We’re on the cusp of a golden age in communication: Hayden Scott, Famous Innovations

The COVID-19 global lockdown has not just confined us to our homes but thrown at us challenges of various dimensions. From the ad industry’s perspective, organising and shooting an advertising campaign in these conditions proved to be the big test. However, despite these challenges our creative leaders have continued to create work that inspires all. As part of our new series – e4m Creative Zone – where we get to know how Creative heads have been surpassing the COVID hurdles.

In today’s edition we speak to Hayden Scott, Group Creative Director, Famous Innovations.

As a copywriter and creative director, Scott has worked with diverse brands across categories. Along the way he has managed to reinvent a 90-year old Indian brand (Raymond); rewritten taglines of the world's most beloved brands for the cause of girl child education (Nestle); got dads to demand access to baby changing rooms (Snapdeal); petitioned WhatsApp to create an emoji for nurses (Fortis Healthcare); and recently, even designed a paintbrush for disabled foot artists (DOMS Stationery).

In conversation with exchange4media, Scott speaks of how the ad industry has managed to be more productive and creative than ever in the last few months, the upheaval brought about in creativity and more.

Edited excerpts below:

How have you been grappling with shooting and creativity amidst remote captivity?

It’s funny that you say grappling, because that’s a term usually associated with mountaineering and wrestling. But that’s not too far from the truth. The major challenges are keeping people’s morale high, respecting their limitations (and your own) and staying happy and motivated. The shooting part is difficult, I won’t lie. It sucks not being able to actually be on the set to see your idea come to life. But the creativity part is harder. We all miss the human side of the business, jamming over lunch, coffees, brainstorms and banter. This is what makes our industry special. And to take that away is a bit of a gut-punch. That having been said, I believe we have rolled with it and somehow managed to be more productive and creative than ever in the last few months.

Tell us about your campaign for Burger King and Platinum Days created during lockdown and how did it all come together despite the executional limitations?

 Well, we did a couple of really fun pieces for Burger King and one for Platinum Days of Love. The Burger King pieces were the Reassuring Whopper where we reunited families and friends separated during the lockdown by sending them free Whoppers. And the other was #BailMeOutBK which rewarded first-time chefs for all their cooking fails by obviously bailing them out with a free whopper. Both of these were conducted entirely over WhatsApp and Zoom. No one left their homes and the actors shot themselves on their phones. Platinum was crazy too because our lead actors were in Colombia (Pablo Escobar’s hometown!) and Goa! So we shot a film across continents without ever leaving our homes. Unreal!

This situation has led to far more digital adoption and is largely moving from the conventional cracking the TVC to digital. While there are already agencies that specialise in this situation how equipped are creative agencies to take on these things?

Now is the time for ideas. Not just “the big idea” but many big ideas and many points of engagement. Creative agencies get ideas. And they get the fact that an idea cannot be a couple of random social media posts. So I feel the question is not so much how equipped creative agencies are, it’s how agile creatives are to create not just one idea, but many ideas in a shorter span of time. And if you’re still approaching work from a “let’s crack TV first” lens, you are in the wrong decade and the wrong industry.

The situation has brought in a great deal of upheaval in the way agencies are working now. Where do you see the silver lining or green shoots of opportunity is all this?

I’m a student of history. I believe upheaval has always preceded something big or important. The French revolution. The Indian freedom struggle. The Spanish flu. World Wars. The fall of the Roman Empire. I could go on. Change is painful when it happens. But it ALWAYS brings with it something better. I believe with Covid-19 we are on the cusp of a Golden Age in communication. We are going to see leaner agencies, faster response times, more ideas, lower thresholds for wastage, bigger appetites for experimentation. And these are all fabulous things for creativity. Clients are very lucky to have us! ;)

Covid-19 is a humanitarian crisis. Many award shows globally have spoken about not factoring work created for these times. So what would be your take on how to create a conversation on Covid-19 without being exploitative and using it as a mere marketing ploy?

We are going to be living with Covid-19 for a long, long time. It is the zeitgeist of the times we live in. And advertising and marketing is at its heart, about creating stories that mirror where society is. So my question is, how long will award shows ban “Covid-19” ideas? We have to normalise it and move forward. It happened, it’s there, how can my brand say something that’s fresh or interesting. Relevance has never been more important. Every monkey who spent the last few years talking about brand purpose is now scared as hell. Because living up to that purpose is hard! But for me, that’s where communication in the future will be. Staying true to what your brand brings to the table. And staying true to your company’s values. That and that alone will keep your work from appearing exploitative or redundant.