Creativity Squared: Driving Meaningful Change with Jamie Davies

Creative director of Factory 42 Jamie Davies was behind the multi-award-winning, sold-out Green Planet AR Experience - a ground-breaking immersive experience that combined the magic of 5G and stunning AR to enable over 10,000 members of the public to explore our Green Planet like never before, with a virtual Sir David Attenborough as their personal guide.

With over 20 years' creative leadership and experience specialising in digital media and innovation, Jamie has worked with clients at Google, Instagram, and Netflix, to engage and inspire their audiences as well as creating digital products and campaigns for Jaguar Land Rover, Merlin Entertainment and P&G, amongst many others.

PERSON

I would say I’m an introvert…hmmm…perhaps an introverted performer?

I’m definitely one of these people who finds it harder to switch off, so perhaps weirdly for a creative person, I actually thrive on routine. It sets me up and also anchors me through the day. Knowing how my day will usually start and end means I can happily let myself go wherever it takes me in between as long as I have my healthy habits either side.  

I’m very passionate about the world and wanting us to be a part of nature as opposed to us all thinking we are apart. I definitely have an inner drive to try to help improve things, to work through complex problems and try to find simple solutions. 

I think creativity is inherently in everyone and we can find examples of creativity everywhere across human existence, but some people are just naturally more predisposed to it. 

Looking at the world on both a macro and micro level is important for my work, there are big themes for all of us to understand - The environment for example, it can feel very bleak and depressing, but there are absolutely things we can do in work and at home that have positive impact, and to inspire, entertain and inform people on this…that’s what matters to me. That’s when I can really get some sleep at night! When I know I’ve achieved something that has delivered real impact for people.  

Whether I’m working, watching a film, listening to music, or looking at patterns in nature, I’ll take inspiration from it all. The Ornithopters in Dune, the chords from a Thom Yorke song, the shape of tendrils on a honeysuckle in my garden. Everything is interlinked and helps inspire and inform me to make the most compelling products and experiences I can, there’s no real separation for me from work inspiration and life experience.

Product 

It’s all about the story and the emotions experienced – how do I feel, do I understand what’s going on.  I’m quite obsessed with narrative and cadence…a beginning, middle and end, there needs to be a clear journey and clear context and outcomes. 

Earlier in my career I would see projects often in isolation and the focus would be the compelling content and campaign, just deliver a great piece to brief, that was the priority. Now, it’s more important work has a clearly articulated purpose, narrative and some backstory that informs all of it….and that is always the starting point.  I guess when I started out I felt like I was in a team of impetuous Skywalkers, but now would far rather keep pushing towards the Yodas of the world! To ensure the work can help wherever possible, to improve the planet, perspectives, educate, enthral and change behaviours for the better. 

Increasingly I’m excited by earthy authenticity and a move away from manufactured bubblegum content, it feels like there’s been a return to a frustrated and more angry punk spirit, an actual drive and need for authenticity - a real desire to access trusted voices, facts and drive meaningful change.  

Throughout my career there are a lot of projects I’m proud of, most of them really as they all brought me to where I am. All those years of work really culminated in The Green Planet AR Experience. It was a massive career highlight to craft something whereby the visitor could step inside a reimagined version of a huge TV show, for them to be personally guided by my biggest hero, Sir David Attenborough. Not only did we make something truly innovative, compelling and beautiful where people were emotionally moved seeing digital plants on a mobile phone (not an easy brief!) which achieved so many firsts for the industry and immersive experiences, but it also positively shifted the audience's behaviour in terms of greater engagement with the environment and more sustainable approaches once they went back to their lives.  As far as any check list goes, that project ticked whatever boxes needed to be ticked! 

Process

I always start any project in abject fear! It's a well worn feeling now and I’m used to it! I just need to start something, anything, doodle, write something, moodboard…and inevitably there comes the lightning bolt moment and from there I’m usually on a roll.  I start in quite an analogue fashion with a blank sheet of paper, and then free writing, mood board, influences, references - films, computer games, photos, you name it – once I’ve got the stylistic language/framework nailed I try to condense it into a paragraph to see if it hangs together cohesively and then refine/iterate from there.   

All the influences I use just come from everywhere and everything, I don’t seek them out, and I don’t ever consciously catalogue things for future projects. I like to just do what I do and absorb everything as I’m going along. Once I’ve got a handle on a new project, then teamwork is essential and I’m a real believer in collaboration and iteration.  

If I get stuck on something I go outside – hike or just sit in the sun, get out into nature and away from screens…and people for a bit! 

How do we know if work is ‘done’? It’s never done!  That’s the creative curse, we are restless and frustrated perfectionists. You always think there’s something else you could have done, each time you look. 

Press

I guess when I was growing-up I spent a lot of time deep in my imagination, and voraciously consumed a lot of books. I also loved music and found I could sing and play a few instruments by ear.  It was my mum who noticed I could hold a tune when I was singing along loudly to the Top 40 in the back of the car as a kid, later followed a decade-long music career as a singer which helped my writing skills massively. 

I have always loved inventing fantasy worlds and writing poems and stories, everything led to a new adventure, a new game or experience. Adventure board games, D&D, God when computer games first came out! Around the same time I began to discover great art, film and music and learn about nature mainly from Sir David on TV, it all just blew my mind. I’ve been observing, learning and then writing those things into stories ever since.  

From those stories as a kid, song writing, then copywriting, it’s always been about stories and wanting people to feel a real emotional connection to the work. 

My most enjoyable and successful creative work has always come about through great and varied collaboration, and working in the most diverse teams possible. That’s when there is a real creative explosion. When you have that variety of opinion and some dissonance, a bit of a struggle but all having the same goal…I think that is what produces really interesting work.