Eglantina Becheru: Are you a 4D Creative?

An opinion by Eglantina Becheru, Creative Strategist Philip Morris International

A friend once told me that with too much choice, all choices become equal. The world is full of amazing art directors and incredible copywriters, but what makes a creative stand out from the crowd?

My experience at Cannes Young Lions Creative Academy 2019 helped me shape not only an answer for this question, but most importantly, inspired me in defining a new creative profile which I think will change the paradigm in the near future, the 4D Creative.

So, what will make you stand out from the crowd? 4 mandatory dimensions; Creativity, Lateral Skills, Business know-how and Perspective. It is this mix of territories that can generate Great Ideas and enable them come to life in the most impactful way.

This is the birth of a new era where big companies buy creative agencies (such as Accenture Interactive and Droga 5, Deloitte and Acne Creative, etc.) to complement and expand their services. It’s a time when corporations integrate creative departments and build in-house agencies. Speaking of which, I’m so happy that during Cannes Lions Festival I got the chance to personally ‘interview’ and challenge Paulie Dery, the Executive Creative Director from Uber. As I too work in a creative in-house agency launched by Philip Morris, the conversation with Paulie was extremely inspiring, highlighting the importance of knowing business and the business in order to propose, sell and implement meaningful ideas that don’t start or end with a campaign.

Last but not least, I was extremely inspired by the session with Susan Credle around creative leadership, ‘What got you here, won’t get you there’. There’s a time for everything; to fall in love with your ideas, to be selfish, to want to prove yourself. All these will take you up to a point in your career. But there comes a time when in order to move forward, you must become more than a great creative. A true creative leader. Practicing generosity, sharing your ideas, letting others work on them. However, the most important lesson for a creative leader, don’t use ‘we’ instead of ‘me’ (because that is also diluting people’s efforts), but use ‘him or her’, giving credit firstly to the person and secondly to the team. That’s how you motivate and grow people. That’s how you inspire.

At the end of this once-in-a-lifetime experience at Cannes Young Lions Creative Academy, I asked myself, “What got me here?” Especially because I work in a controversial industry that for decades had a lot of locked doors. Even my boss, was telling me when I applied, “Egla, I believe you are extremely talented, but if you’re not accepted, please remember it’s because of the place you’re coming from”.

The world is changing, and together with it, the creative industry is expanding its horizons. It’s not about where you’re coming from anymore, but who you are. So, are you a 4D Creative?