12 Questions : 20 People – #17 Juggi Ramakrishnan, Executive Creative Director of Ogilvy & Mather Advertising, Beijing

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Juggi Ramakrishnan_2014.jpg12:20 is a Sydney based creative consultancy that works with agencies across Asia. Recently, while working in the region, Christian Finucane and Jon Skinner met with 20 creative leaders from the top agencies to discuss the opportunities and challenges for the industry. The interviews, ’12 Questions: 20 People’ are being published in a series of blog posts on Campaign Brief Asia. The 17th interview is with Jagdish (Juggi) Ramakrishnan, Executive Creative Director of Ogilvy & Mather Advertising, Beijing.

What’s the most exciting thing about working in Asia?

There’s always something in the air.

 

What inspires you?

Wine and uncertainty.

How has social media impacted creativity in the region?

Thanks to social media, we are seeing a lot more people talking about social media.

 

What is the recent campaign everyone wishes they’d done?

I give up. What is it?

 

Which clients are pushing the boundaries and how?

The ones who know how to focus on doing one thing well, and can resist the desire to jump on bandwagons.

 

Are there any cultural ‘creative watch-outs’ working here?

Everyone knows that red is a very auspicious colour in Chinese culture. But Westerners often don’t realize how critical it is to have some red element in every piece of work. Once I saw a Chinese New Year ad with just red – no words, pictures, logo or anything, just a pure outpouring of Pantone 032U auspiciousness. Clients have been known to outright reject an ad for not having a red element in it. Tough. So much so even our black and white ads now have a single dot or pixel of red hidden in them somewhere. Just for luck.

 

Which Asian country is punching above its weight creatively?

North Korea. Huge idea. And the whole country’s in on it.

 

Why does creativity matter?

Because attention spans are getting WorldCup… MH370… Lookatthiskitty…

 

JS CF Surry Hills photo crop.jpgWhat makes the local industry different?

Different from what exactly?

 

Cannes Titanium, Spikes Asia Grand Prix or AWARD Gold Pencil? Which and why?

Cannes. My mum’s never heard of the others.

 

What is the creative issue that frustrates you the most?

The human desire to stand out is usually no match for the desire to fit in.

 

What’s the biggest opportunity for creative people?

I feel we’re only just scratching the surface. Really, there’s so much more we should be doing with the colour red.

Photo caption: Jon Skinner (left) and Christian Finucane (right)

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