Creativity Squared: The Fun and Inspiration of Creative Purpose with Charlie Boutflower

After eight years at TRO, Charlie has risen through the studio ranks and currently leads the creative team as Senior Creative, providing a more focused offering outside of pure design. He works with strategists, clients and the design team to create overarching concepts that bring brands to life in the right way and fuel participation!

Always looking for the next fun thing, with random knowledge of wildlife to rival that of the great Sir Attenborough himself, Charlie loves to balance his grassy roots with the faster paced London jungle.

Person

My background is in architectural design, but for the last few years I’ve been working in the ‘conceptual’ world. I’m interested in the creative idea and the storytelling behind it. To understand and identify a need then bring it to life with experiences. For me, being a creative in the experiential world means making brands relatable, exciting, and most importantly – fun! After all, as a creative, with the tools in my hands to shape other humans’ experiences, why would I want to create something boring?

I’d describe myself as extraverted, colourful, loud and vocal. I try to enjoy every minute of every day. I’m always smiling - trying to see the silver lining and encouraging others to do the same. I’m also a people person. I need to be around people, because I bounce off others. This comes in handy when pitching ideas especially.

Over the years as a creative, I’ve learnt that my creativity hinges on my confidence.

If I believe in what we’re doing for the brand, I’ll always create my best work. But, I can’t sell what I don’t believe in.

The key to confidence, is all about making it relevant. I need to live and breathe the brand. What do they like? What do they not like? Collecting this ‘creative data’, I compare these to really understand what the brand stands for.

This is a skill I’ve learnt to sharpen. To be able to justify my creative decisions based on what makes the brand different. Taking this to push that brand in the right direction, based on objective strategies, and putting it into the right cultural spaces.

Product

The absolute best work is one that makes a genuine difference. In today’s world, more and more brands have a defined purpose, a reason for being. Think Patagonia, Pedigree or Corona’s Plastic Fishing Tournament.

Making a difference comes in many forms. My personal fave as an ‘experiential’ designer is to make people smile, to bring them closer together, and for fans to share a passion together. Ultimately, it depends on what the creative is trying to achieve. It needs to be worth getting out of bed for. I want it to cause FOMO. Participate not spectate.

I’d also say, as someone obsessed with efficiency, that clarity is also a big deal. Combine clarity with cleverness and you get a ruthless mix - Heinz are very good at this and so are Specsavers.

Being part of the TBWA network, I also feel that disruption - that ‘head-turning-ness’ is very important to stand out in this noisy and overcrowded, doom-scrolling world. That being said, the work has to be for the right fans, in the right place, at the right time, and for the right reasons. Even if you didn’t know it until you see it.

Process

As long as you get the job done well, it shouldn’t matter too much how you go about it. Deadlines are deadlines. As long as there’s trust, the team is tight and transparent, we’re all good.

I prefer working in a (dream) team. I think this diversity (in all its aspects) helps to create more considered work.

Trust is huge. Everyone works differently, it’s my job leading a creative team to make sure everyone is spinning at their best speeds. My role is to steer everything back to our creative concept, telling that clear and consistent story.

Starting strategically, we need objective insights to give us the relevant parameters. It’s much harder to start with a blank canvas…

I always start with a deep dive into the brand. As someone who works in the experiential space, I need to interact with the brand IRL, whether it’s trying the product or seeing how they turn up in stores for example. I’ll also scroll their socials and their website. I’ll google taglines from 20 years ago, what fans are saying about them. Analyse how they talk, how they show up, how they’ve changed.

Then I’ll look at the unique situation. The location, the time of year etc. How can we make a difference? How can we relate to our audience with the brands tone of voice?

By this time, I’ve always got a few ideas swimming around my head. But I’ll step back and look at best in show examples in a similar space to see how they’ve challenged the experience.

Taking context and inspiration from IRL/TikTok/YouTube/fan vox pops/random chats/newsletters/books, I’ll start to tell a relevant story.

I’m trying more and more to start this in its simplest form.

First just a sentence.

Then a paragraph.

Then a story.

The details will always reveal themselves with time.

Press

Something I’ve learnt recently (being at the same agency for eight years, is that fresh perspective and an open attitude is vital to keeping your edge. Step out of your comfort zone. Get out and experience different culture, different people, different experiences. It is so important to continue staying relevant.

I’m lucky enough to have worked with 100s of brands (and clients). Each has a different angle. I like to have great relationships with every team, but as I said at the start - the best teams are built on trust.

Every one of my favourite projects has been built of amazing trust. Clients are experts in their brand, and we are experts in creative. When we work as a team, for the ‘greater goooood’ to quote Hot Fuzz, we can create real magic. Respect (on both sides) is another secret ingredient.

In an age where timescales are shrinking (let’s not even mention the budgets!) it’s more important than ever to stay efficient, to use time wisely - nail the parameters and big picture early and work together to bring it to life.

I’m getting to the ripe old age (31) where I’m realising life is better when it’s simple. Keep it relevant and most importantly have a good time.

Keep it fun, otherwise what’s the point?​