5 Minutes with… Simon Vicars

Simon Vicars, CCO of Colenso BBDO is a creative realist. Ask him how he motivates himself and he will tell you he has a Post-it note on his computer that says “No one gives a fuck about your shit”. 

“It doesn’t sound inspiring when I say it out loud, but that’s the challenge we have to overcome. We used that Post-it note as a constant reminder and a reality checker for our ideas. Would this idea make someone give a damn? I love it when I see brands that are founded with that awareness baked in from the start like Dollar Shave Club and Liquid Death. And I love watching companies like that disrupt big baggy categories full of brands on auto-pilot,” says Simon.

Failure in his quest to be a broadcast journalist also led him down the path of success in advertising. Simon has ranked in Cannes’ Top Ten list for the last decade, with a haul of 46 Cannes Lions as a creative, including an Outdoor Grand Prix, 17 Golds and one Titanium. As a two-time Cannes Lion juror, his standing in the industry has gone from strength to strength over the years. Nearly two years after his return to Colenso BBDO as ECD in 2020, Simon took on the CCO role. Simon was previously the creative group head at the agency for about six years before he left for a London-based role with adam&eveDDB.

Simon attributes his creative partners as having the biggest influence in his career. “I’ve had three art director partners over the 13 years I was a creative and all of them were talented, committed and impatient to do well. Feeling like you’re in a safe place to say stupid stuff and to fail is pretty fundamental to being a creative. All of those partners gave me that, plus a heap of laughs,” he shares.

Looking back at the valuable lessons that have made an impact in his life, Simon distils it down to one word: belief. “Belief is massive for me. Believing you’ll get the answer and believing in your ability. We’re not accountants – the answers we’re looking for aren’t black and white. So you have to believe you’ll find the answer and back yourself when you have it. 

“I remember when I was at ad school and I saw this guy breaking into cars. He was probably about five cars away from where I was parked so I called the police, and a couple of minutes later I heard some sirens so I hung up and just watched. The guy went and sat on this block wall looking out to sea. The cops skidded up and ran over to him. I could see them talking for about 30 seconds, then the guy pointed down the road. The cops thanked him, jumped in their car and sped off. Then the guy slung his bag over his shoulder and walked across the road into the bushes. He didn’t even run, he just sort of sauntered. It’s a weird reference, but I remember it was the penny-drop moment when I understood the power of self-belief.”

And with that, Simon drops the mic. That’s all that needs to be said about how he has made a name for himself with memorable campaigns that matter. 

LBB> From copywriter to CD to ECD to CCO, how have your perspectives shifted and evolved as you moved up in your career?

Simon> I hope they haven’t changed. I hope I’ve hung onto the disregard for any work that assumes people care about what it’s about to tell them. I think the day-to-day job becomes quite different when you get to ECD and CCO, but the output you’re chasing remains the same. I still get the same rush of seeing a great idea scribbled on a bit of paper.   

LBB> As CCO, how have you juggled your due diligence in aligning creative output with business results?

Simon> I definitely don’t see them as disconnected things. There’s a reason you pay $300 for a pair of Nikes and $80 for a pair of Golas. Creativity builds brands, and brands build margins.

But ok, in reference to the question before this, one of the things I’ve come to realise as I’ve moved up is the power of a simple and true positioning for a brand. That’s definitely something I learned along the way. When a company really knows why they exist, then everything they do has communication value. From their products, to their sponsorship strategy right down to their parental leave policy. Then you’re not building a brand just on a marketing budget alone. Patagonia is a great example of that right now.

LBB> What are the targets and priorities you have set for the creative department?

Simon> Colenso aims to “Help build brands people want in their lives”. I love that set of words because it ensures the aim of the work is to add value to people’s lives, not just hijack culture. It’s great for Ang, Rob and I to have that bit of language so that we can guide the bigger things going on. But for the Creative Department, we try to keep it a bit simpler. Their job is to ‘export envy’ to the global industry.

LBB> What are the trends and shifts you have noticed in client briefs and in their demands? 

Simon> There’s so much science and theory and academic conversations now in our industry. I think that’s something I’ve noticed lately, not so much in our discussions with our clients but in the wider industry. In a creative industry, that pisses me off. Because so much of it is monorail stuff – razzle dazzle theory that ultimately leads to dogshit work. And the work is all people see out there. They don’t see a cool presentation in a boardroom. So yeah, I think we need to be really careful of all these rules that are starting to turn up.

LBB> In your opinion, what makes the advertising space and brands in New Zealand unique? 

Simon> My answer will probably be the same as everyone else from this part of the world. It’s faster to get a yes or a no here, just because we don’t have that huge hierarchy client-side. There’s fewer people involved overall, which also helps keep the work intact. If I was digging a hole, the more people I have, the better the result. But with creativity it’s the opposite. The more people you have, the worse an idea becomes. At Colenso we also have a great set of clients from outside of New Zealand – some of them running global brands - but their teams are deliberately small and the decision-makers are our running mates so it works well.

LBB> You have a good haul of glittering Cannes Lions wins. What do you find meaningful about them and the campaign that led to those wins?

Simon> The most meaningful thing for me is to look back on that work and see that there’s a common thread to their success. I can’t remember which agency said, “the truth well told” [Editor’s note: it’s McCann] but I do think they nailed the description of our job. Find the truth. Marmite Don’t Spread the Hate was such a disgustingly true observation. I remember someone on Facebook called the campaign ‘violating’, which I was proud of because violated is how you feel when you open the butter container to find some Marmite smeared inside. 

When we presented the Pedigree Child Replacement Programme to our Mars clients we only got half way through the presentation because everyone in the room started sharing stories of being replaced with a dog by their parents. Samsung Smart Phone Line – standing in line for days in the cold to get an iPhone is widely regarded as an act of stupidity, so we built a smarter way. The truth is king. Old Spice will always win this competition though. “You may never look like this man, but you could smell like him.” It’s the ultimate example of the truth well told. How good is that?

LBB> What recent projects are you excited about and why?

Simon> We just did a partnership with Rick and Morty. I mean, a lot of brands use Rick and Morty, but I think we found a smarter reason to use them. We have a brilliant green energy client that’s spearheading the global shift to zero carbon energy. Climate scientists have been saying we need to switch from fossil fuels for decades, but no one’s listening to them. So we got Rick Sanchez to talk the world through the logic and the science of green hydrogen.