Gloom provides for creative boom

Malaysia – The gloomy economy environment is the best time for the creative industry as its players are forced into thinking creative on a small budget, some of the big names in advertising said.

This message was imparted upon the Distilled participants by the likes of Alex Burnard (Crispin Porter + Bogusky), Sonal Dabral (Bates 141), Matty Burton (Droga5), Thirasak Tanapatanakul (Creative Juice\World Group) and Graham Kelly (formerly of TBWA\Tequila Singapore).

Burnard said during a roundtable discussion back when he was in university, he learned “if the clients trust you to be an asset in the company, they will not leave you."

“This is the case now. Right now, your clients need you more than ever and when the recession comes it is the same as a gold rush.

“It’s about repositioning the brand and company... Things may not be good but the show still goes on,” Burnard told reporters after the five-hour long seminar attended by some 300 members of the Malaysian advertising industry, mostly creatives.

Dabral and Tanapatankul admitted that the industry would be hit by the credit crunch. “But this is the time when we have to be very careful about how we work, about our ideas and there should not be waste of time or productivity,” Dabral said.

Distilled proved to be a showcase of the advertisements and campaigns churned out by the five men – award-winning and other well-respected professionals – who also shared what and who inspired their path to "Change the Game", which is the theme for this year's Kancil Awards.

Their common underlining message were that they did not do their work to win awards, nor did they expect to, but that passion drove them to crafting their creations.

In answer to a question of what they aim to achieve next, seeing as they were award winners, Burnard shared his vision of becoming an urban planner at home in Miami, drawing laughter from the crowd. “You’re laughing at my dream,” he quipped with a smile, drawing even more laughter. As it turns out, he was pretty serious about chasing that dream.

Burnard said he has attended local council meetings and had ideas on how to develop townships and urban centres in his hometown. “You can actually art-direct a neighbourhood,” he said.

Kelly was more than enthusiastic to say he was looking forward to “do very little at all” when he goes to Bali, after his years of service in TBWA\Tequila in Singapore, and in the creative industry.

Kelly resigned about a week ago and plans to go to Bali and continue his work, both on a personal and freelance basis, and said he looks forward to the challenges of emerging new media.