Creative Insights is an AdNews series investigating and uncovering the secrets of the creative side of advertising.
Lauren Moran: associate creative director at CHEP Network
How did you fall into the industry? Was it deliberate or a misstep?
It was both deliberate and lucky. Finishing school I was split between the comforting logic of science and the fun of creativity. My guess was that advertising was a great combination of both. So, I chucked RMIT Advertising on my list of Uni preferences and hoped my assumption was correct. I’m still often unsure what this job is, but I’m sure it was the right call.
What’s your secret sauce for commercial creativity?
Create opportunities for output. The best thing about what we do is bringing ideas to life, but it often takes time – a process we can't always speed up. So, make a few things without waiting for instructions, something you get to decide is finished. It’s pretty amazing how the momentum flows back into your day to day.
What’s the biggest hurdle now for creatives?
Space.
Not physical space (although sometimes that helps), but time and mental freedom. Time to think, play and explore. As our industry moves faster we are losing the time to ruminate on things; the chance to explore an idea deeply, to interrogate it, to decide to leave it behind, to look for an even better idea and maybe come back to that original one. We need to drop the back-to-back Teams calls and let creatives get back to what we do best: hiding in the corner and staring into the nothingness, sometimes there’s gold in there.
Do you wear the black t-shirt uniform or are you a nonconformist?
I like to think I’ve found a mix between the all-black Melbourne cliche and a few ‘hi I’m one of the creatives’ statement pieces.
Note: I think the black t-shirt crew are the nonconformists - holding tightly to a decision they made a lifetime ago as everyone around them evolves. Branch out my friends, we believe in you.
Can commercial creativity only take place in a room full of people in black T-shirts?
If by ‘Black T-shirts’ we are talking about the cookie-cutter creative, then no, it can’t. Not in a way that moves us forward from the same work we’ve already seen. Great work requires genuine empathy, where we truly strive to see each other's point of view. This especially applies to how we work with our clients.
What was the latest campaign that you worked on that you really enjoyed?
Getting a ‘New Kids on the Block’ track into a 7-Eleven spot has definitely been a highlight. Mostly for the work, partly because of the 80’s boy band YouTube hole it sent me down.
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