How did you discover your passion and learn the skills necessary to get started in the field? As a child growing up in the ’80s in my native Brazil, advertising was as entertaining as the content on TV, with some of the most iconic commercials to this date created around that time. I grew up when advertising had these quasi-celebrity and larger-than-life creative leads, giving the profession an aura that made it very alluring to anyone who wanted to venture into the creative field.
At some point during high school, writing became a passion (and GPA savior) with short stories, poetry and every kind of writing making up for all things math and science. Then in college, I took every creative writing class available, followed with a few portfolio courses.
Working in advertising is a lifelong learning experience. I continue to develop my skills with mentors, colleagues and by studying work I admire, both past and present. I still write every day in every possible outlet, including and especially when it’s not related to work.
Tell us about your current position as chief creative officer at Publicis Groupe in Tokyo. What do you do in your capacity there? I oversee the creative work of the agencies within Publicis Groupe in Japan, embodying different roles and footprints depending on the agency and client, from actual copywriting and creative directing global brand campaigns to overseeing local ideas and production, to collaborating regionally and globally with other agencies within the Groupe.
On that note, in Japan, Publicis Groupe’s Power of One model offers tailor-made solutions for our clients—across creative, media, production and PR. This means a substantial part of my role involves working side by side with colleagues to develop integrated solutions for global and local brands.
What do you like about living and working in Tokyo? Tokyo is a very special place with the kindest and most generous people, a city where tradition and science fiction can coexist in every block. Having lived and worked on different continents, I always offer the same advice to people who are curious about working abroad: “Always choose the city and country you want to live in first. The agency should come second. Because when life outside of work is amazing and special, you will want to make the best work of your life to keep living in that city.”
Your career has taken you everywhere from your home country of Brazil to the United States, Portugal, Singapore and now Japan. How has nomadism impacted your life and inspired your creativity? It has impacted everything, literally changing my life personally, professionally and everything in between. To be in rooms with people with vastly different backgrounds, insights, ways of working, thinking, traditions, religions and history. To hear ideas and feedback from colleagues and clients who can offer you a mosaic of opinions. Spices, languages, colours, menus and food you can’t pronounce, neon, cobblestones, time zones—even the different weather. It all adds and multiplies.
What have been some of your favorite ad campaigns you’ve worked on in your career? How did they change your perception of what you can achieve in advertising? Purpose has gotten a bad rap lately, but I do think that we are very privileged to work in an industry that puts us inside the lives and homes of millions of people. So, for me, ideas that have the power to change things for the better have always been my favorites.
One idea that is close to seventeen years old changed how I saw the power of what we can do: The Marathon for Water for Lidl Supermarkets in Portugal. It came out in 2007. In a region of the African nation of Guinea-Bissau, women had to walk the equivalent of a marathon to get drinking water. So, we invited one of these women to walk the Lisbon Marathon next to Rosa Mota, one of the greatest marathoners of all time. Afterwards, every bottle of water purchased at Lidl Supermarkets had the profits reverted to build water wells in Guinea-Bissau and help shorten those distances. The results were incredible: we more than doubled the initial number of wells built. It worked on every front, increasing traffic to the stores while generating a lot of brand love and creating so much good in the process.
Nearly a year later, we received a handwritten letter from one of the villages thanking us for the life-changing outcome of that campaign. It’s one idea that has forever reshaped how I see the potential and privilege of being part of an industry that can have that kind of impact on behalf of brands and businesses.
Outside of advertising, you create a lot of personal work, including shooting with your pocket camera, writing poems for your children and contributing photos to a zine. Why would you encourage other creatives to do the same? I have always believed that the moment you stop feeding your curiosity, your creativity becomes atrophied. So, over the years, I have always tried to explore creativity in every form for that reason. A high school teacher once said: “Every time you do something creative—it can be an act, a wild exploration, an invention, anything that takes you out of your comfort zone—all of it, it all expands the diameter of the pond from which you can extract ideas. It’s infinite.” So, a very long answer short: I always encourage creatives to do the same.
Regarding balancing the professional and personal in my creative work, I think it’s all intertwined. For example, I always carry a camera, spare battery, a pen and pocket notebook so I can document whatever happens wherever I am that day or week. Truth be told, I don’t always look back at the memory card and scribbles and find something creative every day. But it is the exercise that keeps the creative muscle from atrophying. In other words, it is not necessarily the end result, but as my teacher said, pushing the edges of that figurative (and real) pond as far as I can on a daily basis.
What trends in advertising—particularly Japanese advertising—are you taking an interest in, and why? In a time of “everything at the same time at once now in every format,” I love Japanese design, especially minimalism. Not just the “less is more” mindset, but the hierarchy of elements in communication and art direction—the color palette, the fonts, everything. Enter a convenience store in downtown Tokyo at any time of the day or night, and you will find over a thousand products. But you don’t need to speak or read the language to feel welcome or at home; the visual hierarchy and design help you understand exactly what you are looking for and fall in love with things you had no idea you needed.
The opposite can be true, of course—the loud, neon-lit signs around Shibuya and Shinjuku. But even then, at least it has personality and stands out. Nothing blends into a sea of sameness in Japan.
What is one challenge currently facing ad agencies that they need to address in order to remain relevant? The challenges are many. One for sure is the fragmentation of time and space brought about by the ever-evolving tech landscape. It used to be almost as simple as having a great idea.
Now there are a billion touchpoints, all trying to find their way to someone who is looking for anything but an ad. Even the best ideas need a very complex GPS to reach the audience you’re targeting.
And this requires interdisciplinary collaboration. On any given day, thanks to Publicis Groupe’s “Power of One” model, I collaborate with diverse talents—coders, artists, data analysts, strategists, media experts, and so on. Together, we make sure that a great idea will get the eyeballs and love it deserves—and just as important—when the consumer wants it. Hopefully, this makes the love mutual and not fragmented.
Do you have any advice for people just entering the advertising industry? Using your creativity as the means for a livelihood still beats (with all due respect) most other endeavors and careers.
Advertising goes far beyond agencies. It will connect you with the most creative talent in the world—animators, musicians, filmmakers and writers, just to name a few.
Creatives are not the only creatives in the building. An idea can come from anyone, in any department.
It is impossible to do anything by yourself. Ideas tend to be much bigger for those who are not afraid to share the credit and the spotlight.
And finally: be curious and especially, be kind. Because—and this is a fact—ideas are much more generous to those who are. ca
