Dream Teams: Indian Food, Aguardiente and Reggaeton
“It's not every day you come across a fellow Colombian in a place like Dubai, but it turns out Colombians are everywhere,” says associate creative director Silvia Carreno Vera, describing how she and fellow associate creative director Camila Venegas Gomez first met.
“Who’s this person that looks like the cool character from a movie directed by David Fincher and Tim Burton? I wanna be her friend,” was Silvia’s first thought about Camila, and the other way around, Camila’s thoughts went to, “Wow, this lady really loves aguardiente and has a lot of energy for lots of activities in a day and long night parties – let’s see if I can catch up without dying.”
Discovering similar interests in eating arepas, Indian food and drinking aguardiente, the pair’s shared love of partying, food and drink turned into “a mutual passion for creativity and big ideas," forming a solid friendship. “We began working together when the opportunity at M&C Saatchi came knocking - Camila was building a team and needed a writing partner, so we decided to put our heads together and see if we could make some magic happen,” Silvia says. That instance occurred two years ago and it’s felt like both lots and hardly any time has passed since.
Recounting the first project they worked on together, Silvia says, “It was a nightmare. The good thing is it wasn't because of us as partners. On the contrary, it was the first time we realised our ability to generate great ideas quickly, giving us hope to continue producing better work.” But Camila’s first thoughts turn to the project that was most significant to her, Burger King’s ‘As Good As The Original’ spot:
“The process was a mix of fun and stress, with ups and downs and sleepless nights. We found ourselves rewriting the script for the 10th time on the plane, just a few hours before the shoot. It was an incredibly challenging experience that pushed us to grow personally and professionally in unimaginable ways. And every step of it was absolutely worth it. It’s still one of our favourite projects up until now.”
As a copywriter-art directing duo, it isn’t just the mix of skills that makes the pair compatible. As Camila explains, “We complement each other because we are good in both aspects, and our common skill is the conceptualisation of ideas.” Silvia also agrees with this and mentions how the crux of their partnership is improving the other’s work and catching any missed details. “It's a continuous learning process, and one of the reasons we complement each other so well is our openness to growth.”
But wait, it doesn’t always come up smelling like roses. “Although we have great chemistry, we are two different people,” says Camila. “I can’t stand Silvia’s ringtone and she doesn’t like my dance moves, but our differences and disagreements on the creative process are what makes our work more interesting.” And of course, the creative never suffers, according to SIlvia, “There are things during the process we might disagree on, the good thing is that we know that’s part of the process so we always figure it out.”
Together, Silvia and Camila have a tried and tested approach to getting through any disagreements that may occur. They say, “We bring a lot of our personal lives into our work, for example, some of our characters' personalities blur the line between reality and imagination, much like our own lives. We also bring our emotions and experiences to the table, using them as insights for our work. Our approach is to find humour in everything, to the extent that if we don't take things too seriously, it becomes therapeutic. This human perspective allows us to approach every project with a fresh and creative mindset.”
Most of all, having someone to bounce ideas off of has many benefits, especially when it’s a trusted partnership. To them, as Camila puts it, “The best creativity comes in the most unexpected moments; fuelled by shared experiences and the simple act of spending time together during lunch breaks and over a few drinks.”
Silvia agrees, “When you reach a stage where you can wholeheartedly trust and rely on another person, it unlocks new creative territories and ideas that would be hard to explore without the depth of knowledge and understanding that comes from a strong partnership.”
Sharing the experience of working together to create the ‘Sorry You Couldn’t Make It’ films, with Saad Shehzad joining as director, the duo found a story-worthy anecdote from the process. As they battled the low budget with powerful concepts and channelled creativity to produce effective storytelling methods, it seemed like the duo couldn’t do anything without each other… not even when it came to winding up in the hospital.
“Both of us ended up at the hospital after shooting this film! One was bitten by a dog, and the other fell dramatically at the hospital’s parking lot while carrying too many coffee cups,” shares Silvia. But in the end, the project wound up a success, winning a Bronze at Dubai Lynx and proving to them that they could do it, despite budget (and health) restrictions.
From this experience, being adaptable and taking things in their stride are things they continue to enforce today, especially as they tease a new project they have in the works. Silvia says, “Each project presents its own set of intriguing challenges, but the latest one was the amusing discovery that seagulls migrate from the Middle East when temperatures soar. Yes, smart birds. While we can't delve into further details about this particular project, it serves as a testament to the multitude of external factors that continuously test our creativity and execution.”
The main inspiration for both of them comes from gaining personal experiences in different aspects of life, understanding them and seeing how these can resonate with the human experience. “What truly resonates with people and how your ad can put a smile on their face,” says Camila, when getting into the nitty gritty of what they aim to do. For Silvia, this comes from the random conversations which pop up with strangers and make her think about how that can be adapted into something magical.
Working together, SIlvia has learnt “patience and obsession with details” from Camila, and Camila has sat back to admire the “resilience, perseverance, and kindness” of her colleague and friend. While Silvia is always updating her friend on the latest reggaeton hits and seems to have a reference point for every piece of work, Camila brings her “toughness and caring nature” into the mix. All in all, though they grew up in the same country, their upbringing and personalities are certainly different, bringing a fantastic balance to the partnership.
Silvia leaves us with this: “I'm very happy with the decisions that brought us together and proud of all the hard work we've been putting in. Our aim is always to bring more great ideas to life, but even if we don't, I'm grateful that I've found an ‘oscurito no tan oscurito’ [dark not so dark] creative soulmate for life.”
