Flexing Creative Muscles

He’s worked with some of the best minds in the industry, the greatest athletes in the world and the most successful brands on the planet. His creative ideas have inspired some of Nike Asia’s most lauded advertising campaigns, and in 2002 he was voted one of the top ten creatives in Asia by Adweek magazine.

Yoobee tutor Philip Lord has carved out an international career most creatives only dream of, and he’s picked up a bunch of accolades along the way, including Silver and Bronze Pencils at the prestigious One Show Awards.

A move to Tokyo early on in his career was a springboard to international success, giving Philip the opportunity to flex his muscles in trailblazing agencies like Wieden+Kennedy, one of the largest independent ad agencies in the world.

“In total I spent over a decade with Wieden+Kennedy, starting off as a junior art director and working my way up. It was there I experienced some of my greatest career highlights – working as a senior art director on the Nike Asia account allowed me to engage with so many amazingly talented people, both on a creative and collaborative level.”

His best work? “There are so many jobs that I’m proud of – mostly Nike work – but one job that stands out in particular is my brand advertising for Sapporo Breweries. I believe I nailed the brief and produced a compelling and quirky body of work, and it was one of the most fun projects I’ve ever worked on.”

“That’s one of the greatest challenges for designers today – we need to stay relevant and stay on top of trends, both in design and media.”

During Philip’s 18 years in Japan he was also a creative director for Bates Yomiko (working on the Audi AG account) and Euro RSCG (now Havas), before starting up BAM, a boutique creative shop consulting for world-class agencies such as Saatchi & Saatchi, Dentsu and Naked Communication.

“Working in Tokyo was an amazing life-changing experience, which in many ways shaped the person I am today.”

A move back to New Zealand in 2014 saw Philip take the helm as senior art director for full service integrated marketing agency Harvey Cameron. He left there in 2017 to take up a full-time tutoring role at Yoobee.

“I’d often thought about tutoring and knew I’d enjoy it. Every day is different, and every day is a challenge. It’s as much a learning experience for me as it is for the students.”

Philip’s students benefit from his emphasis on conceptual thinking, not to mention his close to three decades of industry experience. Since graduating from Wellington Polytechnic School of Design and starting his career producing CD ROM content at Terabyte Interactive, this acclaimed creative has gained an insane amount of knowledge and witnessed a great deal of change.

“The greatest change has to be the shift from traditional advertising to digital. I saw the struggle that many agencies and employees experienced around this transition. Digital marketing has seen the industry move in two different directions. Smaller scale boutique agencies now need generalists who can design, film, produce, edit and post their content, whereas in the larger agencies there’s a feeling that specialisation is king, and they’re looking to leverage and gain advantage from knowledge that comes with employing a digital guru.”

That’s why now, more than ever, industry professionals – no matter what stage of their career – need to keep upskilling.

“I think Yoobee does very well preparing students to enter the workplace and providing them with the knowledge and skills to succeed. However, if students believe they will score a creative director role off the bat, or that their learning stops after leaving school, they are sadly mistaken.

“That’s one of the greatest challenges for designers today – we need to stay relevant and stay on top of trends, both in design and media.”