From Cultural Observer to Creative Director: Angelo An's Quiet Persistence

Angelo An is a creative director who is passionate about ideas and art direction. Over the years, his work has been recognised in many global and local advertising award shows like D&AD, Cannes Lions, Immortal Awards, Spikes, AWARD, and Axis Awards.

In 2023, he and his creative partner Alan Jones were awarded the coveted Asia Pacific Creative Team of the Year at AWARD. You can find the digital Angelo at alanandangelo.com, or if you prefer the real thing, at FCB Aotearoa (New Zealand).

LBB> Person: What kind of creative person are you?

Angelo> I’m pretty private. I don’t naturally shout about my work or my process, but I do put a lot of care into both. To me, creativity is a quiet persistence. It’s showing up, cracking on, asking the right questions, and pushing an idea around until it stops feeling like an idea and starts feeling inevitable.

Growing up, I never labelled myself as ‘creative’ or ‘uncreative’. I was just drawn to ideas that felt unexpected. Things that made me feel something, whether it was laughter, surprise or an emotional gut punch. Over time, I’ve realised that’s still what drives me. I’m not looking for ideas that are clever for clever’s sake, I look for ideas that grow from a human truth and just feel ‘right’.

My approach is like finding the order in chaos. That sounds a little dramatic, but if you ever saw my Mac desktop folders, you might see what I mean. A start to any project can be messy, but with a mixture of logic and feelings, it starts to make things clearer. A little structure helps as well. But making sure I make time to wander, wonder, and let ideas simmer is essential to me. I find it gives ideas space to breathe (and myself) which helps it find its legs.

I like to try to make creativity part of everyday life, as it makes everything more interesting.

LBB> Product: How do you judge the creativity of a piece of work?

Angelo> Great work doesn’t just look good, it feels right. It lands with clarity, making you wonder how no one had thought of it before. From brutally simple posters to TVCs with barely any words, I’m a big fan of restraint. Especially used in innovative and intentional ways. There’s a power in knowing when not to over-explain and when to let the idea do the talking.

For example, AWKBOARDS is a recent piece I’m proud of. It was a campaign for Life Pharmacy, shining a light on how awkward it can be to buy certain pharmacy products in person. But now that they’re on Uber Eats, all that awkwardness shifts to the poor delivery driver.

It was simple, innovative, and driven by a killer insight. We used data to tag ‘awkward’ purchases and linked them to digital billboards that followed the drivers around the city. It was loud and funny, but incredibly simple in its premise. Flipping the embarrassment, shining the benefit, and making people smile. Another piece I’m proud of is a TVC called 'Toll Booth' for NZTA Waka Kotahi. A weird emotional gut punch.

I think that’s what I’m drawn to. Ideas that are emotionally intelligent, that play with tension or insight in a way that feels fresh. It doesn’t matter the channel. What matters is the thinking behind it. If it makes you laugh, cry, or shit yourself (a saying a past ECD and friend use to say) that’s a good sign. The best creative work balances logic and feels, with a weird outer layer, so it doesn’t feel like advertising when you see it.

LBB> Process: Tell us about how you like to make creative work.

Angelo> My process usually starts by locking myself in a room with my creative partner, Alan Jones. We talk about the brief, and everything but the brief. There’s a lot of chat. But somewhere in amongst the sea of gibberish, something sticks. A weird connection, a fresh insight, something that makes us both light up. That moment of 'what if?' is pretty cool, and it’s something I’ve learned to trust. From there, we build. Poke and prod the idea around with a bunch of 'whys'. And if it can hold up through the many rounds and it’s still standing, we keep going. A lot of the time, it either suffers a quick death (which happens a lot) or it starts to feel ‘inevitable’. Like, “Shit, of course it’s that”. That’s when I know we’re onto something.

I don’t love big brainstorms, especially early on. They can feel like an unnecessary dance that chews up time. I think good ideas usually start quietly, with a bit of graft and ownership. Once something’s got legs, then collaboration becomes key. The right people, at the right time, can lift an idea from good to great.

I like to make time and space for ideas to grow as well. Sometimes that looks like staring out the window or taking Tui (Alan’s dog, but she often gets mistaken for mine. It’s funny as we don’t look anything alike) outside or tapping my thoughts into my laptop. Either way, I’ve found that creativity shows up when you do. It’s more about graft than bolts of lightning.

LBB> Press: What external factors have shaped you and what can make or break a creative project?

Angelo> I grew up bouncing between Manila, Osaka, Seoul, and finally, my family settled in Aotearoa (New Zealand). At the time, it felt normal. But looking back, those cultural mixes shaped a lot of how I see the world. It taught me to listen, observe, and notice the small details. That sensitivity plays a big part in how I approach creativity today. I was also obsessed with drawing growing up. It came pretty naturally. Also, being an immigrant kid, I found more comfort in communicating through visuals than speaking, as that was something I had to pick up when we moved here.

What can make or break a project? Trust. Huge. When a client truly backs you, it makes a clear landing for the creative leap. I’ve seen ideas turn into magic under that kind of support, and I’ve also seen them get watered down when fear creeps in. The leap can be scary. It’s natural. But when it lands, it makes everything worth it.

Another significant factor is timing. The right idea, at the right moment, can have heaps of cut through. But even great ideas fall flat if the planets don’t align. For example, if the team’s not ready, the client’s not brave, or the brief isn’t clear, finding the order in that chaos is half the job.

But above all, I think it comes down to resilience. Projects get messy. It’s unpredictable. Shifting goal posts. I’ve learned to ride it out, stay open, and keep pushing until something clicks. Because when it finally does, and everything comes together, that moment is pretty special.