"Press is the mother of all thinking": The Drum speaks with Ogilvy & Mather Asia Pacific regional creative director and D&AD judge Eugene Cheong
“Press [printed creative work] is the mother of all thinking, it teaches the creative person to really think. It strips away everything and teaches you the discipline of thinking without music, without technology, without interaction,” explains Ogilvy & Mather Asia Pacific regional creative director and D&AD judge Eugene Cheong.
Speaking to The Drum ahead of this year’s D&AD awards on Wednesday 12 June, Cheong comments that in his eyes technology has not affected creativity as much as we would assume as press still revolves around “ideas at the foundation” and is still “looking for the great ideas”.
Having worked with Ogilvy on and off since 1981, Cheong has commented in the past that he believes Asia Pacific to be the “most culturally diverse bit of our blue-green planet”. Though he feels Asia’s rigid dedication to learning can have an impact on creativity: “I think that you teach kids to be creative by encouraging them to stay curious – from a young age of five to what we are right now.
"We’re all encouraged to be learners right? To be a problem solver you need to be continually curious and learning, perhaps in Asia the emphasis on raw learning can take all the fun out of learning.”
Of the D&AD awards Cheong describes them as a “creative persons awards” and also the “toughest awards”, he adds: “before I came here my counterpart in Latin America said enjoy judging the elite work and I think it’s seen as that”.
Content created with:
Ogilvy & Mather Group UK
The Ogilvy Group is made up of 10 world-class companies, working across a wide range of marketing disciplines.
Together, they combine to give clients a fully...