Bechara Mouzannar is one of the speakers who will inspire creatives at IAA Global Conference - Creativity Can Change the World, on 24-25th of October. He is a multi-awarded and multilingual cosmopolitan creative and strategist. Named No.1 CCO in the world in 2015, Bechara is Chief Creative Officer at Publicis Communications Middle East since March 2016 and Chief Creative Officer of Leo Burnett Middle East from 2011 to 2016.
Words and expressions like unexpected ideas, challenges, change, rebels, the crazy ones describe creativity for people around us, but for the creative industry it is a lifestyle and the road to success and, for few, the highway to awards.
For Victor Teiosanu, Premium Brands Director at Ursus Breweries, creativity is a choice. It’s a mindset you might embrace or not, irrespective of your age, gender, the place you live or the job you have. Creativity is born at the confluence of mind and heart and has the power to transform ordinary into something extraordinary. Creativity has the ability to change human perceptions and behaviors and stands at the core of the progress into the world.
Prior to Bechara`s visit to Romania, Victor asked him few questions about creativity and how he can change the world though his campaigns.
What does creativity mean for you?
Creativity is a mind-set, an attitude. It is the ability to transcend the conventional, the traditional, and the obvious and to create an idea that sets up a fresh perspective or thought that would naturally stand out and relevantly engage the people.
If creativity is an unlimited resource, how do you harvest your team's creativity?
Creativity is unlimited since the potential of the human brain is limitless. Besides, creativity is an only human attribute or ability. Any earthly could be creative if she or he exercises that ability. So-called creatives do not have a monopoly over creativity. Depending on the choice of talents that you put together in a team, you will pre-determine the quality or scope of creativity that you are looking for.
It is a matter of synergy and combination of individual abilities to think differently. My job is to inspire the creativity of others; the industry's goal and mission are still to harvest their creativity for the sake of selling brands. We should now know how to harness creativity in order to survive, especially in these difficult times for the communications industry.
Could you share a life story (personal or professional life) on how creativity improved the world? It could very well be a story of how an unconventional, "crazy idea" saved the day, a story on how lateral thinking helped you come up with a better solution.
There are dozens and dozens of stories of campaigns that we did, either for brands or for meaningful causes, where a simple engaging idea has literally transformed human behaviour, changing the way people feel, think or live. A few campaigns have even led to the drafting of new laws that were badly needed in Lebanon, a few other branded campaigns impacted society so positively that these brands became landmarks in the people's lives. Yet the example that I will give here comes from my personal experience.
Ten years ago, I was attacked in the streets of Rio de Janeiro on my first night ever in Brazil, and something in my mind inspired me to sing a bossa nova song in Portuguese that I knew, which eventually saved my life.
Eight years ago you had a great thesis around Rumours. How do rumours look in the today’s world and how they link to creativity?
My thesis was titled 'Rumour is the next media frontier'. That is happening millions of times, every day, on the net and in the social media. And it is being fuelled by the users' creativity.
Is creativity something that can be trained? If yes, what does the creativity fitness gym look like?
Creativity is trained every time a human being thinks differently. It is not a muscle, it is ability. It is up to you to tap into it. The more you use your creativity, the more 'creative' you become.
Ursus - A teaser on Creativity series is part of IAA Global Conference – Creativity Can Change the World, the event will take place on October 24-25, at The National Opera House in Bucharest. For more information please visit www.creativity4better.com.
