Creative Marketing: Being Grounded in Firm Strategic Insight with Adrian Taylor

Adrian Taylor is SVP, executive creative director at global brand experience agency, Jack Morton’s London office where he is responsible for the output of an eclectic group of creatives who deliver immersive brand experiences for global clients such as Meta, Ericsson and Scania. An industry veteran with 25 years experience, Adrian originally trained as a Product and Furniture designer and has used his passion for both design excellence and theatrical creativity to deliver numerous world class experiences for both temporary and permanent exhibitions, events and installations. In addition to his time at Jack Morton, he has taught Interior Design at Manchester Metropolitan University and ran his own agency in Manchester which specialised in commercial interior design.  

LBB> What does creativity mean to your brand?

Adrian> It is truly in the bones of the business and not just within the creative department. We’ve got some incredibly diverse creative talent across the business, and it empowers everything we do from internal initiatives through our creative work and into our Production delivery. To see our teams creatively problem solving on site in the face of adversity is awe inspiring. 

LBB> And more broadly what does creativity mean to you - outside of work, outside of the sphere of advertising and marketing?

Adrian> It’s super important to me, I’ve always been very sensitive to and aware of my surroundings – people, sound, smells, light, colour and I approach creative work by thinking through how experiences will be felt by people. I love experiencing new places, people watching and collecting new thoughts and inspiration. My work covers an increasingly broad spectrum across content and live experiences and so I find the best way keep up to date, inspired and able to critique my teams work is to use my natural inquisitiveness to magpie as much source material as possible. 

LBB> What was the moment or experience in your career that really helped ferment the importance of creativity in marketing?

Adrian> One of my first jobs was working for a company that was making props for the Millennium Dome, London in 1999 ahead of its opening. I was totally blown away by that place the first time I saw it, it was jaw dropping and to this day some of the best brand experiential content and creativity I’ve ever seen. That led me to find the companies that created the work which led me to a well-known Experiential Advertising Agency and the pathway for the rest of my career to date.

LBB> What have you learned is the key to nurturing fruitful relationships with your creative partners?

Adrian> As with all relationship’s chemistry is everything, the most successful relationships are when there is trust and understanding. We create our best work when the client team gives us good briefs and trust us to deliver for them. I would always encourage clients to choose their agency’s based upon how they get along rather purely on their first impressions of work in a pitch situation. 

LBB> Which creative campaigns from other brands (past or present) have inspired you most in your career and why?

Adrian> Recently Moncler – The Art of genius at London Fashion Week was a beautifully crafted experiential event. The curation, design and art direction was incredible with 10,000 people invited to immerse themselves in the brand via a series of partnership installations. What was so unique was that clothes only played a part as a full sensorial theatrical environment was brought to life by a host of co-creators enabling people to become part of Moncler’s world rather than just witness to it. This is what truly successful experiential work is about.

LBB> What campaign that you’ve worked on has been the most creatively satisfying and why?

Adrian> I specialise in immersive Brand experiences and one of my favourite projects the team at Jack Morton created was the Imagine Possible experience for Ericsson at the Mobile World Congress 2022. It brought together all the incredible skills of the team across storytelling, immersive content creation and design and is genuinely the most impactful, enjoyable piece of experiential marketing I’ve seen. I couldn’t get enough of it and I went around it many times, as did the clients and visitors. 

LBB> Of all of the puzzles facing marketers right now, what’s the topic that’s perplexing your team the most right now?

Adrian> Keeping one step ahead in our knowledge of emerging technologies and how best to utilise them efficiently for our clients is an ongoing challenge. Our clients quite rightly want to create work which leverages the latest and greatest in innovation and we need to work hard to evaluate what is emerging and use it effectively and not just for the sake of it but because it’s the next big thing. 

LBB> What areas of marketing are you seeing most exciting potential for creativity?

Adrian> It has to be AI! The power of potential for crafting more bespoke experiences is immense. The best example I have experienced recently was an immersive theatre piece called Saint Jude’s by Swamp Motel in London. The way that they harnessed AI to help craft the narrative was very cool as they used it very cleverly to have live conversations with the visitors throughout the experience and tailor it to the individual. I can see great opportunities for this to assist with narrative storytelling going forwards.

LBB> You must see so many ideas pitched to you - and have had to sell in so many ideas to the rest of your company. So what’s the key to selling a great idea?

Adrian> It must be grounded in a firm strategic insight. You must remove as much subjectivity as possible to avoid design by committee and the best way to do that is to have rigorous strategy, an insight and clear jumping off point for the creative to keep it on point. Secondly, it’s got to be super simple, if you can’t write it down on a post it note it’s not going to fly. 

LBB> In your experience how can marketing teams drive creativity throughout the rest of an organisation?

Adrian> By taking brave decisions, trusting their creative partners to deliver and collaborating with them as one. 

LBB> How do you encourage creative excellence among your team?

Adrian> I work hard on the chemistry of casting the teams. The aim is to curate an eclectic team of people who gel well together and who’s skills complement each other well. Time is always a challenge, but we try and create as much space as possible for the creative team to get on and be able to ideate through options and creative solutions. I also don’t micromanage and give people the autonomy to get on and do what they think is best. Creative empowerment is the best tool for self-development and confidence in your own abilities which then brings joy into the work and the finished product. 

LBB> The big question. We know creativity is effective but when you’re assessing an idea that’s totally original and new, how do you figure out if it’s brilliant or indulgent?

Adrian> If the idea is a direct response to the insight and we think it can be achieved within budget rather than showing clients what they can’t afford then it’s brilliant.

LBB> Tell us about a time you’ve really had to fight for a creative idea - what was the idea, what was the obstacle and why was it worth it?

Adrian> I’d say I’ve spent more time fighting for premium executions of ideas than for the ideas themselves. Budgets are always a challenge and finding the balance between client expectations and commercial reality is challenging. Fighting to push as hard as possible for the best possible talent to work on content creation or the best contractors to build physical experiences is always worth doing!

LBB> What one piece of advice do you have for marketers at the beginning of their career who’re still figuring out how to drive impactful creative marketing?

Adrian> Find joy in everything. If you’re in search of the perfect circumstances – a massive budget, plenty of time and an undemanding client it’s never going to happen. The industry is challenging, and you need to embrace it and find the joy in the small things. We’re very fortunate to work in such a creative industry and should enjoy it warts and all – it will show in your work.