PATTAYA — Nick Law, R/GA’s Global Chief Creative Officer kicked off today’s ADFEST 2015 talks with telling brands what they need to do to make a brand badass. And according to Nick, this would entail doing only three things.
1. Don’t be a fool.
Use both sides of your brain.
Science tells us that the brain is divided into two hemispheres, the left and the right, the systematic and the creative but Nick refuses to be limited by that, “The creative brain is the whole brain. It’s not just one side.”
He believes that the systematic designers and creative thinkers in advertising agencies shouldn’t be treated like how science cuts the brain in half. To come up with something good or should we say ‘badass’ for a brand, these two should work hand in hand, “It should be a partnership, not a workflow process,” Nick emphasized, “creative thinkers come up with stories. Systematic designers come up with experiences.”
2. Don’t be a liar.
Tell the truth about yourself and the world you live in.
Advertising is a place where it’s not always easy to tell the truth, even Nick, who himself comes from the industry says so, “Always start from a place of truth. This seems obvious but every strategy I see is a lie.”
To make a brand badass, he said it’s important to first figure out what’s true then after that, think of how you can make it interesting. Then follow through with how you can make it relevant and clear to the audience. And then work on it. Now, according to Nick, “that’s a strategy” or what he calls the ‘Think to Make’ process, “if you’re a good creative, you have an internal database that knows where to go. Start making something.”
Nick proved that he walk the talk when he showed the audience the campaign they did on Valentine’s Day 2015 for Ad Council, ‘Love has no labels’, “We weren’t lying to anyone when we did this.”
This campaign was a collaboration by several brands including Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, P&G, Unilever and more. It aimed to celebrate diversity featuring real people and real feelings, “find the real people. The audience will know it and feel it.”
3. Don’t be a bore.
Fit in before you breakthrough.
More than thinking creatively and starting from the place of truth, Nick says it is also as important for marketers to not be a bore.
He advises marketers to come up with ideas that are stories by starting with behavior, “Start with the behavior and figure out the message from that behavior. Because you can’t always take a story and turn it into a behavior.”
And those three things, according to Nick Law are all you need as marketers to make sure that you come up only with the best work for your brands.
