Jesper Andreasson, Senior Copywriter here at The Think Tank, isn’t one for convention – no wonder then that his career has taken some surprising turns. For the latest instalment of Meet the Thinkers, he shared his thoughts on the role creativity has to play in engineering unique campaigns.
Hi Jesper. Tell us about your journey before arriving at TTT.
I spent most of my life in California as the lead singer in a rock band, writing songs, making records and touring around the USA. It was above and beyond a 24/7 gig, so I burned out in the end.
That’s when I went back to school and earned my MFA in Literature and Fiction Writing at Bennington. It was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had, opening me up to innovative writers like Javier Marías and César Aira.
Since then I’ve had some luck publishing fiction and poetry in literary journals. When I moved to England a few years ago, it felt like the right time to really make a living out of my writing.
It’s definitely not the usual path for a copywriter, but when I applied to The Think Tank I think they realised that I could bring a unique perspective to the agency. They saw that I could string a decent sentence together and gave me a shot.
What kinds of industries do you have experience in and what have they taught you?
A lot of tech, but I’ve dipped into a few other areas too, including construction, logistics, and some travel.
What I’ve realised is that no matter the industry, good writing is good writing. It’s all about telling a story that connects.
What would you say you’re best at? How do you apply it at TTT?
Probably straight-up creative thinking. I think that coming from a different background helps me look at things from the outside in. I like to believe it brings a fresh approach.
Do you have any campaigns you’ve worked on at TTT that you’re particularly proud of? What made it special?
Additive Industries. They’re a technology company who specialise in manufacturing 3D printers. Our first project with them included coming up with some old-school print ads.
One of their partners was the Alfa Romeo Formula 1 team, which is pretty cool, and they wanted to make it known that they build one of the fastest cars on the planet.
They wanted to do something different, something that pushed creative boundaries. This gave us the flexibility to bring in bold ideas that were very unusual for their industry.
We deployed eye-catching imagery of the race car and I added some neat taglines. ‘Print. Race. Repeat.’ was one. ‘Our CV’, paired with the visual of the car, was another. We wanted them to be clean but powerful.
The clients were very happy, which led to more work with them.
What are some of the typical challenges facing our clients nowadays? How do you help them overcome them?
They’re realising that B2B advertising isn’t all that different from B2C. The people they’re attempting to reach respond to emotional triggers just like consumer audiences. So it’s about demonstrating to our clients how to make their ads resonate with the same emotional firepower.
Humour, for example, can create immediate connections with people, like the work we did for E1 on a recent out-of-home campaign. They’re a construction tender management platform; lines like ‘No more tender tantrums’ next to an image of a smashed up laptop got their message across in a unique way.
What changes are coming over the horizon that businesses need to look out for?
To expand on what I said before: if companies don’t realise that they need to present striking creative work to connect with people on a deeper level, then they’ll get left behind.
Also, with AI video creation platforms just around the corner, the playing field is about to get levelled. Now, anyone will be able to create finely tuned, high-concept ads that would have previously required massive budgets.
I think it’s a good thing, as the execution of wild, ambitious campaign ideas won’t have to die early deaths due to budget constraints.
And lastly, to finish on a light note: Who’s your dream dinner party guest?
Jim Morrison, the lead singer from The Doors. It’d be entertaining for sure, probably complete chaos. I’d definitely serve everything on plastic plates to limit the wreckage.
