Hannah Bituin and Becky Reynolds have just joined The Gate as Creative Team. They are ex-Ogilvy, Iris, and Virtue, they have worked on the Dove Self Esteem Project, tackled food waste with Hellmann’s and promoted sustainable fashion with Comfort. They worked for a variety of brands such as Unilever, Starbucks, Samsung, Diageo and many more.
As a team, they love creating work that are firsts like Dove’s first-ever political work celebrating the life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, as well as Dove Deodorant’s first illustration campaign. In-between briefs they are pushing industry boundaries like the Big Taboo that ensures there is a real and fair representation of plus-size women in the industry as well as shining a light on the 200% increase of Asian Hate with a proactive social campaign. In her spare time, Hannah makes fashion inspiration TikToks and is an active member within the East and South-East Asian community, while Becky is a YouTube influencer, creating content from fashion and beauty.
Hannah> I would say Yinka Illori.
Hannah> I came across Yinka’s artwork ’Happy Street’ in 2019 when walking past a very dreary underpass near Vauxhall. His art made me stop in my tracks, it was a beautiful and vivid contrast against the dark and cold part of London.
Hannah> As soon as I saw the Happy Street work, I followed Yinka on Instagram, he’s been kind enough to follow me back! It’s been great seeing his work throughout the years like the Lego Laundrette of Dreams, Brit Awards and many more dotted all over London.
Hannah> Yinka’s work spoke to me, it’s not only optimistic, bright and colourful but it features his Nigerian and British heritage. You can sense his culture by just looking at his work and that’s very special. I grew up in the UK but came from the Philippines and seeing the duality within his work where he merges the two cultures has inspired me to embrace my own.
Hannah> Growing up as a minority trying to fit in at school, I regretfully rejected my South-Asian heritage. So now, as a creative in London I do a lot of proactive work for the East and South-East Asian community. Advocating for Stop Asian Hate and ensuring we have better ESEA representation within Advertising and beyond. Yinka’s work is a true testament that you can create work for clients and brands but still speak to different communities especially those from minority backgrounds.
Hannah> Happy Street – it was a beautiful introduction to his work, but it also shows that art lives everywhere. As advertisers and creatives, we can be restricted with media deliverables, but great ideas can live outside of TVC and print. The more we try to push our executions, the further our ideas can travel to and reach more people.