I was going to write about how riding a bike seems to stimulate my brain. It’s like going to a well for ideas. And the radio, I love the radio, particularly Talk Radio. I listen to it in all the in-between moments of my day. I think it’s the best way to get out of the bubble.
But the truth is, and at risk of sounding like a plonker, the single biggest source of inspiration for me is talking to people. When I think about where my ideas have come from, or whenever I’ve got stuck, chatting to people has always helped. Every conversation holds an insight, something you should look up, a window to outside our adland bubble. I think this is why I’ve always preferred being a creative director to a creative. It’s a people job. A large chunk of your day is spent talking through embryonic thoughts, swapping references, and figuring things out. I get a lot of creative energy from this.
Here are three people I’ve had inspiring chats with:
Paula Laren is a trained accountant and business controller for a Swedish industrial company.
Her work is about as far as you can possibly get from advertising, which provides me with a healthy perspective. Think of compressors more than 360 campaigns. She was born in Peru but moved to Sweden as a teenager, which makes her an unusual mix of South American and Scandinavian. Over the years, I haven’t just gotten to know Paula, I got to know two completely different cultures too. From ceviche to rollmops, Pisco Sour to schnapps, Mario Vargas Llosa to Astrid Lindgren, Maná to ABBA, if I hadn’t shimmied up to Paula in a dodgy nightclub in Nottingham, I wouldn’t have experienced any of this.