Three Questions For... Simon Vicars, Creative Group Head, Colenso BBDO
What inspires you?
I don’t know. Watching Harry Enfield, 30 Rock and Family Guy could help you write funny work. But so could a limp handshake from a zoo keeper. So I just try to do and experience as much as I can in life. Inspiration comes from both exciting and ordinary places. The trick is to put yourself in as many of those places as possible.
What do you look for in a Creative’s book?
The industry is bored of print ads, but I find they’re great for judging talent. They’re hard to do well. They rely solely on creative thinking. You can’t repurpose a piece of tech or propose some hypothetical solution. You have one piece of paper. Get me excited about washing powder. Go.
What does ‘creativity’ mean to you?
For me, creativity is unexpected logic. It’s something that makes total sense when you see it, you just never thought you’d see it that way. ‘What your mom would feed you if your mom were a man’ is totally logical and completely unexpected. Unexpected logic is an outdoor store closing on Black Friday. It’s Tesla turning roof tiles into solar panels. Creativity is the simple answer that no one saw coming.
