The Work That Made Me: Sadia Noor
Brooklyn-bred creative director Sadia Noor has dedicated her work to finding the most dynamic, authentic human stories in sports, entertainment, and culture.
This mission has taken her around the world to craft everything from major campaigns to viral reactive content for brands like Fortnite, Vans, Google, Calm, Bleacher Report, and Netflix. Her love of sports and entertainment has led to a double life as a Muay Thai and BJJ fighter, as well as an obsessive gamer and bibliophile.
In the US, Sadia was most recently on the creative leadership team at The SpringHill Company, a culture-first media company founded by LeBron James and Maverick Carter.
A recent London transplant, Sadia currently serves as creative partner at Small World, a format breaking agency that curates creative superteams to deliver unexpected entertainment for brands.
LBB> The ad/music video from my childhood that stays with me…
Sadia> Y’all remember when McDonalds was selling that Britney Spears x NSYNC VHS in the drive-thru? Me and my sister burnt that tape out trying to learn the choreography to 'Bye Bye Bye'. I didn’t realise it at the time, but there hasn’t been a greater brand x artist creative collaboration since. I wish I still had that tape.
LBB> The ad/music video/game/web platform that made me want to get into the industry…
Sadia> I never wanted to get into advertising and I didn’t even realise I was technically in advertising until my second job. But - 'The Chronicles of Prydain' fantasy series made me want to start writing, and the 'Mass Effect 3' video game made me want to create worlds. So I set off to do that.
LBB> The creative work that I keep revisiting…
Sadia> I reread Milan Kundera’s 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being' and replay 'Red Dead Redemption' every few years. The book makes me feel uncomfy, the game makes me feel at home - I like emotional confusion.
LBB> My first professional project…
Sadia> At the height of the Myspace obsession, I was designing character graphics for role-players on Harry Potter RPG fanfic forums - so that’s what I was doing on the Internet at 13. My first proper client project was for Beats By Dre, concepting and designing seeding kits to gift their (now discontinued) Pills Dolls to celebs. I had no idea what I was doing, but it was a fun one.
LBB> The piece of work that made me so angry that I vowed to never make anything like *that*…
Sadia> Those whispery, fake-sexy perfume ads. I don’t want to smell like a breathy VO artist.
LBB> The piece of work that still makes me jealous…
Sadia> Recently, the Cerave Super Bowl campaign featuring Michael Cera - I thought it was the perfect blend of smart/stupid. We should all strive to be more stupid, honestly.
LBB> The creative project that changed my career…
Sadia> Everything I did during my time as global brand art director at Vans. Not because of a specific creative project, but because it laid the foundation for my creative philosophy. Is it true to the culture? Is it good for the community? Have we treated its people well? If it’s a yes x3, let’s go make some cool shit.
I was a Brooklyn kid with zero understanding of West Coast skateboarding culture, so I had to shut up, listen, and learn. It’s made me a more curious person and much more facile when throwing myself in worlds unfamiliar to me. It’s also made me have zero issues turning down a client or killing an idea that I find to be disingenuous or taking advantage of niche cultures.
LBB> The work that I’m proudest of…
Sadia> I love all my children equally, but recently I’ve been thinking about a “quick” social post I did for the meditation app Calm.
During the 2021 French Open, Naomi Osaka was slammed with a $15k fine for opting out of press conferences to preserve her mental health. At the time, I was working with Calm to establish mental fitness as equally important as physical fitness. But suddenly, every brand in the world was jumping online to tweet support at Naomi. How do we make a splash when there’s already some big fish flopping around in the water?
So I pitched an idea. Not only would Calm show support for Naomi by donating $15k to a women’s sport charity, but - for every athlete who also opted to skip press conferences for mental health reasons, Calm would pay their $15k fines.
A good idea that cost nothing to make, takes a clear brand stance, and supports the community? All I’ll say is, there’s a couple hundred headlines about that moment if you’re curious about the impact it had for Calm.
LBB> I was involved in this and it makes me cringe…
Sadia> I find it all cringy in some way (I thought everyone felt this way?!).
LBB> The recent project I was involved in that excited me the most…
Sadia> Joining the Small World team as their creative partner. We all know this industry’s broken, right? Budgets are too small, costs too high, and creative dies along the way. Here’s a chance to build something better - for the work and for the people who make it. And I get to do it with some genuinely dope, kind people? Nothing more exciting than that.
