Last night, Justin Gomes, Creative Director and co-founder of Cape Town advertising agency FoxP2 presented a talk entitled “Why Wookies Don’t Wear Pants: A Study Of Creativity And Its Power To Transform Business“.

Justin took the audience through the case study of George Lucas and Star Wars, and how hard it was to convince the movie execs to approve a concept that was well and truly off the charts creatively.

foxp2-justin-gomes

The main points I took from the presentation were:

• It pays to be brave
• Creativity is not the only way to make money, but it is the best way
• Creativity and commerce are not mutually exclusive
• Fred Roed is a great actor (…you had to be there.)

Justin summarised the talk with the following conclusions:

1. Creativity Is the art of finding new solutions, not copying tried and tested formulas.
2. The formulas Of Best Practice and Research cannot be easily applied to truly original work.
3. Creativity can be be applied to find alternative media solutions when traditional channels are not available.
4. Brave work needs a brave client and an internal champion.
5. Creativity can ensure clients enjoy a disproportionate return on their investment.
6. Visionary creatives embrace commerce, but at the same time fight for their creative independence and principles.

Check out FoxP2’s work here.

When we go live with the new Heavy Chef website, we will upload the video of last night’s presentation, but in the meantime, you can revisit some of the classic pieces Justin spoke about in the session. Justin showed some examples of work he admired, many of which underlined the courage that clients need to have to approve some creative concepts…

Check out the “Whassup” advert here:

Check out the Honda Diesel advert here:

Check out the Cadbury’s advert here:

Check out the “Dogfish” advert here:

Dog-Fish – Volkswagen SpaceFox – The funniest videos are a click away

Check out the Oasis video here:
Oasis – Dig Out Your Soul In The Streets

Thanks again to our sponsors 24.com, Perdeberg, Corona, Glaceau Mineral Water and Springleap.

A big round of applause was given to Justin at the end – everyone was truly stoked to have witnessed a rousing and inspiring talk. Thanks to Justin and Charl for entertaining us!