Creativity Squared: Simplifying the Process With Bruno Damião

 

According to Thomas Erikson and his theory about people and colours, I am a person with a predominant 'yellow' behaviour, as he defined it — I’m extrovert and tend to direct all my communication outwards. 

Sharing my thoughts and feelings and connecting with others comes naturally to me. I see myself as upbeat, enthusiastic, energetic, always trying to find exciting solutions where others can't see, and I love to inspire and motivate those around me. 

  

Creativity can be a general skill, but the big challenge is coming up with great ideas that are ridiculously simple to explain. To do this, you need to be constantly self-critical and review your ideas to remove unnecessary layers. 

 

In addition to being frequently impacted by ideas that make you wonder "Why didn't I think of that before?", the lack of routine is also exciting in this industry. Every day and every project is different. We are constantly working with new clients, discovering new products/services and learning about new markets. And that multiplies the creative opportunities. 

  

I believe in a balance of routine to keep life organised and exciting. I crave new experiences and avoid repetition, whether it's travel, food, exercise or everyday activities. I enjoy exploring different creative endeavours and draw inspiration from different sources, on and off screen, staying curious and up to date with new tools, technologies, platforms and social networks. 

 

And when we talk about creative stuff, I think it's important to develop work that's different from what you're used to in agency life. During the pandemic, I teamed up with a friend and a car photographer to experiment with magnetised iron fluid and flowers, capturing them with a macro lens. The results impressed Adobe, leading to an interview, and a tech brand wanted to buy the art for their mobile phone themes. 

 

In recent years, briefs have become much more challenging, with clients demanding results with limited resources, requiring a smarter solution. For me, a smart and creative idea is one that, given a limited budget, has to hijack a format or traditional media to ensure the message reaches the public in an 'affordable' way. 

 

One of my favourite examples is the Budweiser 'TAGWORDS' campaign. The brand has always been associated with music and festivals, but buying the image rights of the artists for a campaign is extremely expensive, so they decided to show how the consumer would find them by creating a campaign using only the tag words associated with those epic photos, giving fans a simple task: Google it. It's brilliant.  

 

And that's why my proudest campaign is 'The Truth Wins', for Reporters Without Borders. No matter how strict the censorship is in a government, one thing always makes the news: The national lottery numbers. So, we hijacked the lottery numbers and turned them into an access code for independent journalists, creating new Twitter (now known as X) accounts with these numbers every time another journalist was censored. And because the lotteries are state-owned, the regimes advertise the numbers and make them easy for anyone to find, involuntarily helping us to fight their own censorship. But, or course smartness is not everything, investing in craft and execution takes the project from 'That's cool' to memorable. 

 

I think the advertising industry is always changing, which makes this very exciting. The constant push for innovation and experimentation within the industry is very inspiring. Whether it's in design, storytelling, or technology integration. I’m also very happy with the increasing emphasis on diversity and inclusion in creative work. Seeing diverse voices and perspectives represented in our projects make our collective creative output rich and authentic. And the fast advancement of technology continues to expand the possibilities for creative expression. But even with the progress in including diverse voices, there's still a problem with everyone following the same trends and styles in certain areas of creative work. This makes it hard for original ideas to stand out and be recognised. 

I think the creative process is something happening every day as you look for sources of inspiration. But when I get a brief, I like to immerse myself in the brand by doing a bit of research, checking social media and looking at previous work. I try out the product or service if possible. I then brainstorm ideas, write some initial thoughts and discuss them with others for feedback. As a creative director, I can also share these initial ideas and directions with teams for further development. 

 

Collaboration with the right people is the key for the best creative output. People have different backgrounds, references, skills, learnings, sources of inspiration, experiences, and so you can multiply your chances of developing a good (and fresh) idea. 

 

Sometimes it happens to hit a roadblock in the creative process. When that happens, I have a strange habit of talking about it with my wife or someone else outside the advertising industry to get a fresh perspective. But bringing new people into the project can also help with new directions. 

 

Unfortunately, with tight deadlines, it's challenging to feel completely satisfied that a project or presentation is perfect. While I do my best within the given time, I believe there's always room for enhancement and fine-tuning. Yet, sometimes it's necessary to accept that it's time to move forward to the next task. 

 

I was born and raised in Brazil, and I think it is one of the best advertising schools in the world, especially when it comes to art direction. I think Brazilians in general are very creative and look for unexpected solutions to life's challenges. Always positive. Always believing. It is also a country with a very rich culture, a lot of colours, a lot of diversity, and all this is certainly reflected in creativity. 

 

On top of that, the opportunity to work with the best art directors in the world made all the difference. My first craft school was DDB São Paulo (aka AFRICA), at a time when there were about 50 creatives in the same room, working in person, and just a simple walk to the water cooler would bring me across the screens of other art directors doing great work. It was a different working culture, and it is a pity that has changed today with people working remotely, sometimes fulltime. I think it's a big challenge for junior art directors to grow as fast as they used to. 

 

But digital is there to help. I think it's important to always look at other projects in the market, they can help you to have a direction, but also to understand where you shouldn't go. 

 

What really broadened my creative horizons and took me to the next level in my career was when I left Brazil to live in Berlin, Germany. This proved to me that international experience, immersion in another culture and, above all, contact with people from different backgrounds multiplies your insights and creative solutions. 

 

I believe the key to boosting creativity in agencies is by simplifying processes, making them more like helpers than hurdles. This allows people to focus on being creative rather than getting stuck in complicated procedures. Another important step is creating a healthier, more diverse, and accepting atmosphere where everyone feels comfortable sharing their ideas without fear. When people feel safe and valued, they can bring out their best creative output.