Dream Teams: Isabel Harvey and Ivona Poljak’s “Collective Existential Crisis”

When they first met, Isabel Harvey made Ivona Poljak really laugh. Not just a giggle, too. A proper, ab-building, tear-jerking exercise. “And it’s still the same today,” adds Ivona. “Her sense of humour is so evident in every amazing idea she thinks of, and her energy is totally contagious.”

The pair met in college, on their master’s in advertising at Technological University Dublin (TUD) about six years ago now. They clicked immediately, says Ivona, and they spent the entire time on the program working with each other on pretty much every university project, not even realising they were “building a portfolio for what’s to come.”

“We proactively chose to work together ourselves when we had to pick partners,” says Isabel. “It made sense to me because she’s an art director and I - a copywriter. I thought to myself: ‘Wow, someone who can actually do Photoshop!’.” Their very first project together, back in TUD, was on a sample brief for an energy drink for Halloween. Isabel still remembers it like it was yesterday - “We came up with an idea about helping monsters rave all night on with the help of said energy drink.”

From the start, the two bonded over a shared love for RuPaul’s Drag Race and Salvador Dali’s work - a fool proof combo to last the ages. Soon enough, Isabel and Ivona ended up by each other’s side at their first proper industry job - at BBDO.

This is where they worked on a new out-of-home installation on Galaxy’s platform ‘Choose Pleasure’, where they “Renaissance(d)” daily moments of chaos into moments of undisturbed pleasure with the help of a simple piece of chocolate. “We worked with an amazing Dutch photographer, who made the photos look like a Caravaggio masterpiece,” says Ivona. “We were guided through it by the whole team there and worked with the (now) the head of design to learn how to craft our idea and produce something that at that time launched our career.”

Both Isabel and Ivona still have a lot of love for the project - “The process was the best,” recalls Isabel. “So freeing and comfortable. I felt like we were able to be ourselves to our full capacity, and feel supported in a space to say out loud even the ideas that seemed stupid or meaningless in our heads.”

During this particular project some strengths in both Isabel and Ivona shone through - but those they already knew about each other. “Isabel has an incredible eye and vast knowledge of art theory when it comes to composition and colours,” says Ivona. “Not to mention she’s a cinephile and an amazing photographer.” While Ivona doesn’t want to admit the same about her own writing, she says that literature was her first true love, which is the reason the two halves of this duo make the perfect creative dynamic.

“I think we work so well together because both of us have this predetermined appreciation for what the other one does,” she continues. “Even though we’re both so alike in our interests and beliefs, our personalities are quite different. I sometimes take myself too seriously, until she reminds me that creativity is all about having fun and being playful.”

Isabel agrees wholeheartedly: “We bounce off each other creatively.” Almost repeating Ivona’s uncertainty of her own work, Isabel admits that the two of them are sometimes inclined to be anxious or have insecurities related to their own abilities. “That’s why it’s so lovely to have someone who can lift you up,” she continues. “If I’m having a bad day, and I’m feeling down, it makes things so much better when I say ‘Well, Ivona thinks it’s good, I trust her, so it must be!’.”

Those qualities show up in the best ways - the project both Ivona and Isabel bring forward as their proudest work encapsulates both the former's love of writing and the latter's impeccable aesthetic. “Our EBS ‘Start Here’ campaign is what we’re most proud of,” says Ivona. “It was a huge campaign and an even bigger feat to make it happen. We had a lot of fun coming up with all the uncomfortable living scenarios and exaggerating them to the limits of production design and budget.”

The team loved the idea too, and ”made it ten times more enjoyable to work on.” This was also their first ever TV campaign. “It was a spectacular world we brought to life, collaborating with an amazing team of people. We still talk about it a lot. Evidently.”

More recently, Isabel and Ivona worked with Virgin Mobile on Love Island’s sponsorship stings, however this time in a trio with copywriter Lucy Mortell and Ger Roe as creative director on the project. “Stings are incredibly difficult,” explains Ivona. “They’re super short - five to ten seconds - and also these particular ones were Love Island, so they needed to be both relevant and funny.”

In the end, alongside the studio team at Publicis, the trio managed to produce 23 stings in just under four weeks. “Since joining Publicis, both me and Isabel realised we’re never alone with our creative challenges. Especially because there’s an amazing team of people you can always rely on in every department of the agency. And a fabulous client that wants to do creative work and cuts through.”

Through all these shared projects, from the first made up brief at university, to their latest work for a huge name like Love Island, both Isabel and Ivona have learned one thing - being creative on the clock comes with heaps of panic, stress, emotional outbursts, giddiness, laughter and doubt all together. So, having someone who totally understands what you’re going through makes the process worthwhile. Sharing successes and failures is another bonus. 

“In the industry today, agencies are working so much faster to produce more in shorter times,” reflects Isabel. “Having Ivona to lean on throughout is amazing, because it gets overwhelming. Getting to share everything - the good and the bad - is great.” Having a creative partner comes with lots of talking - unloading, ranting, difficult creative conversations, random talks over pints, talking through tears and through laughter - and for both, “it helps so much.” Isabel jokes, “We like to have collective existential crises together. It’s been a great bonding exercise.”

“Sometimes, I think our brains work in the same way,” says Ivona. “We so rarely say something that the other one isn’t already thinking. Of course, disagreeing sometimes is natural, but I feel like we’re both quite adaptable.”

The rule here is simple - if one of the two feels something isn’t right, it needs to change until they’re both totally happy with the concept. “Our personalities don’t clash in that way,” agrees Isabel. “We view everything as a team thing. We are always working to create something great that’s coming equally from both of us. It’s never me versus her.”

Because of the collaborative nature of their work, there’s rarely a real disagreement on hugely important elements of any project. But, when it does happen, they both try not to dwell on it too much - to Ivona, it’s important for both of them to be content with the end product and to Isabel, the big picture matters above all. “We want to make sure the idea and every component of it comes from both of us and it’s something we both believe in. It’s always ‘our’ work, not ‘my’ work,” explains Isabel.

This entire symbiosis stems from back in the day, before their creative partnership sprouted, then Ivona and Isabel were friends above all. “We genuinely enjoy each other’s company, if I can speak for both of us,” remarks Ivona. “From book clubs to movie clubs, to galleries and gigs, we make sure our partnership is as strong outside of work as it is in.”

When reflecting on what they’ve learned from each other across six years of work, three companies and one master’s degree, there’s a lot to say, beyond just good humour and impeccable writing. “Isabel is incredibly perceptive in a way that I could only ever hope to be,” says Ivona. “She exits any situation with so many memorable stories, quotes, funny observations… I don’t know how to explain it, but she sees the world as a never-ending source of inspiration or the punchline to a hilarious joke.”

She continues, “She taught me how to get the smallest life prompt and out of it, create an amazing story. I’m privileged to witness her wonderful brain doing this every day.” 

This perspective, though, is one Isabel could never really see herself from, she admits. “Being known so well in a creative space is amazing,” Isabel says. “Ivona will always push me to be better, because she knows I can do better. Being perceived is a weird and uncomfortable feeling, but it’s so conducive to growing. I’ve learned to try my best to be less hard on myself, as a creative and as a person (although, what’s really the difference) from Ivona. I’m also motivated to be a better creative, because I admire her creatively and feel inspired by her and her ideas, as well as her insane wealth of knowledge of literature, history and art. So I’m like: ‘I’ve got to keep up!’.”