Make It Work First, Make It Look Good Second with Glenn Smith
A charismatic creative leader with 25 years of experience running creative departments and driving brand growth across the UK, EMEA, and global markets. Specialising in creative storytelling and innovation, Glenn Smith is passionate about bringing brand stories to life with flawless craft, restless passion and infectious energy.
Having honed his skills at renowned agencies such as BANC, Y&R, WCRS, and Leith, Glenn joined Southpaw at a pivotal moment. Since then, he has played a key role in shaping the agency’s culture and is the driving force behind its creative originality.
He is obsessed with human behaviour and strongly believes in the power of emotion to build brand salience and drive action with consumers.
LBB> Person – What kind of creative person are you?
Glenn> I’m obsessed with people and how to get an emotional response out of them. That could be a joke, a provocation, a piece of music, an image – anything that fires up the amygdala.
In this respect, advertising is the ultimate industry to flex that obsession. You need to understand the cause and effect of people’s emotions, that’s why I love working with planners – at Southpaw I’m pretty much joined at the hip to our head of strategy, Niki Jones.
It’s also an industry where you get to play with all the creative tools in the box, so it repays you for having a genuine interest in culture from fashion to film, music to technology.
I’m a people pleaser at heart. That’s a key driver for me, I know a lot of creatives do it for themselves, their motivation being ‘what would I like to make?’ or ‘how do I get an award for this?’, and this often leads to great work! But, for me, the best feeling is knowing that my client is skipping down the street, delighted at the work and feeling excited about doing more. Joy leads to trust; trust leads to braver briefs!
That’s the long version. The short answer is I hate structure and repetition. I get bored easily. I have difficulty spelling. I think I’m funny.
LBB> Product – How do you judge the creativity of a piece of work?
Glenn> For me it’s all about the speed at which I ‘lean in’. This is very different to getting my attention – you can do that by slapping the back of my head! Great creative work stirs you quickly, trapping your attention, rather than simply grabbing it.
I’m obviously always looking for something original too, which is increasingly difficult. But I’m more likely to let something go if we can somehow arrange the idea differently or bring a new spin to it.
Creativity, as with culture, is cyclical. So, I’m enjoying seeing a lot of the creative trends of my youth coming back into fashion. It’s something I’ve noticed a lot recently, especially in art direction – you can see the influence the 90s had on the creative chiefs who now have total autonomy over their agency’s output and are basically re-imagining their student books into real work.
Ultimately, I judge creativity on the efficacy of its core idea. Get that right and everything else will fall into place, the design, the type, the tone, etc… Anyone who’s worked in my creative department will know (and be sick of hearing) my mantra: Make it work first, make it look good second.
LBB> Process – Tell us about how you like to make creative work.
Glenn> When it comes to ideas, Zen is the only way for me. I like peace, calm and quiet. I find the least creative people are the ones who think the process is about energy and chaos. This is why I don’t like brainstorms. At best they can get you to a better starting point for creative thinking but never the solution. I like to go into deep thought, focusing on the challenge and seeing what sparks come. For me, this is one of the best feelings you can have. And this doesn’t make it a slow process, either. It can be quick and intense!
I then very quickly get the thoughts down on a page, just notes and quick references, often very messy and vague. Then I like to leave it, walk away, talk to people, reenergise and then come back and ‘assess the mess’. It really is just sifting for gold! You find the nuggets and then you begin polishing.
Once we move into an execution phase, things are different, and it becomes more collaborative. We do have an energetic studio environment, at Southpaw, the music is always on. We want people up and engaging with each other rather than being tied to their desks. But we also have quiet spaces and escape rooms for those who need them.
I do like to use AI for bringing visuals to life. This is a real game changer as you can now add a greater sense of emotion and mood to a concept, fast! This is especially helpful as I like to leave no stone unturned when it comes to solving a creative problem. Effort is important to me, not just to get the job done, but to know in myself I couldn’t have tried harder. There’s honour in that. And I think sometimes that’s lacking these days.
LBB> Press – What external factors have shaped you and what can make or break a creative project?
Glenn> I’m a Geordie, and sometimes that’s enough to paint a clear picture of who I am and what I’m about. But, to solidify the cliches, I come from a very working-class background where all the men had a craft or trade skill, and all the women were incredible gossipers and storytellers. These are amazing foundations for creativity! From a very early age it was also clear I had drawing skills and won several art competitions, resulting in a lot of praise. I liked that feeling! I’m sure most in this industry have a similar story and I’m doubly sure that’s why we have so many fucking awards platforms! Anyway, I was a good drawer, a bit alternative and hung around with girls, so off to art college for me!
Once I reached my career, the biggest influence was observing how not to do it. And that’s mostly about witnessing complacency and the refusal to adapt. I love change, I love progress, I love new. But I also love the craft of great writing and the beauty and nuance of great design. For these reasons I don’t see myself as an early adopter but rather an early opportunist. I love the idea of being a cultural voyeur and then drawing these influences into genuine client challenges. This means you’re always relevant but also always good!
When it comes to creating the best work, the key ingredient is always the client. I’ve had the benefit of working with some of the world’s best brands and their CMOs. The one thing that unites them is an amazing understanding of what great creativity is but no idea how to do it themselves. So, the best work always comes from clients who allow their creative agencies time and space to express themselves and accept that failure is part of the process.
