Dream Teams: “It’s Like Having an Outsourced Second Brain”

“It’s like having an outsourced second brain,” says Joane Calvano when describing the partnership between her and creative partner Demyan Michnyuk, to which he says, “It’s a much more pleasant experience at work.” 

It was walking the hallways of Havas Germany where this duo first met, Demyan recalls, having heard of Joane before the pair were ever introduced. “I couldn’t keep track of who was who, but Joane’s name was brought up many times by different people and departments,” he remembers and Joane recalls how their first shared lunch meeting with a colleague is where they became acquainted. 

“At first, I thought Demyan was a bit arrogant,” Joane reveals, “I remember thinking how uninterested he seemed in the briefing I was discussing with him, and yes, that impression has changed a lot since then.” By contrast, “Joane came off as very professional when I first worked with her,” Demyan says. “She did seem a bit anxious at first, but that might have just been because of my beard after four semesters of studying from home during covid,” he jokes.

Not long after their meeting over lunch through a mutual colleague, while Joane was still a trainee and Demyan was an intern, they worked on their first project together. “Ironically, having a digital background and interning in the digital team at Havas Germany, my first significant project involved a print asset - and it showed,” says Demyan.Joane agrees, “It was messy, but we found a way to make it work. Our process has become a lot better since then.”

It’s the duo’s differences which have been vital throughout the creative process. While Joane can succumb to stress, Demyan is less likely to do so. “One thing I value the most about working with him is that he remains relaxed much longer than I do. So, while I’m stressing about deadlines or minor inconveniences, he balances it out and calms me down.” By contrast, she explains how she brings him back from being “lost in the storm” of their ideas – it’s the middle ground of their thoughts which often provides refuge.

“We’re quite practical when it comes to disagreements,” Joane explains, “We both listen to each other, pointing out the parts that are important to us, and then we always find a way to incorporate those. Sometimes that means finding a middle ground, and sometimes one of us starts to agree.”

Demyan explains further,

The two make sure they take the time to listen to each other's opinions and find a solution that is best for the overall result. “It’s important to respect your creative partner and have trust in them when you run into a situation where the other suggests something that you might not have initially agreed with - remember that they know what they’re doing, and that’s why you work with them.”

Part and parcel of the process, there are things they don’t agree on – the background music and each other's culinary choices, to be exact. But the benefits vastly outweigh this, “You know how to work together, and you get what the other one means even if they just say, “I like the vibe of this”, Joane explains. “Sometimes, I even think Demyan understands my thoughts better than I do. And, of course, it’s great to always have someone to bounce rough ideas off.”

Demyan agrees, “It’s a much more pleasant experience at work. There’s no bullshit. There are many benefits. We know our ‘frequencies’, so we just need to say a few words to communicate whole sentences. You get things done a lot quicker with much cooler results.”

One of these projects involved creating a campaign in less than 72 hours for the  Eurobest Young Creative competition. Describing the process, Joane explains, “Our brains basically merged for that weekend, and we acted in sync like we never did before.” With 150 teams battling each other to be crowned victorious, the duo were in their element. 

“Since we both share an excitement about creative competition, we had a lot of drive to create something awesome,” says Demyan. “We followed the Grand Prix/Special Award nominations as if it were the World Cup Finals.” He also explains that while that pressurised environment might sound like hell to some, he and his creative partner “made it work” and even – dare they say – had fun.

More recently, they worked on a project for the Turkish Volleyball Federation which aimed to increase the participation of young women in sports. “The biggest challenge was to analyse the cause of the low participation numbers, which took us around 50 browser tabs and two whiteboards where we wrote down many, many words,” Joane explains. 

Demyan continues, “In overcoming that challenge, we focused on an insight that struck a chord with us. Channelling one's own feelings can help create a personal drive for the purpose and gives the idea a sense of relatability.” The pair kept their heads down researching until they had enough background and insight to create something meaningful, “we created an idea that just clicked in our brains.”

With inspiration coming from various sources, internet memes or little books of coloured squares, both creatives find inspiration all over. “It’s all out there. Literally, anything can cause a visual or conceptual spark of inspiration if you let it.” Joane agrees, “I often get inspired by different tonalities. As soon as I know how something ‘sounds’, the campaign unfolds itself. In one of our latest collaborations, I was inspired by the Barbie movie.” She mentioned “We need pink and quirkiness like in Barbie”, and the duo were on the same page.

Together the pair have not only grown their friendship and working relationship, but also their Minecraft village, pairing this with plenty of ‘Star Wars’ chat and an acceptance of each other's “nerdiness”. While Demyan has acquired a wealth of Harry Styles knowledge, “There can never be too many things to know about Harry Styles” according to his counterpart - and Joane once couldn’t get Demyan’s ‘Call of Duty’ chat out of her mind - it’s also their thinking and processes which have evolved together.

“I’ve discovered new angles for approaching a creative task,” says Demyan, and Joane says, “Something that I’ve learned from Demyan: There are connections everywhere.”

While Joane’s favourite colour is red and Demyan is still looking for one in the aforementioned “not useless and not expensive” book of coloured squares, Joane leaves us with a little insight she gained from Demyan: