Creativity Squared: Patrick Murphy on Finding the Art in Advertising

Pat is the proud father of a boy and a girl (24-year-old twins), and a 26-year-old boy. He’s a nutty collector of old toys, lover of art, and likes his music - especially on vinyl. And, when he has the time, he likes to do the odd painting.

To him, these interests aren’t just hobbies - they’re core parts of his being which underpin every little facet of his work philosophy. 

Working now as joint creative director at Chemistry, Pat took some time to talk to LBB about his creative philosophy. He told us why the industry needs to take itself less seriously, how music and art shaped his career, and how he works to give clients the freedom to fly with their ideas.

PERSON

I like to say that I am someone who tries not to take life too seriously. My animal personality (according to Nigel Risner’s Animal Flex talk profiling), pegs me as a Monkey, someone who’s not a big fan of a lot of detail and needs to keep moving forward. Like a kid in a candy shop, I often have a short attention span. That’s because I am always looking to get to that golden idea through spontaneity - not being dragged down in detail.

My Monkey side likes sharing ideas and having lots of laughs along the way. It’s easy to get bogged down during the creative process in this industry, but we need to remember we’re not saving lives, so why not have some fun with it?

When it comes to making decisions, I’m extroverted and impulsive. While I come across as easy going to many, I can also be fairly cautious in my creative process and give up on people whom I perceive to have a negative attitude or who lack enthusiasm. 

I think creativity is innate, I believe you are born with it, but you are forever developing as you go through life with all your experiences along the way. 

When it comes to my inspiration, I like to immerse myself in art, theatre and music, especially David Bowie, who was ever-changing with the times. Over the years, I've learned a lot through my wonderful children. They’ve kept me young and keep me informed on the latest trends in music, art and tech. 

Routines are not for me. I am constantly looking for ways to keep my life interesting. Whether that is through painting outside of work or building something. If you told me I had to approach the creative process the same way every day, I would probably jump out the office window. It’s probably the very reason I was attracted to this job - no two days are the same!

As Bowie once said “I don’t know where I’m going from here but I promise it won’t be boring”.

PRODUCT 

When assessing ideas for a piece of creative work, I tend to be quite decisive -  I'm not a procrastinator. The work has to be unique and original, something I haven't seen before. I look at what the challenge is and decide whether the idea has answered the brief. Will it create talkability and is it unexpected? 

Campaigns I really enjoy creating are the ones that make you a little nervous about working on and the challenge of pulling it off. For example, Sovereign’s ‘How Old Are You Really?.’ With this campaign, we used makeup to age people while not revealing what was happening - until we turned them to face the mirror and they were confronted with their inner health age, either older or younger. The younger ones were pleasantly surprised - the older ones not so much!

What's frustrating me right now is that our industry is becoming incredibly woke and PC, which I believe is getting in the way of creativity. All the rules around what we can and can't say in advertising for fear of offending someone is killing humour in our industry.

There also seem to be a lot of written manifestos being put to stunning pictures, which make it very confusing for the viewers, who are unclear about what the company is about and don’t remember the brand. However, I hope that the pendulum will turn one day and swing back to where we can have more fun creatively again. 

There are no real stand-out pieces of work for me out there right now; but the ones I like are those that make me smile and have a simple message. With so many platforms and attention spans becoming shorter and shorter due to social media, we have to be creatively bolder, smarter, and unexpected. 

One of the best campaigns I ever got to work on, which won numerous awards (including a Gold Clio some years ago), would have to be ‘BNZ Body Parts’ because of its boldness, braveness and audacity. We would never get away with it today. At the time, BNZ wanted to get more students on board to help them relieve the pressure of ongoing costs with a student loan. Our idea was that you don't have to sell your limbs to find the money to get through Uni - there are better ways to go about it. And BNZ can help.

More recently, I loved the campaign we worked on for Jaguar. The brief was to come up with a way to welcome new Jaguar owners on board. We had already sent out two stunning limited edition pieces of artwork from Otis Frizzell featuring Jaguar’s signature Leaper and Growler but needed to come up with a third. This became ‘Painting with Light’. With the help of Jeff Wood, the photographer, Otis, the artist and none other than racing legend Greg Murphy, together we created a piece of art that was ‘painted’ by a Jaguar I-PACE. It was then printed and sent to the owners. 

It became a TV ad and an impressive ‘Making of’ video. I think it is one of my favourites because nobody really knew how it would work, but everybody loved the idea and wanted to make it work as a team.

PROCESS

I like to start a campaign or creative project with a great SMP and lots of insight. I've always enjoyed working as a team and bouncing ideas off of one another. When working in a team, you or your partner might trigger a thought or have the germ of an idea, and together, you bring it to life and make it something special.

I tend to start with a blank piece of paper and scribble anything down that comes to mind. I then narrow my ideas down. It’s a little cliche, but I still believe ‘no idea is a bad idea’. 

I tend to work on top-line ideas before presenting them back to client service. We’ll then narrow the ideas down together before developing something up. Sometimes we might take the client on the journey and share the top-line ideas early, so they feel part of the creative process.

The benefit is that the client is not left surprised as the ideas come together; there are no “Ta Da” moments for our clients, which really helps when we get close to that execution phase of a campaign.

While creatives are often seen as sensitive creatures who are tied to their own ideas, I try not to be too precious about what we come up with. If someone in the team can enhance the idea or make it better than you ever imagine, then that's perfect. 

I don't think you ever know when a piece of work is done - there will always be something you could have done better or added, but at some point, you have to stop tinkering.

A campaign can be a slow and painful process, as we all know, but that's okay. Remember to make sure it ends up the best it possibly can so you're proud of it. If you are passionate about the idea, you will quickly forget about the pain or frustration you went through to get to that point, especially when people and clients are raving about it or - best of all - you win an award for the client and the agency. 

When it comes to timeframes, I would rather have less time to come up with an idea than spend days struggling with ideas because the brief isn't quite right. I was told by a Creative Director years ago that if you’re taking days to come up with an idea, nine times out of 10 the brief is wrong, so interrogate the brief from the very beginning. It’s important to get it right the first time.

PRESS

What external factors have shaped you and can make or break a creative idea?

I grew up in Palmerston North, a small rural town in New Zealand, and I always get the piss taken out of me for doing so. However, I actually had some wonderful times in Palmy, especially my high school years, which I would say helped shape the person I am today. I originally wanted to be an architect, but I was hopeless with physics and maths. So I was encouraged to do art, which, thankfully, I did have a flair for.

While in high school, it was my art teacher Warren Smith who really encouraged me to apply myself and get stuck into the advertising industry by submitting a portfolio to the Wellington Polytechnic to do Visual Communication and Advertising.

When it comes to making or breaking an idea, I believe agencies need to walk the talk. They need to create a culture that encourages creativity. The way agencies can best facilitate creativity in terms of culture and design would be to inspire them and help them grow in the job continually. Of course, it also goes without saying, whatever you do, surround yourself with crazy gifted people.