Student Justin Troy Bautista shares what he learned at Amir Kassaei’s talk at Spikes Asia 2014
SINGAPORE – Influence and relevance – those were the words that echoed throughout the jam-packed seminar hall of the Suntec Convention Centre in Singapore as Amir Kassaei, Global Chief Creative Officer of DDB gave his talk entitled, “Global Perspective: Imagine. Inspire. Influence. The Only Way To Build Successful Brands.”
For his seminar at the Spikes Asia 2014 Festival of Creativity, Amir focused on the ideology in DDB regarding the importance of becoming truly influential by creating relevant solutions in people’s lives. This influence could only be produced if one acts at the intersection of creativity, humanity, and technology. Creativity, not merely by creating “funky” ads, but by coming up with the most innovative solutions for people. Humanity is also an important part of creating influence because this enables one to have the deepest respect for human beings. Along with creativity and humanity, technology is crucial in creating influence. Technology, for Amir, should only be a tool: one that should not replace the idea or the product of the company. Only if you are able to work at the intersection of these three concepts can one truly achieve influence.
He also presented a very interesting point of view regarding the job that marketers actually have. For Amir, marketers aren’t really working to create content, tell stories, or to collect data. Their job is truly about creating relevance. This is the key to becoming influential. If only one could focus on creating relevance in people’s lives, then everything else would follow.
Amir’s outlook on digital media was another head-turning idea that he shared. For him, digital media is not media as everybody else is saying. Rather, digital media is an infrastructure. If digital media is treated as an infrastructure, then one could approach a problem at a completely different way. He viewed digital media as a unique type of infrastructure in which people could communicate their personal experiences with a brand that creates relevance in their lives. By creating relevant solutions, it is actually the consumers who do the communicating for the brand through digital media.
All of these ideas came together quite seamlessly to create a unique message that stood out among the other seminars that took place in the Spikes Asia 2014 Festival of Creativity. From the beginning of his talk until the very end, each person in that crowd – from the students all the way to the CEOs – was basking in the creative genius that they were all witnessing in the form of Amir Kassaei. His passion for creating relevance was overflowing from every idea that he presented. It was inspiring to see someone communicate an idea about relevance and influence with such clarity and simplicity. Amir seemed to be thinking at a totally different perspective, yet managed to connect with each person in the audience so effortlessly. It was only fitting that the talk focusing on relevance and influence, also turned out to be the one that may have arguable created the greatest impact in the Spikes Asia 2014 Festival of Creativity.
ABOUT JUSTIN TROY BAUTISTA
Bautista is a student at the University of Asia and the Pacific
