My Creative Hero: Douglas Adams

Aaron Howe is the executive creative director at VaynerMedia Los Angeles, overseeing the creative department in the region. In this role, he leads the creative vision for the office and works with clients such as Indeed, Tubi, Lands’ End, and many more to create impactful strategic work from tweets to broadcast and everything in-between. A passionate advocate for the power of integration, Aaron collaborates and partners closely with the agency’s media and strategy leads. 

Prior to joining VaynerMedia, Aaron was the executive creative director at Wunderman Thompson, where he oversaw a number of businesses, including the integrated and social media business for Microsoft and AT&T. Throughout his career, Aaron has worked at a number of agencies, including 72andSunny and Deutsch. His work has been recognised at Cannes Lions, The One Show, and the Webby Awards. 

LBB> Who would you say is your creative hero? 

Aaron> I have had a lot of people influence me throughout my career. Artists, musicians, designers, comedians that I’ve read about, watched, listened to, or worked with. There are so many amazing and talented people I’ve learned from and been inspired by, but the human who has always been a central figure to my inspiration is the author Douglas Adams. 

LBB> How long has this person been important to you and what are your first memories of meeting them or coming across their work?

Aaron> Douglas Adams has been an inspiration since I first read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and realized I wasn’t the only weirdo out there. I remember the excitement and odd connection that I felt through his writing. The playful nature of his writing, along with his view on the world (and words) as a place of possibilities, I still find energizing today.

LBB> If it’s someone you personally know, how did you get to know them and how has your relationship evolved over the years? If you don’t know this person, how did you go about finding to learn more about them and their work?

Aaron> I never had the privilege of meeting Douglas Adams, but reading his books, the forewords, and eulogies after his death did in some small way let me know him in a greater capacity.

LBB> Why is Douglas such an inspiration to you? 

Aaron> Honestly, there are many writers I consider more exciting, with better smarter dialogue, and deeper human insights, but there’s a simplicity of honesty and trust that goes into Adams’ works that I find deeply fun and intriguing. It’s very easy for people to get lost in the trappings of how they think they should show up, or how they want to be viewed by others. I find that when we remove all of those stresses and influences on our process, it opens up amazing creative spaces.

LBB> How does he influence you in your approach to your creative work? 

Aaron> Anyone who has been in the advertising industry for a minute knows that we face the same challenges again and again. Different wrapping, but same old problems to overcome. Each time we have to face them with a freshness and an enthusiasm to approach the challenge in a new way, knowing full well that everyone else in this industry has squared off with these same challenges their entire career.

So to me, what Douglas Adams did so beautifully was to look at themes authors have been writing about for ages in a surprising way and with a wink. To say the meaning of life, the universe, and everything is 42 – plays with, and pokes at the preciousness of existence.

To say “a way to fly is to throw yourself at the ground and miss” – pokes at the limits of language and imagination.

To say that if the universe is truly infinite, there must be an infinite number of planets where any product that is manufactured grows naturally– looks at numbers and their possibilities in such a wild way. Same old questions, brand new answers.

LBB> What piece or pieces of this person’s work do you keep coming back to and why? 

Aaron> Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is still the purest distillation of what I appreciate about Douglas Adams’ work. However, I think each of his books has very special moments.The book has been so influential beyond me, seeping into popular culture at large, often in surprising places, that it continues to create a connection among people which is what we’re all trying to do all the time, why would I not keep coming back to it?