Stephen Rogers Gets Giddy Thinking About Data’s Creative Possibilities

During office hours, Stephen Rogers - creative director at Droga5 Dublin, part of Accenture Song, is busy channelling his creativity into multi-award award-winning work like The Times’ ‘JFK Unsilenced’, O.N.E’s ‘Sleeping Flags’, and ‘Shred of Decency’ for the Marriage Equality Referendum. Even a brief glimpse at Stephen’s past work makes clear that he’s unafraid to tackle difficult, complex, and even taboo subjects head-on; it’s a drive shaped by a detestation of bullies, as he put it, and an instinct to “react to certain situations with creativity.”

For creatives, the line between work and hobbies is often a porous one. Particularly for someone like Stephen, who’s written a children’s book, directed a documentary, founded a creative collective, and is a keen photographer too. He’s accomplished this all, somehow, outside of work hours and to astonishing results. The children’s book, “How Will Santa Find Us?” made it onto the Late Late Toy Show and helped raise €80,000 for the charity Focus Ireland. 

Stephen is quick to shout out Alan Kelly, former CCO at Droga5 Dublin, for the mentorship he provided Stephen in his career and the lessons he taught him along the way, like being “insanely ambitious” and being authentically passionate about the work. Now in a mentorship position himself, Stephen is passing on the good learnings to the next generation of creatives and adding some of his own for good measure. 

Today LBB spoke to Stephen about resisting the instinct to solve the brief for his team, the creative possibilities and applications of data, and his extremely busy slate of extracurriculars. 

Above: 'JFK Unsilenced'

LBB> Stephen, tell us a little about yourself - what were you like growing up? Were you always creative?

Stephen> I was the youngest of three growing up and my nickname around the house was “the mistake,” so as you can imagine I had to work hard to get anyone’s attention. This traumatic experience was the perfect bootcamp for my eventual career in advertising. Drawing was my way of getting noticed and I was lucky enough to have a mother who worked in the art department of the iconic Eason’s bookstore on O’Connell Street in Dublin. That ‘residency’ helped fuel my love of art from a very young age. 

LBB> And what was your path to becoming a creative director?

Stephen> I started my advertising career in the dimly lit basement of Wilson Hartnell Advertising. My office was a dingy paper room, my desk a pile of newspapers and my very important job was carefully slicing the ads out of the dailies. The creative department fascinated me so I hung around their office like a bad smell any chance I could. I became great friends with a few of the creatives and hatched daily plans to steal their briefs when they were distracted. After attending Upstarts, I proudly became an art director and hopped from around a few different agencies before finally settling down in what was then Rothco, and is now Droga5 Dublin, in 2010. 

Above: still from 'Sleeping Flags'

LBB> Creativity and data now have to coexist in harmony. What’s your take on this? How does data feature in the work that you do?

Stephen> There are two types of data we’re always on the lookout for at Droga5 Dublin. First is the valuable data that helps shape our creative briefs and the more we have of that, the more targeted, insightful, and impactful our work can be. And then there’s data as a tool to create work that once seemed impossible. JFK Unsilenced was the perfect example of this. We worked with tech company CereProc to create the world’s first AI audio speech - made completely out of data taken from the 831 speeches and interviews JFK gave when he was alive. This ever-changing use of data has endless possibilities and gets me a little giddy every time I think about it.

LBB> As someone whose work has won multiple prestigious awards, what’s your attitude towards awards in general?

Stephen> Like in any aspect of creativity and craft, it’s essential to celebrate the standard bearers pushing the industry forward and shaping what great looks like. Without that work being championed and shared, our industry would only have local work as reference for where the bar is. Cannes and D&AD are the stages I love to see Droga5 Dublin’s work celebrated on, as they’ve been the most consistent in terms of rewarding the genuinely innovative and impactful ideas from the previous year. I’m also an insanely competitive person, so there’s that too.

LBB> Tell us about the 'Sleeping Flags' campaign - what was the brief like and how did you make it come to life?

Stephen> We were introduced to the O.N.E. team through our connection with the Defence Forces. In our initial meeting we were shocked and moved by the raw emotion in the room. Ollie and Sinead, who run the shelter, wanted to raise public awareness of the plight of homeless veterans. Our brief was shaped around the contrasting emotions of pride and shame. After a few intense months, we found the nugget of information that unlocked our idea: the military protocol around the Irish Tricolour says that it can never be allowed to touch the ground. With 'Sleeping Flags', we posed the question to the public: What is more important - the flag or those who served it? Once we had the idea, we assembled an amazing gang of collaborators from seamstresses to PR specialists to give us every shot at getting the country’s attention.

LBB> Are there other projects/campaigns you’re particularly proud of?

Stephen> The campaign we created for the Irish Marriage Equality Referendum will always hold a place in my heart. With ‘Shred of Decency’, we produced wedding confetti for same-sex marriages. The confetti was made from shredded flyers that spread hurtful lies. It was a project of so many firsts. The first time I properly saw how an idea that takes a stance on an important issue can be a magnet for so much love, passion, and energy. It was also our agency’s first ever Cannes Lion win which whetted the appetite for more ideas that would engage the world. 

I’m also hugely proud of our recent campaign ‘Hope Couture’ that just picked up a D&AD pencil. I can’t tell you the blood, sweat and craft that went into every aspect of that project. And finally, I’m currently working on something that I cannot wait to get out into the world. So watch this space!

Above: 'Shred of Decency'

LBB> What kind of work do you find yourself most drawn to or seek out deliberately?

Stephen> I’m always on the lookout for side projects and I actively encourage young creatives to do the same. Find a subject matter you feel passionate about, find the problems and issues that it faces, and apply your creative mind to making a positive impact on it.

I’ve always detested bullies and I think that’s what drives me to react to certain situations with creativity. Recently I had the pleasure of working with one of the first creatives I met all the way back in Wilson Hartnell, John Martin, on an idea to give a voice to the thousands of young people locked out of the housing market. We collaborated with some creative friends across different agencies and created ‘The Estate of Us', Ireland’s first brutally honest estate agents. It allowed us to say out loud what everyone knew and felt: Housing is not for you. This project made an impact because we had the freedom to be honest and use language and tactics that would get the country’s attention. And that freedom breeds impact. 

LBB> You’re a co-founder of the creative collective, Good Cop Good Cop. Tell us more about what the collective does and the kind of work you make?

Stephen> Good Cop Good Cop started from a desire to make work for good causes we genuinely cared about. Shane O’Brien and I were partners in Rothco for a number of years and had worked together on Shred of Decency. We knew we wanted to create more work like that. Every day we would chat about issues and ideas outside of the briefs on our desks. We brought one of our colleagues, Jess Derby, and Bren Byrne (owner of Offset) on board and over a few delicious pints decided to call our collective ‘Good Cop Good Cop.’

LBB> Creativity doesn’t switch off after the laptop shuts and you seem to be someone who flexes the creative muscle often outside of a work context. When and how did you decide to write a children’s book?

Stephen> In 2019, homelessness was at a record high and there was one story that got a lot of coverage at the time. A family, including two children, had to sleep in a local Garda station. That story started a WhatsApp conversation between myself and Shane about the issue and if there was anything we could do to help raise money for the cause. Pretty quickly we landed on the idea of a children’s book about a family made homeless at Christmas. At the centre of the story were the kids and their fear that Santa wouldn’t be able to find them on Christmas Eve. 

Once everyone was on board, the four of us dived into an area we had never been involved with before - writing, illustrating, producing, and publishing a children’s book. It was a massive learning curve, especially from a production point of view, but a hugely satisfying project for everyone involved. The first time Shane shared the story I genuinely cried my eyes out. So many amazing illustrators came on board and helped us make a unique and emotional storybook. We got the book onto an iconic Irish TV show - the Late Late Toy Show - and helped raise €80,000 for Focus Ireland.

LBB> We have to ask about the documentary you directed, and your photography too - tell us a little bit about both.

Stephen> I love documentaries. My wife loves Marvel movies. I’m not sure how we are still together. I wanted to try my hand at telling someone’s story that may not have been told and I decided to focus on the sign holders you see all around the city. It was my first attempt at anything like that and I learned so much from the process. We’re spoilt to have so many amazing documentary makers here in Ireland. I’m in awe of filmmakers like Ross Kileen, Ross Whitaker and Ken Wardrop and could watch their work all day. My love of photography has been a long-standing obsession and feeds nicely into every other aspect of my job. I’ve taken on personal projects over the years, looking to document unique and interesting characters from around the country.  

LBB> In your view, what’s essential to being a great creative director?

Stephen> The most important and most difficult skill to being a good creative director is the ability to ignore the urge to try and help solve the brief. You’ve been trained over the years to react to creative problems, so it’s not easy to reprogramme yourself. But it’s essential to give the team the trust and confidence to figure it out for themselves and apply their unique voice to the solution.

LBB> Finally, what advice would you give to aspiring creative directors?

Stephen> I’ve been very lucky in my career. I won the lottery when I bagged Alan Kelly as my mentor in Droga5 Dublin. Alan is the smartest creative to come out of this country and the kindest person I’ve ever met. 

Working together over the years taught me a number of important things. Firstly, be insanely ambitious with your ideas and never, ever take no for an answer (JFK Unsilenced was a year and a half of nos). Secondly, don’t be afraid to be yourself when presenting your ideas. Someone who exudes genuine excitement and passion about the work being presented is way more powerful than someone who has memorised a presentation and worn a tie. And thirdly, and this is the most important thing Alan taught me, be kind with your time and look after everyone you work with.