The Creative Moment Podcast

In the latest of our new podcast series, Creative Moment's Tom Hall chats with senior creative (and popular Creative Moment Awards judge) Herman Dias.

In the second of our new podcast series hosted by Creative Moment's very own Tom Hall, we talk to Made Brave's Naresh Subhash about what sparked his creative career, where he discovered art, storytelling, design and craft, and why diversity is still at the epicentre of his work.

In the first of our new podcast series, Creative Moment talks to a well-known figure in the creative industry, chief creative officer at Ketchum London, Indy Selvarajah.With a varied creative start spanning art, television and scriptwriting, Indy's agency career began a decade ago and led him to his current role in global markets.Now leading a team of creatives at Ketchum, Indy plays a vital role in its 'culture first' approach to work and in this conversation, he talks about what this means to him and how the philosophy was born.We chat about earned media, art-house film, and how right now is a great time to be working in this industry. In his words, "there is no excuse for not making great work".Welcome to the Creative Moment podcast—a Creative Moment... with Indy Selvarajah.

On the Creative Moment podcast this week I'm talking to Mark Runacus MBE.Mark is the co-founder of creative agency Wax/On and the joint chief executive of Outvertising, which is a volunteer-run UK-based network of LGBTQ+ people working in the creative industries.Mark talks about role models past and present, discrimination in the workplace and his history at Karmarama.Here’s what I asked Mark:One of the key elements of your work with Outvertising is to try and create role models for the LGBTQ+ community and one of the ways that you are trying to do this is to increase the diversity of people appearing in adverts. Just talk me through why role models in this context are so important?So when was the first advert that featured a gay man?It's got to the slightly embarrassing stage where there tends to be a token non-white person in lots of adverts, hasn't it? We really should be a bit beyond that now.When we spoke before you quoted some research that said that half of 18 to 24 year-olds don't identify as 100% straight. Society is changing rapidly, isn't it?That has some big implications for the creative marketing sector, doesn't it?What role do you think advertising needs to play in that societal change?Talk to me about Outvertising's mentor scheme and how people can get involved with it?What are the stats on LGBTQ+ people experiencing discrimination in the workplace?Moving on from that to your time at Karmarama, you were chief strategy officer there when it was bought by Accenture. What was your experience of working as a creative person for a management consultancy business?When we chatted before you said that "creatives forgot about the importance of the channel about 25 years ago", what did you mean by that?Why is it that you've decided to focus primarily on scale-up businesses at Wax On?

Jon talks us through how The Liberty Guild works in contrast to the traditional agency model.He explains that it is built around talent; an association of craftspeople working towards a mutual goal. No buildings - it’s simply and easily scalable delivering a global alternative to the standard agency model.Jon explains how and why they charge a flat fee for a product, the result of that product being an idea. Jon believes that charging by the hour is not the right way to go, he charges for an idea.How long does it take to make an idea? You can’t answer that! Clients are now wise to agencies loading hours and people into jobs. The cost to create the idea is the same, regardless of the client - however big or small. The Guild doesn’t work on tiers in terms of the service you get - it will always be the best as the Guild works with world-class talent. They get paid well, work faster and the client pays a fair price.Jon talks through the different products the Guild offers. The Liberty Guild can be whatever shape the client wants them to be - ideas only or ideas and activation.It is different every time for each client depending on where they are at with their brand and what they need but they are flexible.Jon discusses the longevity of ideas which has been discussed for a long time within the creative industry. Who owns ideas?Jon feels it is pointless for the client to own the ideas. The Guild works by holding the IP for ideas until the client buys an idea. The other ideas remain the property of the person who created them. Jon explains why a model akin to music licensing might be the way to go when it comes to ownership of ideas. He is scaling the business so this is something he is looking at but not top of the list right now!Jon talks over how the creative process has worked as a virtual model. The Liberty Guild is currently 100% virtual. He says that those moments of spontaneity are not real. They don’t happen in a corridor or over a cup of tea. He says it comes from hard work; blood, sweat and tears. He feels that to work on your own terms in your own environment breeds success. Jon has looked at the science of creative excellence. He’s studied the successful working practices of companies like Klarna and Spotify and other technical giants and has worked out this is the best, most effective, most successful way of working; how to get the most out of people.Jon explains how the Guild works and how it is designed to deliver optimal performance. It isn’t a big team. It’s about multiple small teams. The wonder of a spontaneous creative environment is a myth. Despite The Guild being 100% virtual, Jon is sold on the need for an environment. He takes Salesforce as an example who have walked out of their huge offices and how this represents a fundamental shift in how we work. We need human contact but we don’t need 20 floors of desks.Jon talks over where it goes from here? But doesn’t believe this will mean a brain drain. The broadband infrastructure means we can work to exercise our minds from anywhere in the world. Jon talks over the meaning behind freelance. He gives a history lesson on where the term came from!It is a brilliant way to be and how to work on your terms that creates your best work. The Liberty Guild is about freedom and how it is a better way to work for the creative industry and clients too.

This week, our guest on the 'Creative Legends' podcast is Mike Mathieson, CEO and founder of brand entertainment agency Cake.Building Cake into a legendary and award-winning creative agency.Mike started out working with bands as a record plugger and expanding into PR for music festivals where I met brands and realised it was a better outlet for creativity and the bottom line. Along with Mark Whelan and Ben Jones he founded Cake and Brand Entertainment was born. Joined by Adrian Pettett he built the agency working with global brands in PR, Experiential, Social Media and content creation.In 2008 Cake was acquired by Havas and in 2009 a second Cake office was launched in New York. The business continued to build and in 2012 was heavily involved in high-profile campaigns for Coca-Cola, British Airways, and Eurostar at the London Olympics. Mike and Graham talk about:3.05 Mike's beginning in the music industry as a plugger and the story behind his first-ever business call.5.11 Mike talks about his move to Virgin Records and what he learned working with Janet Jackson, Soul2Soul, Cutting Crew and Paula Abdul.6.01 How Mike took an unconventional path to working in PR and the creative tactics getting the bands noticed.7.30 Mike recounts stories of stunts that worked including the Power of Love and a vibrator.8.26 How Richard Branson was the master of the stunts including abseiling down a newly opening store 9.38 Where the name Cake came from10.20 When Mike left Virgin and started FFI - For Further Information and its alternative name known to pluggers11.20 When Mike decided to start out on his own12.27 How Mike started working on music festivals and learning about the process, sponsors and the importance of the brands13.27 Mike's eureka moment!14.02 Met Mark Whelan and Ben Jones and was working with Jim Dowling, and decided to set up Cake in 1999 all about youth culture and marketing15.37 Brand entertainment was born! The more entertaining the sale of a product, the more successful it would be.16.07 Mike talks about 'creativity rooted in truth', translating to the notion of 'transparency' today17.20 Mike talks about Orange and it's creative. GLASTONBURY / TENT / LOST.

Show highlights:How after joining GREY in May this year, Laura arrived mid-lockdown and so has only recently started to meet her new team!Laura talks about how COVID has forced us all to change our habits - for example, in some ways we know our colleagues on a more personal level having had a Zoom view into their home lives!How the quiet and solitude of working from home can aid creative thinking for some.How the lockdown has seen the disappearance of stereotypes. Stories told in advertising over and over previously are no longer true. The emphasis is now on something different.How some of the changes we've experienced during the lockdown will remain permanent but others will not.Why advertising is more important: it can take complicated messages and make them simple.Why creativity can help get the economy moving again.Laura talks about some of the recent work that she has enjoyed and why, including LVMH and Uncommon's candles with the Earl of East.The balance of creating purposeful work but making sure people are still entertained.How agility and speed have been important during the lockdown period.How Laura has lead a new team without meeting them face to face.  How junior creatives are managing in this period, and how it may affect their long term careers. Laura talks about the changes she has made since she arrived, and how she has tried to instill confidence in change into the team.How the borderless way of working at GREY is a good way to work.Laura talks about the Ready for Business project (an online personalised mentoring programme) that she is involved with. 

Nick and Nadja diplomatically answer which campaign is their favourite; Guinness Clear or #wombstories!They give us the inside track on #wombstories, where it all stems from and the key themes and concepts they address in the creative work.Nadja outlines the presentation of sanitary products historically, and how #wombstories aimed to up-end that single narrative showing its complexity.Nick speaks about the ambition of the project trying to convey the range of emotion that is explored.They both explain how using animation gave them license to anthropomorphise the womb, allowing the viewer even more access to the truth that you can't show in real life.Nadja talks about the complexity that is at the heart of the art direction, and how it was important to illustrate the pain and love behind the experience. It's about empathising and conceptualising the experience - the debilitating feeling that is behind it.Nick and Nadja talk us through Guinness Clear and how, in the end, it is the story of the emperor's new clothes, their aim to re-position memory structures, and using humour to embed it in people's minds.We talk about how each project begins with a business problem to solve.Unlearning the way we think about particular subjects is what they have done with their acclaimed blood normal campaign.We get an insight into their personal stories, where they began, and how long they've worked together. They talk about their craft, their passions, and how they go about their work as a partnership. Nick talks about how growing up in South Africa gave him a resilience and the ability to adapt; how living through such change has helped shaped him and makes them good at what they do.Finally, we end on what Nick and Nadja hope their legacy to be.

On the latest of our Creativity Matters series of podcasts, I’m talking to Malcolm Poynton, global chief creative officer, chair global creative board at Cheil Worldwide.Malcolm discusses what he sees at the biggest challenges for the creative sector coming out of the lockdown.Here’s a flavour of what Malcolm and I discuss:1.30 mins Malcolm describes 2020 as the “toughest year” ever for the creative sector.2.18 mins Malcolm compares the global impact of COVID-19 on advertising spend.2.50 mins “Marketing budget gets cut first… this is the deepest recession in our lifetime, so it's “tough” (for our industry) says Malcolm.3.50 mins “Cheil is the only global network that was built this century,” claims Malcolm.5.20 mins How some agency models are better structured for the challenges of the pandemic than others.5.50 mins The central, unavoidable, and inconvenient truth that client budgets have been cut and no-one knows when they will come back.6.15 mins Is this a blip or will we see a re-structure of the creative sector?7.10 mins  How the last few years have seen an overly conservative business climate. Agencies have become reliant on a lazy media approach and marketers have concentrated their efforts on making things digitally efficient, rather than creative. 8 mins Why the consumer mindset is ahead of most brand communications and actions, and why that has changed the role of modern agencies.10 mins Why did the UK creative sector become addicted to recruiting white, middle-class graduates?14.20 mins How much real innovation have we seen in the creative sector in the last 5 years?15.40 mins Why the creative sector needs to develop a better hacker mentality.17.50 mins How the contract between consumers and media owners has changed and what that means for brands and communicators?20.20 mins How social media firms have had to change their business to a media model. 21.25 mins Why gaming platforms are becoming more significant communication platforms than social media platforms22.22 mins Why communicators need a lot more understanding of how consumers spend their time24 mins A discussion on why the response rates on social media are so low28 mins How the messaging platforms in China are linked to numerous services and products with payment, banking, ecommerce services - rather than the point based solutions we tend to see in the West.31 mins Why Malcolm believes that all creative communicators must prioritise mobile above all other platforms.   

Isabel founded the Creative Mentor Network in 2014 with the vision and mission of working with young people from lower socio-economic backgrounds. She saw the barriers many face in pursuing a career in the creative industries - and the talent the industry was missing out on.Having already worked to increase BAME diversity, the network was designed to go beyond this to help all young people progress.Graham and Isabel talk about the barriers that exist and the work being done to change this and perceptions. With a background in education, Isabel was frustrated with the system with underfunded schools and limited resources when it came to careers support. There was a lack of awareness of the creative professions with a focus on more traditional careers. During her experience as a teacher, she saw how excited her students were about media, about ideas and the many subjects the creative industries had to offer.The network recognises that creativity is the number one skill that employers are looking for. Today, it is less about memorising facts and more about innovation, problem-solving and people skills as well as confidence. 80% of the young people Isabel works with are from non-white backgrounds.Specifically, Graham and Isabel discuss unpaid internships, better access to the industry, and those who invest in their people. They explore why diversity is such a problem in the creative industries and how their mentorship programme works.The network harvests a young network of talented and driven individuals from a diverse background.Isabel is positive about the future and how organisations are actively investing in this. Her ambition is for the network NOT to have to exist. Here are some links to some of the young talent from the network that Isabel refers to in the podcast that you might like to take a look at:https://www.creativementornetwork.org/https://www.marymandefield.comhttps://blanguageonline.com/www.Lynneegwuekwe.com www.identity20.org

This podcast series is called 'Creative Legends', hosted by good friend of Creative Moment, Graham Goodkind.Graham will talk to a legend in the creative industry, someone who has done something that is creatively legendary or a creative legend in their own right.This week, our guest is Lotte Jones, partner at freuds. As you may have guessed, in true lockdown style, this was conducted via Zoom.Graham and Lotte talk about many things from Lotte's upbringing, her career decisions, those who influenced her most, and what she is currently executing in her role as partner at freuds.Having worked on the very first Big Brother, Lotte then worked with Jilly Forster at Forster Communications which she describes as being a 'formative time' in her career.Graham and Lotte discuss her view of creativity, her belief in the 'culture of permission' and the importance of risk-taking and having fun!Graham and Lotte discuss:Lotte's background, love of the history of art and Italian, and her first steps into the creative industry.How Lotte feels about being described as the number one creative director in PRWeek UK's Powerbook 2020.How Jilly Forster was a significant influence on her career.How moving to Blue Rubicon was an important and brave decision.Lotte talks about how she has balanced her altruistic principles with the commercial world she works in.Lotte talks about the challenges faced when Teneo and Blue Rubicon merged. Why being one of the founders of Teneo's consumer offer Surname&Surname was a professional and personal challenge.Lotte talks about why she joined freud's as a partner in 2018 and the influence of Matthew Freud.How Lotte plays an active role in bringing together creativity and strategy and how both disciplines should not underestimate each other.Lotte talks us about what she values in creativity most and how she believes in promoting "a culture of permission" within her team.Lotte talks us through a typical week at freuds and how the team approach creative briefs.Lotte highlights the exceptional female creative talent and who is doing great work.The importance of seeking out diverse reference points and how it is "our duty" to make this happen in the industry so we don't continue to hire in our own image.Graham and Lotte discuss a shared appreciation of a particular creative campaign that stood out for them.Lotte talks about her love of yoga and why she likes to start the day with a meditation as well as her 'creative' holiday choices!

This week on the Creative Legends podcast our guest is Tom Pellereau, Inventor and BBC Apprentice Winner 2011. Tom discusses idea generation from an inventor’s perspective, his approach to problem-solving and talks us through the thinking behind some of his most successful. Tom’s creative approach centres keeping people at the core of the idea - but there is also a thread of fun running through most of his inventions. Here’s a summary of what Graham and Tom talk about:Tom delves into his bag of goodies in the studio and talks through what was behind the ideas for his products. These range from his first success, the curved nail file called StylFile through to the StylPro which cleans makeup brushes - selling millions!Graham and Tom also chat about the influence and role of Lord Sugar after Tom won the Apprentice in 2011 and how they integrated the ‘commercial’ with the ‘creative’ for a winning formula.As an engineer, Tom uses creativity in a more systematic way. His dream was to become an inventor from the age of 4.Tom is dyslexic and he believes this has helped him use creativity in a different way.Tom doesn’t position himself as being creative but as a problem solver; he looks for flaws in products and tries to fix them to improve the product.

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Creative Legends Podcast: Graham Goodkind interviews Jon Wilkins, Global Managing Director Creative Council Accenture Interactive, Chairman, Karmarama on The Creative Moment Podcast

‘Creativity Matters’GUEST: SHAUN MCILRATHTITLE: GLOBAL CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICERCOMPANY: IRIS WORLDWIDEINTRO:This week I’m pleased to be catching up with Shaun McIlrath, Global Chief Creative Officer at Iris Worldwide on the Creative Moment Podcast where we talk about creativity and Shaun’s perspective on it.Shaun has been at Iris for almost 12 years, before that he was at VCCP and Heresy which he founded in 2002. Iris describes itself as a global creative problem solving agency and it has revenues north of £100m, offices in 14 locations around the globe and is part of the Cheil network.Here’s a summary of what Shaun and I discuss: [00:01:02] Why Shaun believes that the natural order of advertising agencies is currently “to create the ordinary.”[00:01:32] Why creative firms need to concentrate on how they go about making exceptional work and how they make it more often.[00:02:41] Why Shaun believes we're in a period of creative transition.[00:03:29] Why some of the most interesting creative work will never be seen.[00:04:26] Is advertising in its current form addressing consumer needs? [00:04:47] How interruptive advertising has become an anathema to a generation that's grown up on demand content. [00:05:51] Why today's marketers need to ask "is your company engaging with consumers in a more creative way than than your competitors?" [00:06:15] In the modern media environment what are the best ways for companies to creatively engage with their consumers?[00:07:15] Why companies need to think about creativity earlier than just in their marketing campaigns.[00:08:33] Why great companies are marketing companies.[00:09:11] Why advertising is a gate-crasher of the party: You either have to tell a joke or bring a bottle. [00:13:37] Why creativity thrives in adversity.[00:14:21] Why the worst marketing comes from a place of complacency. [00:16:52] Why businesses going through difficult times tend to create better, more creative campaigns. [00:19:51] Why the best creative work "feels more like culture than marketing." [00:19:58] Why participation marketing and creating shareable content explodes your media budget exponentially.[00:20:39] Why the best campaigns have no rear view mirror. [00:23:40] Why creatives need puppy-like enthusiasm and a very short memory.[00:23:51] Why the best creatives are natural optimists - you've got to believe that there is a better way of doing something.[00:25:00] Why the four stages of a creatives' career can be compared to the members of The Beatles.[00:27:58] Can ads remain timeless or are they only great in the culture that they existed?[00:28:48] Why Shaun believes the current adversity within advertising will mean that it will thrive again.[00:30:45] How the creatives of today have different skills and personalities to their predecessors. [00:31:43 ] Is that what makes a good creative today? [00:32:32] The more diverse the creative team is, the more interesting the output becomes. [00:32:53] Why creativity is an incredibly meritocratic business.[00:34:22] What do clients want from their creativity? [00:36:53] How great advertising taps into people's basic emotions. [00:37:33] Does the amount of humour in adverts currently reflect the bleak times we're living through? [00:39:32] Shaun believes the ability to stay close to the consumer is what "keeps great companies alive."[00:39:46] What is Shaun's creative process? [00:42:10] Are marketing directors good at buying creativity? [00:44:38] Shaun was born in Northern Ireland into a Protestant family in Belfast and his parents gave him a Catho

Kevin has worked at FleishmanHillardFishburn for three years, and before that he was at Blue Rubicon for seven years. Here’s a summary of what we discussed:[00:03:22] Kevin is a big believer that every single person is creative, and actually some people are just slightly more energised by it than others. [00:03:46] Kevin suggests that people taking creative roles are those that perhaps feel the most confident and excited about the world of creativity rather than necessarily being the very, very best at it. [00:04:30] How just solving a problem doesn't mean that you're being creative. It's actually using a bit of ingenuity, a bit of innovation, some fresh thinking to solve that problem. Kevin thinks that's where where the true definition of creativity lies. [00:05:11] We talk about where Kevin sees his most creative challenge yet. [00:05:35] We talk about the hierarchy applied to creative roles. [00:07:24] How PR agencies tend to give away their their creativity for free in the pitch process, and the economic outcome of that. [00:07:46] How this means PR firms are always going to be limited in their resources.[00:07:59] The difference between this kind of approach and that of the advertising agency that has more resource, time and budget to apply to the brief.[00:08:19] Why Kevin believes PR firms are often given the stick and not the carrot when it comes to the creative brief, and how PR agencies are trained to perform in these conditions.[00:09:28] If you are a creative agency luxuriating in huge budget, huge amounts of time and huge thinking space, can the same level of creativity be found without those external pressures? [00:09:41] As a self confessed eternal optimist, Kevin sometimes sees creativity in communications and PR really thriving under pressures, particularly impressed by the healthcare space.[00:10:18] How when you see the creativity rise to the top within that kind of harsh regulatory environment, that's when you're like, wow, that is great, great creativity. [00:10:51] What it is like being part of Omnicom? [00:11:29] How surprised Kevin is at how well connected the agencies are to one another and although technically competitors, how they also get on really well and sometimes work together. [00:12:12] How they collaborate with other agencies within the group.[00:12:24] How the other agencies respectfully admit they don't necessarily do PR. And why would they? [00:14:13] So, in theory, does the best idea win these days? [00:15:35] Why Kevin thinks creative agencies are built around big, clear ideas and comms agencies are built around understanding the nuances and intricacies of a particular problem. [00:15:51] And why they don't need to try and be the same. [00:19:09] Who rises to the top in terms of a traditional creative director role? [00:22:05] Can ad people come up with great PR ideas?[00:25:38] Does Kevin follow a methodology in terms of his creative process or is it more like organised chaos? [00:26:13] Why having 'rigour' is an important part of everything we do. [00:27:27] How creating great ideas is never, ever about how many people there are int he room.[00:27:31] And why its about the right people in the room and everyone is part of the creative process. [00:29:13] How and why Kevin works to the rule of 'threes' when attacking a brief.[00:32:17] Does data and the insight limit creativity? [00:32:32] How sometimes it is not all about the data but sometimes just about having fun with an idea.[00:35:34] Why Kevin think sometimes the rigour applied to the process can hold him back creatively.[00:36:28] With the creative sector dominated by white men, how does FHF recruit creative

This week I was thrilled to catch up with Nik Govier, Founder and CEO at Blurred on the Creative Moment Podcast in the latest of our ‘Creativity Matters’ shows.Nik was previously joint founder at Unity before setting up Blurred in October last year.Here’s a summary of what we discussed: [00:00:50] The link between purpose and creativity. [00:01:25] Why you need creativity in order to create cut through.  [00:02:04] Whether brands need to have creativity at the heart of their purpose. [00:04:39] How Nik believes purpose is not just a marketing fad - it is fundamental to the future of our planet. [00:05:45] Why research shows that purpose is becoming more important as a purchasing criteria. [00:10:12] Why Nik believes that B2B and corporate audiences are often subject to "second rate creativity."  [00:13:38] Why Nik believes context isn't relevant to creativity. [00:16:04] How the executive creative director role is changing. [00:19:46] Why Blurred splits its creative teams by having both creative specialist consultants and real world experts.  [00:22:59 ] How different types of agencies are approaching creativity. [00:26:44] Whether brands are frequently putting outlandish creativite output ahead of creative strategy. [00:28:50] Is the fast paced nature of communications impacting the quality of creative work.  [00:29:38] Why you need to be able to access different types of creatives depending on the channel and type of content.  [00:35:26] Why there is always a jigsaw on the go in the Blurred offices. [00:37:54] Nik tells us how she thinks history will judge this era of creative thinking. [00:38:22] Why great creativity is born often from extreme pressure and discomfort. 

This week I'm excited to be talking to Chris Griffiths as part of our 'Creativity Matters' series of podcasts.Chris Griffiths is founder and CEO of Open Genius, a technology business that, in Chris’s words, “aims to put a process behind creativity.” Chis has written a book called The Creative Thinking Handbook: Your Step-by-Step Guide to Problem Solving in Business and has an interesting perspective on whether we’re born creative, how we lose our creative instincts and how we can get it back.Here is a flavour of what we discussed:[00:00:51] How can employers encourage people to be more creative?[00:01:29] Why the right mindset is important for successful creative thinking.[00:02:02] Why people who say they are ‘not creative’ are absolutely wrong. [00:02:15] How he says we unlearn how to be creative as we get older - Chris refers to George Lamb’s study back in 1969. [00:03:31] Why innocence and confidence are key components of being creative.[00:04:22] Chris tells us how to make creativity thrive in a business.[00:05:37] How relevant is the nature/nurture debate in determining how creative a person is? [00:07:50] Why creativity is not about knowing how to be creative but more about knowing what not to do that stops you being creative. [00:08:42] The link between creative entrepreneurs and dyslexia.[00:10:01] Do standardized creativity tests work?[00:10:52] Chris talks us through the different types of creativity.[00:11:34] Why between the ages of 40 and 50 our creativity often starts to increase again. [00:14:19] How technology negatively impacts creativity[00:15:59] Why Chris believes real power in business today is all about new knowledge - and why you must be creative to disruptive enough to find that new knowledge.[00:16:22] The distinction between creativity and innovation[00:16:31]Why most people don't really know what creativity means. [00:16:55] The link between the creative mind and the analytical mind[00:18:27] How increased creativity always leads to increased productivity.[00:20:04] Why productivity is about doing the right thing at the right time.[00:21:08] Chirs talks us through Open Genius’s new software Ayoa which is designed to be the centre for organisations creative thinking, collaboration and task management.[00:23:30] Which creative processes does Chris thinks work[00:25:00] Why you must come to brainstorm with an idea[00:27:17] How we can all become more childlike in our thinking

Welcome to the first ever Creative Moment podcast. Hope you enjoy it, if you do please do leave us a decent review and subscribe on iTunes.We’re going to be interviewing some of the UK's most successful Creative Directors over the next few months - so welcome to the show.This week I'm thrilled to be catching up with Mark Perkins, creative director of W Communications. If you look at the most famous consumer PR campaigns in the UK over the last 10 years or so, most of them (not all) have come from a very small number of PR creatives, (probably less than 10) and Mark is undoubtedly a member of this pretty unique club.Here is a summary of what Mark and I discuss:How Mark showed the power of creative persuasion at a young age by getting his parents to buy a dog!Why Mark learnt how to be shouted at when he worked at The Sun as Kelvin Mackenzie's runnerHow Mark turned away from a career in journalism to a career in public relationsMark tells us about his first PR job - in a windowless office, with a boss who was having a breakdown and smoked 80 a day!How he managed to get a job at The Red Consultancy despite a car crash interview by writing an assessment of his interview performance to the then ceoWhy Mark almost left public relations in search of greater creative freedomHow his time at Cow PR shaped the rest of his careerWhy Mark believes he sees things through a different lensHow his time at a startup has changed his approach to workWhy Mark left creative shop Cow to go to the more corporate MHPWhy Mark, while he was at MHP, wanted to “knock Mischief off their perch.”How the multiple award winning Christmas Tinners campaign almost didn't get included in the pitch for the Game accountMark talks us through the genesis of The NHS Missing Type campaignMark tells us why he believes the potential for creative public relations is so hugeWhat 2 questions all creatives need to ask when they come up with a campaignWhy speed and agility of the idea is now criticalMark asks whether the story has become more important than the art in creativityWhy clients now want more ideas for spendHow modern technology has made it easier to bring an idea to lifeWhere Mark gets his creative ideas fromWhat Mark believes is the role of a creative directorWhy brainstorms don’t normally result in high quality ideasWhy creatives must forget about the brand and think about the audienceWhy Mark links entrepreneurship and creativityHow to apply discipline and rigour to creativity, not jazz hands and wacky ideas!Mark identifies his top 2 favourite creative campaigns that he’s worked on - and the worst campaign he’s ever worked on