Jo Bird ✨’s Post

How I went from hardly noticed to Head of Creative at one of the UK's fastest growing brands 🚀 I've always been creative. When I was little, I used to sit and sketch my own fashion boutiques. And hair salons. And the fancy house I'd one day own. I remember Christmas one year - I must've been 13 or so - I figured out how to play with the shutter speed on my digital camera and made crazy abstract images out of the fairy lights on the tree. God, I was excited at that. At school, I aced art class. Designing handbags, drawing the human form and spending HOURS practising unique pencil and shading techniques. I thrived at art college. And during my photography degree. I guess I just followed what made my heart sing. Even though I didn't know where it would take me. Just over a decade later, I'm Head of Creative at one of the UK's most exciting fashion brands. But it wasn't the smooth line process I thought it might be. I spent over 10 years: - Applying for jobs - Crafting a portfolio - Learning new creative skills - Figuring out the industry - Building relationships - Hustling to get heard - Trying to be taken seriously I've watched people around me get there quicker. Land on their feet. Get lucky, maybe. Others have worked as hard as me, and still haven't had their moment in the spotlight. In honesty, I can't define a clear process for succeeding in a creative career. All I know, is that you have to really love it. Like, really. And I don't mean love the job title. Or the power and respect you think the title will bring. And I don't mean love the glamour. Travel, working with fancy brands or winning fancy awards. I mean: You have to love IT. The work. The process of creating. The constant growth journey. The lifestyle. Because creativity requires the greatest resilience I've ever known. You have to be able to work between the lines of logic. To handle unpredictability and to accept that you will NEVER know everything. I think those of us who surrender ourselves to those kind of uncertainties while still asserting what we CAN be sure about are the ones who are able to stick with it, until one day, it just... works.

London, I'm coming for ya!! 📣📣📣 I am SOOOOOO excited to be doing my 'Power of Personal Branding' talk in Soho next weekend. If you couldn't make it to my Birmingham event, you WON'T want to miss this one. Why? Because it's a whole Lounge experience 🤩🤩 ➡️ When? 3rd-5th May ➡️ Where? 59 Greek Street, Soho You can expect: • Coffee and Matcha • A cosy, comfy place to sit and work/chill with friends • Wifi • Curated Lounge apparel to shop and FOUR empowering panel talks, delivered by the incredible Lounge team. Honestly, I'm buzzing. Please pop in and say hey, I'll be there for the entire 3 day event. Link to book a seat in the comments below. WHO'S COMING?! 🤝

Building a strong brand looks different in 2024. Here's why: When I left university 12 years ago, the brands that were winning were the ones who were mass marketing. If the brand was on TV, in a magazine or endorsed by a celebrity - it was popular. But over the years, we (as consumers) got so overwhelmed by the noise of the media, we sort of just... stopped listening. I think we realised 'I don't want to be sold to anymore' because being sold to can be soulless. And with everything else around us feeling so stressful and isolating, we decided (more than ever) we need connection. We need to FEEL something again. We need to make friends. We need to feel seen. Suddenly, the brands that identified the value of community started winning. The ones that bought likeminded people together to enjoy a shared passion. The ones that entertained and empowered. And the ones that put people before products. Ultimately, there are faces behind logos. Real, human people who want to make a difference. And it's those people who CAN make a difference, not just for the brand they work for, but for the people it serves. I love it when community-led brands thrive and this year, I'd love to see more of them. 🫶 Here's me with the amazing Claire from Girls Who Walk Manchester, a female-founded walking group for anyone who feels lonely or wants to make new friends. We partnered with the group to host a special walk, with goodie bags and sweet treats. Over 100 girls attended and some beautiful new friendships were made. What's your favourite community-led brand??

3 reasons why I LOVE this creative pop-up by Oatly: Pop-ups are extremely trendy for brands right now. So, how do you cut through the noise in a busy world of branded experiences? 3️⃣ Brand Consistency Oatly have shown a REALLY consistent approach to their billboard advertising so far. That pale blue colour, bold black text, playful tone of voice. I'd recognise an Oatly ad anywhere. So, I loveeeee seeing how they're exploring new creative executions whilst staying true to their core identity. 2️⃣ Storytelling For me, brands who understand the value of storytelling will never lose. I'm obsessed with this idea of creating a 'brand universe' and inviting consumers in. This is exactly what Oatly are starting to do with The Fountain of Youth concept. 1️⃣ Integrated Approach Creating a standalone physical space is not enough in 2024. Successful brands are blending the physical and digital worlds to captivate audiences no matter where they are. The slightly performative nature of these images shows me that Oatly understood the assignment. Credit to Oskar Pernefeldt for the original post. What do you think of this unique pop-up?

And the winner of Creativity at Coachella goes to… 🏆 Doja Cat. The branded pop-ups didn’t really inspire me to be honest. There’s only so many logos by a pool in a swanky villa that I can stomach. But the minute I saw this performance, I died ☠️ You know when something is truly creative when you feel like you’ve stepped into another universe. It’s risky, it’s bold, it’s a spectacle. I love the story of Doja Cat saying ‘f*ck you, I’ll do what I want, hair or no hair’. But more than that, the entire performance was an avant-garde masterpiece. 💫 From visionary hair artist Charlie Le Mindu and creative director Brett Alan Nelson. Did you see the performance?

5 things you should do if you want to be an art director: 5️⃣ Care about art direction. Absorb it. Live it. Don't just pick it because it sounds like a cool job. Because it's not just a job for me. It's a lifestyle. I enjoy art. I up-skill myself by reading books or listening to podcasts by great creatives. I'm on a constant hunt to better my creative eye. You should love it as much as you love Netflix, ice cream or the gym. 4️⃣ Have a vision. Art direction can be quite subjective and you'll constantly be pressured by other people's opinions. You should listen to them, of course, but you should hold strong on your vision. Your view of the world. Your creative ideas. 3️⃣ Get good at communicating. It's no good having great ideas in your head and not being able to bring them to life. Learn to sketch, do mock-ups or just explain things really, really clearly. 2️⃣ Create things. I can't express this enough. I've spoken to a lot of students or grads who say they want to have a creative job but they don't actually create things. Get your hands dirty. Nowadays, you've got all the tools you'll ever need. And then keep posting your creations online. You'll soon get noticed. 1️⃣ Be a learn-it-all not a know-it-all. Because the minute you let your ego take over and you think you know everything about art direction, you've failed. You can never know everything about art, creativity and branding. It's ever-evolving. Get used to that. They don't teach you think job in school, but it's a real job. In-house or in agencies. Or even, in film or theatre. It's just slightly different there. But yes, you can think of creative ideas for a full-time job. I should know, I get to do it 😉 Any questions?

Apparently they did it for real this time 👀 To celebrate 1 year since the original CGI video went viral, JACQUEMUS shared this video of yet another driving handbag. But this time, they claim it's real. I still think it looks fake. Why is no one in the street reacting?! 😆 Cheers CGI for making me so sceptical. Anyway, I love that they did a follow-up post. Super fun and creative. And if it IS real. I love it even more. What do you think??

McDonald's put up scented billboards and here's what I think about them: I love a billboard. I really do. Big, in your face and attention-grabbing. I especially love a billboard that doesn't look like a normal billboard. Because consumers are a bit numb to them now. Or they don't see them, because they're looking down at their phone. So, a billboard that thinks beyond the visual is smart, if you ask me. What I like: 👍 Exploring ways to connect with consumers beyond audio and visual. Scent is such a nostalgia-triggering, emotive way to connect. And underrated. 👍 Strategic placements 200 metres from McDonald's restaurants for relevancy. 👍 No logo. The audacity! No, really. They're a big enough brand to play off the fact that they're a big enough brand. But using this as a social 'experiment' to test that theory was a nice touch. 👍 Great coverage. Global, actually. From a marketing POV, it did the job. Well done team. What I'm pondering: 🤔 I couldn't see any sort of 'follow-up' opportunity to create a full experience, for example, they could've added a scannable QR that allows you to redeem a free box of 'the iconic smell' (fries) at your nearest restaurant, if you can guess what the restaurant is... 😉 🤔 The campaign video (or should I say, case study video) SCREAMS Cannes entry. I'm not knocking it, but it sort of makes me feel like the original creative was less about discovering the consumer emotion and more about receiving a golden lion. 🤔 Having said that, I'd of course be happy if they won a Cannes Lions. After all, judges are consumers too... Overall, it definitely cut through the noise of the internet. Which is no easy task. Well done @TBWA\NEBOKO. What did you think of this creative marketing??

Brands that are winning the creative game right now are doing these 5 things 🖐️ 5️⃣ Entertainment Brands that are creating entertaining content - with no real sales pitch - are cutting through the noise and increasing their shareability. Sisters and Seekers are a great example. 4️⃣ Collaborations Brands that are teaming up with other brands or influencers are exciting the world with amplified 'newness'. This creates talkability and as a result, brand awareness. The recent Liquid Death x E.L.F campaign was a winner for me! 3️⃣ IRL Billboards, experiences, guerrilla marketing: Brands that are showing up in physical spaces are captivating audiences who have major digital fatigue. Specsavers keep smashing this. You know I love them. 2️⃣ Simplicity In a world of chaos, brands who are able to create and communicate a simple idea effectively are being remembered. Burger King just smashed this with their 70th anniversary campaign. 1️⃣ Storytelling This one will never get old. Brands that are able to tell purposeful and needle-shifting stories will always hold the creative crown. 'Assume That I Can' for CoorDown is one of the best so far this year. What's your favourite brand creative of 2024?!

If you're trying to get a creative job (or a job at Lounge - lord knows there's a lot of you in my DM's 😅) here's some advice from a 34-year-old who has climbed relatively far up the career mountain: • Make a portfolio. Creatives create things. Show it. • Focus on job roles, not brands. • If you want to ignore me and focus on a brand, remember that you have to add value there, so be sure to convince them that you are keen on a certain job role. • If you don't know exactly what job role you want, you'll have to try a few job roles to find out. That's okay. • When you apply for these job roles, make sure you are focused on learning and being the best you can in that role. All skills are forever useful. • If you're struggling to get experience, do personal work and share it online. • Be a learn-it-all, not a know-it-all. Always. • Help others as much as possible. The universe will reward you. • Be a team player. It's not hard. • If something doesn't sound right, it probably isn't. • Creativity isn't all rainbows and butterflies - it's tough. Get prepared for opinions from all angles. • Don't take things personally. • Find a mentor (I'm sorry, I'm full at the moment but there are plenty of people out there who will jump to help you if you ask) And my golden advice: ✨ If you want a more creative life, create things Any Q's?