Page 32 - AdNews Magazine May-June 2022

Investigation
just critiquing work.
“That's actually been quite a hard
thing because usually you're having a lot of incidental conversation in the office and you get to critique work or you talk about work, but the last two years it's ... present work, cri- tique work, present work, critique work.
“I do think that's probably impacted the creative culture a lot. I think it's always been a fun culture, creativity and being a creative part- ner. I think a lot of that has probably gone in the last two years. I think it's become a lot harder for creatives.”
Matt Lawson and Adrian Mills at Deloitte Digital had to think up work arounds when producing commercials in lockdown.
In Best Cars in the Universe,
Cadbury by VCCP.
they could only have one talent on set, so they created a lonely man on Mars, laughing at memes from earth, wishing he was there.
Matt Lawson: “When I'm thinking about ideas, it definitely doesn't feel like work. Everything else feels like work, but not sitting down thinking of ideas.”
Adrian Mills, a suit, tackles the business side with a creative eye: “There were two things that really came to mind during COVID. The major issue was learning, particularly for the young ones. They weren't around to absorb through osmosis how you manage just being a white collar or pro- fessional worker, let alone a creative in an advertising sense.
“That was one of the regrettable parts of COVID for anybody starting their career in particular. Hats off to those guys who really did come through. I was really proud of our grads.
“Secondly, I was really proud of the creative teams who were actu- ally able to organise themselves. They had to work more independently than they had done in an agency setting with suits, creatives and other administration support.
“That isn't to say they're not capable of that. I was really impressed with our leaders, in particular, for stepping up and taking on those chal- lenges, which we knew.
“And I think the fundamental challenge that we probably didn't even