Tham Khai Meng: Chaos to Creativity

Every day, creative departments around the globe are asked to make something from nothing. To dream up a creative solution to a business problem. It’s not easy. And if the task itself isn't daunting enough, add to it an omnipresent threat of rejection. We know it sounds bad, but it's totally true. For every eight ideas a creative generates on a given assignment, she'll be lucky if even one of them makes it to the client, let alone into production and out into the world. These little brain-babies known as ideas are killed daily by ACDs, CDs, account people, clients, even test audiences. That's why the creative process is so scary. Not only are you tasked with filling this blank piece of paper, with filling in all these empty boxes, but you're cursed with the knowledge that most of it will die.

In this episode of our Create or Else series on YouTube, Tham Khai Meng, Chief Creative Officer of Ogilvy Worldwide (that's the big one) talks about this fearsome process. He talks about how crazy the creative mind must be. And he's right. Sure, he's citing great leaders and scientists, but it's true of advertising creatives as well. In either case it takes a certain kind of person, a certain kind of mind to take the risks of creativity over and over again only to be kicked down time after time. But what’s really cool about the whole process is that in rejection, comes even more inspiration. You might push yourself to make your work as perfect as possible, but sometimes it takes that extra shove from an outside source to knock it up to the next level.

That’s the thing about greatness. You have to take a lot of punches before you can wear the belt.

Watch: this video in HD quality on Ogilvy's Create or Else Youtube channel.