Next up, Vivian and Ian. They were part of Adweek’s 11 Global Creative Leaders Shaping the World’s Most Inventive Marketing. Make sure to check out Adweek to hear their take on recent work and the challenges of marketing in China. But you won’t hear about their favorite animals, so here we go:
What’s your favorite animal?
Vivian: First off, mine is imaginary. I was meditating eight years ago and saw a rabbit with fluffy fur in psychedelic colors fly by. It drifted peacefully in front of me back and forth a few times then disappeared but gave me a mischievous smile before it did. It still visits me occasionally, making sure I am doing ok.
Ian: Cows are my spirit animal. They're calm and wise and I'm a little jumpy so we balance each other nicely. When I lock eyes with a cow chewing cud I can hear them thinking: "I'm good. You're good. We are good“. Then we move on, until we meet again.
What makes WKSH different from our other offices?
Vivian: The thrill of being an adolescent W+K office in the world's largest adolescent market! Creative growth potential is huge here because China is marching forward at ultra-high speed and there's no playbook. You might create Nike's first Chinese New Year film or have the chance to create the first sheep celebrity that showed up on live stream selling wool sweaters. Every day we're trying new things and we have no idea what will work and that's fucking exciting.
Ian: Our office is small and scrappy. When you join WKSH, you really get a chance to shape the work and culture with us. We’re around 100 people, which in my personal experience is the magic number for creativity and career growth. Also, we’re dedicated to our unique east-meets-west style of diversity that we call “Hot Pot Culture” which we believe brings out the best in everyone. PS—A “hot pot” is an Asian style of cooking where delicious ingredients are combined in a boiling pot and every unique addition makes the broth better
What is your favorite spot of the year?
Vivian: McDonald's Famous Orders. It is a super simple but utterly smart idea to use celebrities without outshining the main characters: THE FOOD. It triggers me to ponder my McDonald meal, which is by the way, dipping chicken McNuggets into my strawberry sundae. Immediately I have an image of my meal flashing in my mind, and I crave them horribly! What a powerful 30-sec psychological journey.
Ian: Samsung, Awesome is for Everyone. This film bear hugs it’s responsibility to sell phones in the most chest-thumping-fractal-spewing-meme-geyser way possible. The lyrics are direct and hypnotizing, and you find yourself singing along with the product features after watching it. I’m jealous of how freely it flows from visual to visual with such trippy rhythmic chaos. It’s like the internet swallowed you whole and barfed out a double rainbow. I love it.
