The Chief Creative Officer, Dentsu Creative USA presented on the theme ‘A Practical Guide to Creativity and Building Creative Agencies’
“Push the conversation forward,” urged Menno Kluin, speaking on day two of Goafest 2022. He cited the example of Oreo’s work ‘A loving world starts with a loving home’ featuring a father welcoming his lesbian daughter and her partner home, and eventually veering around to accepting her choices after initial concern. View the work below.
https://youtu.be/EpfLklSG2dQ
“We just didn’t want a pride message but wanted to move the conversation forward on pride culture,” explained Kluin, CCO at Dentsu Creative USA, adding that one ust work with subject experts and bodies to make it a learning experience.
He revealed that the work elicited tears and strong emotions from the team that worked in it, fulfilling the objective of fostering teamwork, thanks to aligning with a poignant cause.
“Such work becomes more than just advertising,” noted the speaker, offering tips from his experience on creativity and building creative agencies.
India on the Global Awards Scene
Noting that the best agencies in the world have the best production teams or work with the best of them, he also responded to a query on when India would dominate global awards.
His take was that the biggest agencies which win the most at global competitions, also enter the most number of campaigns in multiple categories, spending the most amount of money. Besides which, he had a word of advice for Indian agencies looking to make a mark on the global scale.
Kluin said, “Open up the spectrum. Do something that no one expects to come from India.”
Storytelling Works in Every Category
Thr CCO cited the example of Amex work in the backdrop of the pandemic, to underline the importance of storytelling.
https://youtu.be/myQHCxzPKDQ
With the case of the multi-film campaign, Kluin urged, “Sell the construct, not the individual films. Storytelling works in every category.”
He also pointed to how the ads are also set the Covid context, adding, “One must learn into the ‘now’ for relevance.”
Spend More When People Spend Nothing
The speaker presented the work for Alexa (The Maze) which won accolades across the world to make another point.
At a time when brands were spending nothing in the space, the brand decided to invest in the idea, explained the creative head.
He added, “Spend more when people are spending nothing.” That’s the difference between other ‘leaper clients’ and others,” he observed.
He left the audience with a message, when asked about how to get clients to create good work.
“All clients can do good work. Help them sell products and build brands. Eliminate pro-active. No easier paths,” he surmised.
