Uprising: Embracing Creativity Everywhere with Michael Porfirio
For Michael Porfirio, life is all about creativity. At work, he provides an endless stream of ideas, pushing Public Inc.’s offerings forward with a balanced sense of cultural relevance and audience empathy. At home, he embraces inspiration through passions like trying new recipes, restyling the apartment, and playing competitive sports. In short, not a day goes by where the senior copywriter isn’t honing and sharpening his abilities to take his craft to the next level.
As such, it comes as no surprise that from the very beginning, Michael was destined for a career in this industry. A YouTube kid - we’re talking 2009, when the website was all videos of babies and cats and “had no polish” - he recalls bailing on math homework to write scripts, which he would then force his friends to act out, using his dad’s camcorder to film, which would subsequently be edited with the earliest version of iMovie. “My channel was like ‘SNL’... if ‘SNL’ had no budget, talent or viewership,” he jokes.
And then of course, there were his other hobbies. Sure, as the son of a Portuguese father, he had to spend a summer working in construction (an experience he describes as “sort of like a Portuguese Bar Mitzvah”), but outside of that, from sports to just being at home just watching TV shows and movies, reading comics, listening to emo music, and “just generally romanticising my angst,” he adds, everything was about embracing creative fuel. (And, as a bonus, the construction stint really showed him his “soft, writer hands were destined for so much less.”)
Perhaps surprisingly, with all this said and done, Michael’s first degree choice wasn’t actually a creative field, as he instead opted to study communications at Laurier University. An era that mostly consisted of essay writing and classroom debates, he credits the education for his sense of critical thinking… and that’s it. “I wrote for the school paper and even started my own blogs, but creative advertising wasn’t a thought until after graduating,” he says.
At this point, Michael would join the post-graduate copywriting programme at Humber College. Aided in building a proper creative portfolio and platform, with the purpose of landing an internship, he recalls being lucky enough to secure a placement with Havas Canada. “It turned out to be the perfect starting point,” he recalls. “We had a very small, but ambitious, creative team. It was an intense two years where I was able to touch on big broadcast campaigns as well as scrappy, low-budget award-winning ideas.”
Among these are a few projects which he recalls to this day - the first being a broadcast spot for a major Canadian insurance company. “Again, I was so lucky,” he observes. “This was my first career project, and the spot ran on TV before every Toronto Raptors game. It was surreal.”
While the budget was low, the work depended heavily on stock footage, and, with the skills he has now, there’s a lot he’d change if tasked with remaking it, nevertheless, it will always hold a special place in his heart. “I’m still proud of it, and I’ll never forget that feeling of seeing something I made appear on TV for the first time,” he concludes.
The other project - one which to this day, the copywriter believes changed his career - was for the Canadian Women’s Foundation. Given the opportunity to work with legendary Canadian astronaut Roberta Bondar, and produce a beautiful video, he notes both the opportunity and his creative director trusting him to be alone on set and call the shots amalgamated into an experience that sits with him to this day.
“At the time, I probably would have said I wasn’t ready for that independence, but sometimes, you need a push,” he reflects. “It forces you to be ready. It was also my first taste of how creative advertising can play a positive role in this world, which ultimately led me to where I am now, in the social impact marketing space.”
Truly, being in this corner of the industry is everything to Michael. Following stints at The Mark and Momentum Worldwide, he found himself joining Public Inc. in 2021, where he’s able to combine the unrivalled joy of seeing an idea come to life with the rewarding nature of actually making a difference. “Since joining, I’ve been given a new appreciation for what creativity can accomplish,” he says. “Now, my favourite part of the job is seeing ideas generate real impact for communities that need support.”
One such example of this can be found in a recent holiday campaign for PERIOD, a non-profit organisation that is working to end period poverty and period stigma. Of this experience, Michael recalls that the main challenge of bringing awareness to the problem and inspiring donations during the holidays of all times - an interval which is notoriously saturated with content and charitable alternatives - was not an easy one to overcome, but extremely worthwhile.
So how did the team do it? For Michael, there’s two main reasons. To start, by embracing the need to stand out, and contemplating the lore of the season, it led to the perfect opportunity, which was the creation of 'Crampus', an abrasive mythical character who is “equal parts charming and terrifying.”
But equally so, a large part of his process in this can be attributed to the number one lesson of his career, which is the fact that less is more. “Most people tend to overwrite – especially if you come from the world of essay writing, where you’re desperately trying to hit a certain number of characters,” he reflects. “As such, it can be hard to reprogram your brain to value brevity. (Thankfully, I am now very, very, very, very good at it.)”
On the subject of challenges, Michael also notes that staying informed is a big one, especially when working in the social impact space - an area filled with briefs that deal with incredibly sensitive subjects that are often evolving in real time. Speaking on this, he says, “Creative and strategic prowess isn’t enough; you also need to be well-informed with a finger on the current pulse. Every project must begin with empathy and an open mind.”
Unfortunately, this isn’t always the easiest area to navigate effectively. Specifically with regards to the concept of having a finger on the pulse, Michael actually believes this is an area the industry struggles most, especially when it comes to social media use.
“TikTok, for example, is a remarkable space for organic content,” he explains. “Brands are scrambling to find traction on that app, but ads don’t naturally fit there. That’s part of what makes it so good! If businesses want to find success, they need to reimagine the way the brand presents itself. I’ve always felt this way about Twitter, too. Stop trying to convince us the brand has thoughts and a voice. Wendy’s doesn’t have thumbs! But it does have a team of real people who understand the brand’s values. Be transparent about that and introduce us instead!”
On the other hand, when considering the empathy and open-mindedness side of the scale, Michael is far more optimistic, noting that more and more, major brands (and subsequently creative agencies) are dedicating time and money to issues that matter. “This is a great thing! For so long, advertising felt a bit icky,” he muses. “Yes, I still love the odd, mindless beer commercial, but only because, these days, I don’t feel smothered by it. Moreover, that same beer company will then turn around the following month and donate two million dollars to support veteran employment opportunities, or women in STEM. Weird, sure, but good!”
Of course, life isn’t all about the work. And returning to the idea of embracing creativity outside of the office, Michael notes that a big influence on his approach to the industry just comes from the opportunity to live in Toronto, which he describes as a “lively hub for creativity and social life.”
Filled with people who are passionate about music and fashion (as well as other strong agencies - Rethink being a favourite of his), it’s hard for him not to feel inspiration wherever he goes. “Events like the Toronto International Film Festival have fostered incredible communities in the city. For that specifically, film lovers have flocked here, but even the influence of things like the Ontario College of Art & Design have shaped this city in big ways, producing thousands of inspiring creators,” he says.
However, at the end of the day, for Michael, the most important motivator in his life isn’t being surrounded by creatives, generating crazy ad statistics, or being the most award-worthy copywriter in the business (although undoubtedly, those are pretty great things). Rather, he just wants to impress his family and friends with the work he does.
Finishing, he puts it simply. “I have a lot of respect for them and their values. So, if they think what I’m doing is cool or interesting, that’s usually a good sign!”
