New Zealand creativity starts with open-minded clients: Andy Fackrell

Fackrell's agency was one of several from New Zealand to take home Lions from Monday night’s Direct, PR and Promo & Activation awards, as well as the Mobile category in last night's awards.

Speaking to Campaign Asia-Pacific during a quiet moment at an otherwise intensely busy festival, Fackrell said he found the lack of bureaucracy at home a refreshing change from the climate of Europe.

He attributed New Zealand’s continuing high level of creative work largely to more open-minded clients. The relatively robust economic situation, he said, had “given clients less paranoia about failing”. While they retain a degree of scepticism as to agencies’ motivations for creating groundbreaking work—to win awards—he said, more readily available, concrete metrics were contributing to a more relaxed approach.

“They are prepared to stick their neck out more,” Fackrell said. “Clients are taking pride in being original. We are in a really great bubble at the moment. The environment has become open and positive about doing good work.”

On a broader scale, he pointed to a growing recognition among clients globally as to the value of winning awards, inspired by the likes of Coca-Cola, whose marketers often have a high profile at major festivals and which often stands out for its creative work.

“Clients now see themselves as part of the process; that we [the agencies] are not just this unruly rabble getting in the way. The good marketers are as creative as the people making the ads. Now they’re all here [at Cannes] and it’s helped to demystify the process—it’s become much more collaborative.”

He pointed to Westpac Bank as an example of a brand that has been prepared to highlight negative issues in its sector, opening the door for greater creativity. This has in turn influenced rivals.

“Because it’s a close-knit market, when one bank does it, others have to follow,” he said, adding that the process of launching new work was relatively painless. “You can be fast to get things out without huge layers of research getting in the way. It’s being used to legitimise things rather than knock them down.

Fackrell’s only major complaint with the New Zealand market was over its homogenous nature. “We don’t get so much traffic coming through,” he observed. “It’s definitely not a hub. To me, it would be stronger if the business were a little more multicultural. But I do think that New Zealand has moved away from just being a country bragging about itself. We’ve stepped away from that and I think the work is now more universal in its insights. The more universal you can be with emotions, the more people are going to like it.”

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