Overcoming Creative Panic with Ben Peckett

Ben Peckett is group creative director at Amplify working with the team to create campaigns and experiences for the likes of LEGO, Google and Porsche. Having started his advertising journey as a copywriter, he’s been a creative lead in Europe and the UK for the last 18 years, and is passionate about good storytelling, coffee and golf. But not necessarily in that order.

Blink.

Blink.

Blink.

Taunted by the tiny, pulsing reminder of the blank page I’d yet to fill. If it could have reached inside my head and announced my insecurities through a megaphone, it would have. Cursor pr*ck.

Just like the open possibility of my blank page, the creative brief was open too. Neat little bullet points about target audience and key messaging swirled together with a checklist of KPIs to create one big blurry “Solved it yet? Come on already!” Just at the point when the creative taps should have been flowing and I should have been sketching, brainstorming and letting brilliance flow, there wasn’t so much as a drip. Dry as a bone. The Death Valley of creativity.

Whether it was the weight of the project, the experienced client’s expectations, or the fear that they might not like anything I put in front of them, possibility had been crippled by creative anxiety. And a ticking clock.

Now, as a young copywriter all I thought about was that killer line and call to action. The words that turned paragraphs of technical jargon and brand speak into something eye-catching. The phrase that would be a brand signifier for the ages. (You’ve got to dream right?) But this pursuit of advertising / brand / copywriting perfection was actually the obstacle.

36 hours before the client presentation, my head of copy took me to one side and gave me the piece of advice and lesson that would change everything.

“I want you to shut your laptop and walk away for an hour. When you come back, put pen to paper and get anything and everything down. It doesn’t matter how random, how good, how bad, how unrelated to the brief… It’s all relevant at this stage. And when it’s all out on the page, we can take a scalpel to it, whittle it down, connect the dots and craft it into something.”

It feels counterintuitive when you’ve got a case of the blank-page syndrome that you have to write something down to overcome it, but it holds true. You have to start somewhere. Not a revelation dear reader, I know. And not necessarily that piece of otherworldly advice you’ve been hoping will unlock your next wave of world-dominating creativity (but never say never). 

But it’s a lesson that’s stayed with me. When the briefs have been tough, and when they’ve been easy. And especially when the inevitable imposter syndrome strikes and creative panic takes hold. Pablo Picasso once said “Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working" and working through it is the best way forward. Individually, and together.

Which brings me to my second bonus lesson - ‘Don’t be a dick’. This is a motto pinched from a coffee shop in Cape Town called The House of Machines, and it’s one I think applies to our industry and life more broadly. Being a good creative, leader, collaborator, co-worker, friend, partner… is about making yourself available. Be approachable. Give your time. Be helpful. Try and find a solve. Work as a team. And don’t let ego get in the way.

My old head of copy got that with his little words of wisdom and guidance at just the right time through the early part of my career.

So far, it’s served me pretty well.