Cream of the Crop This is a monthly column introducing professionals who represent the best in their respective industries Optimistic outlook behind award-winning campaigns by Alex Chan A desire to boost standards in Hong Kong's advertising industry provides inspiration for one leading executive Most young professionals start their careers full of grand ideas and high expectations. They see themselves as agents of change before, in most cases, reality takes over. Budgets, business imperatives and work pressures make getting the job done more important than inspiring a mini-revolution. "When I first came to Hong Kong I had a lot of high ideals about how I was going to change advertising in this city," says Simon Handford, executive creative director for Ogilvy & Mather Advertising. Unlike others, though, he has stuck firmly to his original ambitions and is as determined as ever to achieve them. "I am a sort of blind optimist who is constantly striving to make things better, and improving the quality of advertising in Hong Kong is a continual goal," he explains. Mr Handford began by studying copywriting and art direction at Falmouth College of Arts in the UK and spent a year gaining experience with an agency in London before moving to Hong Kong in 1996. The next four years were spent with a local advertising agency before he got a call from his current employer. "Although Ogilvy is not necessarily the wackiest or most creative, the quality of writing and craftsmanship is always of a very high standard, and this attracted me to the company," he says. His first challenge was to get out of the habit of thinking like an English copywriter. He had to amend the style preferred by clients like hotels, and to develop the knack of incorporating references to local culture in advertisements meant for the Chinese market. "It helped that I have always been interested in Hong Kong's lifestyle, which made it easier to absorb influences and understand the people," he notes. Innovative campaigns His first big project, for San Miguel beer, was a campaign using cartoon characters and showed his ability to capture the imagination and sell day-to-day products at the same time. A subsequent job for Mr Juicy helped to change the brand's image from being purely health-conscious to something cooler and more edgy. Such campaigns were innovative and extremely well received, and led to both local and global awards. "I have twice been in the industry's D&AD annual showcase of the best creative work," Mr Handford says. "I am most proud of that because I had a copy of the book as a student and remember wondering what it would feel like to be in it one day." Changing role Currently, Mr Handford's biggest challenge is adjusting from being the person who does the creative thinking to getting others to come up with ideas. Therefore, his focus is to develop an environment which fosters creativity and teamwork. "I think a lot of executives fall into the trap of rolling up their sleeves and doing the work themselves, instead of trusting their team," he says. He also believes that the inspiration needed to be creative comes from having a full life outside work. People who get out, observe human behaviour and are passionate about whatever is going on in the world remain open-minded and are ideal for the industry. "Otherwise, all our ideas for TV commercials will be set in an office, if that's the only place we see all day," he says. Mr Handford admits to being inherently lazy, but says his interest in coming up with great advertisements has made it easy to overcome this. "In fact, as a manager, I always like people who are a little bit lazy because I think that makes them work smarter rather than harder," he says. At no point has he lost his enthusiasm for the job or his optimism that Hong Kong advertising can still make a bigger impact on the international stage. "If I can influence that in any way, I will be more than satisfied," he concludes. Milestones 2006 - Appointed executive creative director 2005 - Became senior creative director 2003 - Moved up to position of creative director 2002 - Promoted to senior copywriter 2000 - Joined Ogilvy & Mather Advertising Hong Kong as copywriter 1994 - Graduated from Falmouth College of Arts in the UK with a degree in copywriting and art direction Taken from Career Times 28 April 2006 Your comments are welcome at [email protected]