a very long time found myself doing something not for a client, or the agency, or for applause or awards, but for the simple pleasure of the work itself. As I look back at all the stuff I did on my Instagram account @jojijacob, it looks like a chronology of COVID-19. A ‘Coronology’, if you will.”
“It is my prayer that all the people who have not had our good fortune recover at the earliest. And that the rest of us never forget the lessons this pandemic has taught us. Thank you, and stay safe.”
This article is part of a series by adobo magazine exploring “Creative Minds in Lockdown,” a look into how industry experts are coping with the COVID-19 pandemic and the implementation of community quarantine in select parts of the world.
