Why Advertising, Creativity and Orange is The New Black, have things in common.

creative realization 

At the first glance, that title looks totally bizarre and possibly out of context, or maybe it’s completely obvious to you, but give me a moment or two to explain. As a creative myself, I have times where i get to research things for shoots, or new work- and come across fantastic projects that are happening around the world.

The Cannes Lions Festival (for the creativity) was in full swing a few weeks back, and my social media feed was filled up with brilliant, insightful and inspiring quotes and videos. A lot from Ogilvy & Mather (advertising giants of the world!) who are always producing such a high quality of creativity ALL the time; in fact relentlessly.

And with the amount and array of interviews I have watched on the likes of, CJ Live, TEDX talks, youtube, CreativeLive and many more — including the Cannes Lions Festival, they are always talking about what works and what is classed as being important in the creative world, which lets face it, creativity spans out to every nut and cranny. It is everywhere.
They talk about:

INNOVATION
STORY TELLING
NOVEL
FRESH
ENGAGING

And now come to Orange is the New Black.. and for anyone who hasn’t seen it, there are no spoilers here- but more to the point of the post. First of all, it is onto something extraordinary. I don’t say this often, but it will be a complete game-changer! (if not already!). In terms of, tv (kind of) watching, its kicking through all sorts of boundaries and barriers.
It’s a funny one because, on one hand- everyone is talking about it, which is amazing, but also it is just a show, and yet it, is having the biggest (i think!) impact to the audience, that i have ever seen. It’s actually blowing up. Certainly the UK since late last summer. And all for the most fantastic reasons. I have watched other shows before, and thought “that was great” but it was never hugely being discussed outside of my friends.
(I was out for a meal with my mum recently, and she had mentioned it, talking about the characters and whether one could manage to cope in prison, the thing that surprised me was, not the fact we were talking about a netflix show, but it was the matters with characters and the justice system, it was a worthy and REAL conversation that mattered) and i don’t know whether those sort of conversations would generally come up with any other show. They have gone into issues that people want discussed, but aren’t necessarily sure when they could be discussed.

I think the reason people have literally latched onto it, is for the simple reason, that it is:

INNOVATION
STORY TELLING
NOVEL
FRESH
ENGAGING
all in one. And like i was saying previously about creative projects i have seen, the ones that work- are the ones that strike a chord with you, whether emotionally, or otherwise, people like almost feeling part of it in some way. For example, Humans of New York, By Brandon Stanton-huge success and it’s doing the same pointers i have stated before. It’s the personal connection, more intimate.

The thing with OITNB is, Where you get REAL stories, the creator behind it, Jenji Kohan (who is quite frankly a genius!) amazing cast, crazy good writers, directors, the whole shebang, you get something stupendisly great. Also i think certainly from my point of view, i think people were just so desperate for something to delve into, in terms of REALNESS; in terms of characters especially with peeling back layers of a person- seeing them fairly raw and honest; which i find just so intriguing and interesting! RELATABLE and different backgrounds of people and their families, but also the intrigue factor, when something reels you in, because it’s INNOVATIVE, because its NOVEL and FRESH. People will take time with projects, tv shows, advertising campaigns, music- when it’s appealing! They are also breaking barriers in terms of, what’s usually being seen on tv.

I think i had heard something on american TV, the presenter had asked some cast members- “Why honestly do you think it’s appealing to so many people?”

And i think the real crux of it, is pure and simple- NEW, FRESH, INNOVATIVE, STORY TELLING, NOVEL and ENGAGING work of any medium i think will be admired, talked about, and seen! And thing is, i think so many of us have been used to american/british tv for so long (which a lot of is great) but when OITNB came along, it was so new, and so fresh with comedy and the emphasis on humanistic values- which also goes back to a quote that Advertising Agency Ogilvy and Mather’s, David Ogilvy had said-

“I don’t know the rules of grammar. If you’re trying to persuade people to do something, or buy something; it seems to me, you should use their language!”

So actually it was pretty inevitable that it was going to go viral worldwide!
With me being in the creative industry side of things, i thought it was just a really interesting amalgamation, whether that was too obvious or not before; i don’t know, but thought it was worth discussing.

“I have no special talents, i am just passionately curious”. — Albert Einstein.