Notes On is a weekly column inviting our community to explore a topic they believe is shaping Europe’s digital industries. In this edition, João Inacio, International Creative Director at DEPT®, unpacks what it takes to create marketing with depth and foster your creative spirit.
“This is a pledge for us to embrace the analog as much as we yearn for the digital. For all of this will make the work better. ”
By João Inácio
Have you ever heard about the concept of ‘Low Life Density’?
I first encountered this term through an ad creative who was tasked with promoting a luxury real estate condo designed for the extremely wealthy.
His initial concept was to interview existing and potential owners to share their fascinating life stories, hoping to sell a vision of a community filled with visionaries and inspirational people. However, after filming for a while, he realized these people were ‘just’ working very hard. They were so busy being successful at life that they had little time to actually live life. Their days were consumed by routines: waking up early, working out with a trainer, showering, heading to work, working late, dining with clients, returning home to work more, exercising again, and finally sleeping, only to repeat the cycle day after day. The success stories he captured started to feel monotonous—they lacked emotion, wonder, and novelty.
And this is something I’ve noticed in much of the creative work being produced today. It can sometimes feel, look, and sound the same. It strives to be relevant and checks all the boxes, but it often neglects to be beautiful, complex, layered, warm, witty, or delightfully weird. It lacks density.
So this is a call to all creatives:
- Close your laptops.
- Take a break.
- Go out and experience life for real.
- Grab a notebook instead of your computer.
- Put your phone on flight mode.
- Take a long walk.
- Or do nothing for a change.
This is a pledge for us to embrace the analog as much as we yearn for the digital.
For all of this will make the work better. It will add texture and color to it.
Sometimes, taking a step back is all it takes to create more and better.
In a world where AI trains itself to be creative every day, that’s something AI can never have—the subjective human experience that creates things based on what we see, hear, or feel around us empirically and how we combine it.
That’s what’s pretty unique.
The Lovie Awards is the only pan-European award of its kind, recognising excellence in culture, technology and business annually. We accept work across AI & Immersive; Apps, Platforms & Software; Film & Video; Podcasts; Marketing, Advertising & PR; Social; Websites & Mobile Sites, and Beyond.
Enter by our Final Entry Deadline on Friday, 27 June.