'Severance', Shutterstock, San Francisco Bay Coffee: The Work That Made Amy Su
Amy Su has over 15 years experience as a creative across the country. From Chicago, to New York, to San Francisco, she has helped clients solve creative challenges with conceptual storytelling and design craft. She's created successful, results-driven work across channels for Kraft brands including Oscar Mayer and Lunchables, the Bronx Zoo, Shutterstock and Uber Eats.
One of her career highlights is when a video created all from stock for Shutterstock went viral, getting over two million views in one week, and earned some industry awards and recognition (One Show, D&AD, AICP).
At Cutwater, she spearheaded the creative work for Hartz Mountain Corporation, Harvest Snaps, Intuity Medical/POGO Automatic, San Francisco Bay Coffee, and more.
LBB> The ad/music video from my childhood that stays with me…
Amy> A-ha’s 'Take On Me'. My kid’s listening to it now too and it just reminded me of how cool and groundbreaking that music video was at the time.
LBB> The ad/music video/game/web platform that made me want to get into the industry…
Amy> One I still reference today is Jake Scott’s 'Move' for Nike. The musical score, the seamless transitions - just beautiful.
LBB> The creative work that I keep revisiting…
Amy> There’s not really one piece I always go back to - I think I’m constantly just looking for new inspiration in different places.
LBB> My first professional project…
Amy> I actually started off in media as a media planner at Starcom. I can make a pretty organised spreadsheet. Maybe not something I should really be boasting about.
LBB> The piece of work that made me so angry that I vowed to never make anything like *that*…
Amy> This is harsh! I think there are plenty of ads I’ve rolled my eyes at but I just try and make sure I’m constantly pushing myself past mediocrity and hope to get to something great.
LBB> The piece of work that still makes me jealous…
Amy> I love being inspired and reinvigorated by what others are doing in the industry. Most recently it was the stunt that 'Severance' did in Grand Central Station. Sure, they had the celebs to work with but executionally it tied into the show so well.
LBB> The creative project that changed my career…
Amy> I feel like there’ve been a lot of projects, not just one, that have helped shape me and my career.
LBB> The work that I’m proudest of…
Amy> Two come to mind at different points of my career.
First, Shutterstock. Our campaign idea lent itself to some pretty entertaining culture hi-jacking opportunities using ‘just’ stock!
Second, early on in my career, we launched a big campaign for Lunchables with fruit that took a year of patiently waiting for budgets to go our way and great CDs, who never stopped pushing the idea through for us.
LBB> I was involved in this and it makes me cringe…
Amy> I’ve worked on an infomercial. Not a spoof of an infomercial, not an infomercial for a zany, weird product, but an actual 30 minute infomercial. I was making script updates and guesstimating ~30 minutes in the middle of the night during production for a different client. But hey, everything’s a learning experience, right?
LBB> The recent project I was involved in that excited me the most…
Amy> The campaign we just launched for San Francisco Bay Coffee. It's always great to work on brands that are doing good for the world. And from strategy to the production company to the client, everyone’s contributions made the work better and stronger.
