Stefan Roux - Global Creative Director

For our first industry engagement talk we had was with the global creative directer Stefan.

he highlighted the key difference within different advertising markets abroad within the creative directive world. He emphasised what may work within the UK market is completely different to that of others. the culture are different and thus you need to be culturally aware of the market wants and needs.

For example he mentioned 'to sell toothpaste in a uk market you would use a man in a white coat' however if you were to try and sell toothpaste within India you would use a Bollywood star and dance sequence, because it is culturally relevant. its people like to see. another example included: Thailand/ ladyboys - funny - cultural relevance. If you are not culturally aware of the media within the country your working for in an ad agency you will struggle to make a good ad.

He also emphasised 'content is where its at' - content is providing a more engaging visual for target audiences. if people are able to relate to a gif or meme they are more likely to click share or like. thus building up the noticeability of a brand or ad.

To finish - Stefan reinforced the message not to give up because it will get hard finding your way into an agency and finding your feet. But the pay off is even greater. we need to constantly take risks especially to travel and work abroad as it increases your awareness and understanding of the industry and we are more likely to understand a client brief and increase the ability to execute the communications format - social media, gif, ad, print etc