AMIR KASSAEI  Born in Iran. Grew up in Austria. Studied in France. Lived in Germany. Working globally. Chief Creative Officer DDB Worldwide. NYC, Shanghai, Berlin, Ibiza. Twitter: @amirkassaei

OUR NEXT GENERATION DEFINES THE FUTURE OF OUR BUSINESS

This month I had the honor of presiding at the Integration jury for the LIA Awards in Las Vegas. While Vegas can make you question your future, that’s not it. I was also honored to speak again at the LIA educational initiative, Creative LIAisons, a seminar for Young Creatives that coincides with the judging week and is designed to bring young talent and creative leaders together for some pretty amazing conversations. 

DDB was lucky to have five Young Creatives invited to the event – one from each region of the network. In Vegas, they heard a lot from us on how we see our industry changing and the lessons we learned along the way.  As they take some of those insights and combine them with the things that influence them in their lives, I hope they can imagine an interesting future. I wanted to continue those conversations and asked each of them how they would revolutionize our business. They are the ones who will be doing it.

Colombian copywriter Emerson Yepes works on accounts like Bancolombia for both digital and traditional ideas. Instagram: @emersao Twitter: @emeyepes

“I wish I could take credit for it, but my favorite piece of future-thinking advertising is the Between Two Ferns episode where President Obama appears to promote the health care exchange to young people. Think about it – the leader of the free world took time out of his day to record a segment on Funny Or Die with the guy who slipped everyone roofies in The Hangover. That’s not a mistake. There’s no blueprint for what to say and where to say it to get people’s attention. Great ideas that are real, authentic and entertaining can live everywhere. The Obama administration needed to talk directly to young people, so instead of creating a Facebook tab or BS Instagram filter, they took a creative risk that got noticed and got results (40% jump in site traffic from young people after the episode). Freaking brilliant.”

Tyler Kirsch

DDB Düsseldorf’s Tobias Hecking has snagged multiple Lions for VW “Tapemailing” and Steinway & Sons “Piano for Peace”. This talented copywriter also has a unique interest in public toilet muzak. We won’t speculate on where he does his best thinking. Instagram: @tobitobitobitobi Twitter: @Muskelkevin Tumblr: http://toilettenmusik.tumblr.com/

Roberto Adamo is a Digital Creative Group Head at DDB South Africa. His honored campaigns include work for Wrigley’s 5 Gum, Honda and Wall’s. Roberto is also a passionate illustrator. Instagram: @batoadamo Twitter: @bato101

DDB Singapore Art Director Marvin Liang most recently struck Cannes Gold with the Math Paper Press “Offline Book” Mobile idea. Instagram: @marvinlyj

Tyler Kirsch is a Senior Copywriter at DDB New York currently working on Glidden and Cotton. He loves writing, jazzy hip-hop beats, time-lapse videos and Brie. Instagram: @thekirschiest Twitter: @tylerkirsch Vine: Tyler Kirsch

“We need to stop acting as if we are above the people we are trying to connect with. We must treat them with respect and earn respect back from them. This is how human relationships work. Creatives should go beyond only working on the briefs which are handed to them and step back more often to look at their client’s business as a whole to offer new insights and find new business opportunities that take brands to the next level. A good example of this approach is the Harvey Nichols’s ‘Sorry I Spent it on Myself’ campaign. This was more than your average integrated campaign. It centered around a range of specially created in-store products, that went on to become best sellers. It can be tricky to involve Creatives prior to the development of new products or services. However, we are a business that only thrives when our clients grow. It is something we should push for more often.”

Marvin Liang