Creativity Squared: Lauren Colasanti on Staying Curious, Embracing Competition and Exuding Confidence

Lauren Colasanti is an associate creative director at Minneapolis creative agency Colle McVoy who’s driven by a love of challenges and a thirst for learning. With a proven track record as a senior copywriter working on successful campaigns for Jackson Hole Travel & Tourism, Perdue and more, Lauren brings a fresh perspective and finds unique solutions that make a lasting impact.

Person

I didn’t go to art school or ad school. I went to business school and took accounting classes. I was terrible at it. There was a wrong answer and a right answer, no in-between and no room for interpretation. I like to think that the lack of creativity in my schooling pushed me to find a career that was the total opposite. There are endless right answers in the creative world. That’s the best part. It’s okay to try things and not like them — that just leads us closer to what we’re meant to be doing.

We all probably view ourselves a little differently than who we truly are. But I try to stay curious, embrace competition and exude confidence. I always want to be in a position where I can learn from the people around me; it’s how we grow. And advertising is competitive. If you’re on a pitch, you’re up against other agencies. If you’re on a campaign brief, you’re up against other creatives. But the biggest competition is yourself. Knowing that maybe there’s a better idea than the first, second or 22nd. And as far as confidence goes, it’s very easy to let self-doubt creep in. I do it all the time. But I try to remind myself that if I don’t believe in my ideas, how is someone else supposed to?

I’ll be honest. I’m not writing a novel when I’m not working. I don’t carry around a notebook of headlines and a tiny pencil. Probably should, but I don’t. Outside of work, I try not to think about work. I like to disconnect. I like to be outside. I need white space. That might be why I can come to work refreshed and excited on Monday mornings, ready to be creative again. I think there’s a lot of pressure for us to pick up outside hustles, but I think it’s okay to take time off from being creative so you can be creative.

Product

The best ideas are simple and move people. My rule is that they should be described in three sentences or fewer. That’s enough real estate to move someone, right? It doesn’t have to change the world (it likely won’t), but it does have to make me laugh, cry, or think just a little differently.

I’m proudest of the work where we turned nothing into something and work that breaks the confines of traditional mediums — for example, our work for the Jackson Hole Travel & Tourism Board. Last year tourists started hiking off trail, causing damage to the environment. We needed to tell them to stay on the trails, but more signage would have only impeded the beauty we were trying to protect. So, we made a hiking shoe and put the message in the tread. When people walked in the boots, the message “tread on the trail” was stamped into the ground, exactly where people decided to go off trail. So, I’m a copywriter, but now I’m a cobbler too. Pretty fun.

From a past life, COVERGIRL’s first all-female football pregame show is a perfect example of turning nothing into something. When we were first briefed, we were just building a sampling table outside a football stadium, but we discovered that there had only been four female sideline reporters in NFL history. That was the golden nugget. COVERGIRL was the official beauty sponsor of the NFL, so we had all the power to throw a red flag and create the first all-female pregame show. The idea spurred national conversations, both positive and negative, which made it even more powerful.

Process

During the creative briefing I take A TON of notes. I write down anything that pops into my head. No filter. Most of its crap. But then I don’t have to start with a blank page when I’m ready to get into it. The technical term is “throwing up on a page.”

When it comes to brainstorming, I prefer to think on it alone first and then meet with my colleagues. I like to come to a brainstorm with a few nuggets, headlines, or articles that I think are interesting. It gets the juices flowing, or else we’ll just end up staring at each other for a few hours. Which is fine too.

I’ve also found that after the creative team has had a few days to generate first thoughts, it’s useful to bring in people from other departments. Start with a blank page again and see what you can mine from their brains. Could be some gold.

I’ve always known that I’m the most creative between 8:00 and 11:00 a.m. It’s when I write my best lines and come up with my best conceptual thoughts. But up until a few months ago, I was always fighting for that time in my daily routine until someone smart told me to protect it at all costs. So now between those hours I try to avoid distractions. While part of my job is answering work emails, Teams calls, etc., the agency hired me to be creative and come up with ideas, so I now try to protect my mornings.

As far as knowing when the work is done, it never is. You just run out of time.

Press

You are who you surround yourself with. Creative directors impact so much more than just the work. Over the past 10 years I’ve watched a lot of them. I’ve adopted the things I like and left behind the things I don’t. I know exactly who taught me how to write a headline. And I know the exact moment I realized what a big idea was. As we get more and more experience, we become a creative made up of all the different mentors we’ve had in the past. One day I hope to have that kind of impact on someone.