1) Given the tension swirling around us in the news, I think brands with a sense of humor and lightness are going to be such a relief. Information and argument will feel like a drag; this is a time for us to bring more inspiration to our work and be more entertaining and less literal. And I think we’re going to be having a lot of conversations about how brands should behave in the world when consumers, especially millennials, are becoming increasingly more activist and engaged.
2) We’ll be making our first work with our new partners at General Mills, and as a team we’re setting expectations high. We have Cheerios, Yoplait, Nature Valley, and the Big G portfolio of cereals, and we want these brands to be the most talked-about in the country. We want our work to make that happen, we want to have fun while we’re making it, and we want you to be able to see that in the work.
3) I spent most of 2016 leading the Secret account at W+K, and that work came from creative and strategy getting super tight. So, now more than ever I’m an proponent of strategy and creative moving as one. A lesson I’ve taken out of that work is that being insightful about your audience, finding the true heart of your brand, being authentic and human, and being brave enough to get into an argument when you know you’re on the right side of it, will have celebrities sharing your work on Twitter for free. Oh, and the future is female creatives and female Directors.
4) Survive New York.
