RENATA FLORIO

GLOBAL EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR INTEGRATED CAMPAIGNS & INTEGRATED TEAMS
OGILVY & MATHER
USA

2018 Global Awards Executive Jury member Renata Florio is Global Executive Creative Director Integrated Campaigns & Integrated Teams, Ogilvy & Mather. She oversees all creative output on the business from an art direction and copywriting standpoint.

Renata brings over 20 years of experience to the jury, working across many of the world’s biggest and best brands, including Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Nestlé, AB-Inbev, Sanofi-Aventis, Johnson & Johnson, IBM, HP among others.

She has worked all over the globe—in Brazil, the UK, Italy, Spain and the US. During her tenure with blue-chip companies and brands, she has collected creative awards from the world’s top competitions.

THE MOTTO FOR THE 2018 GLOBAL AWARDS IS FEEL CREATIVE.  IT’S ABOUT KNOWING YOUR AUDIENCE AND EMPATHIZING TO DELIVER TOP NOTCH COMMUNICATIONS TO NOT ONLY REPRESENT YOUR CLIENT FULLY BUT MAKE PEOPLE HAPPIER AND HEALTHIER. TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOUR PROCESS – DO IDEAS JUST COME TO YOU, OR IS IT A COLLECTIVE BRAINSTORM WITH YOUR TEAM?  HOW DO YOU FEEL CREATIVE?

I feel creative when I'm interacting with a brief. Be it when we receive the briefing from the client, or when we’re reviewing the strategy or working with the creative team. Ideas sometimes just come to me, and I feel lucky when that happens, but mostly I have to work hard with the brief and the teams, so we can get to the best ones. It's a great feeling. When a great idea comes up, I do feel happier, it’s like "that's why I like doing this so much!"

DOES WORKING AT TIMES ON SUCH EMOTIONALLY-CHARGED AND TAXING PROJECTS THAT DEAL WITH LIFE/WELLNESS AS WELL AS ILLNESS/DEATH ISSUES EVER BRING UP STRONG EMOTIONS FOR YOU AS A CREATIVE?  HOW DO YOU REMAIN PRESENT WHILE STILL ACCOMPLISHING THE GOALS OF THE BRAND AND PUSHING FOR GOOD PATIENT OUTCOMES?

Yes, it does. And it's a beautiful feeling. Working with brands that can actually save lives - even if it's one single life - is touching and moving. I think it’s good to have this feeling, to be able to feel empathy, to respect people's feelings and their families; after all, the best part of being a creative is also enabling your heart to be part of your work. We need to think objectively and keep in mind clients’ budgets and timelines, but real and beautiful stories are made of emotions, so more emotions, more real-beautiful stories. 

WHAT’S YOUR BIGGEST CHALLENGE IN WORKING IN HEALTHCARE AND WELLNESS/PHARMA AND WHAT DO YOU DO TO OVERCOME THAT CHALLENGE, BOTH PERSONALLY AND AS A TEAM?

What I love most about this area is exactly how challenging [the industry] is. I've won the biggest and most important awards in the world with CPG brands, tech brands, telecom brands, so on and so forth, but winning with Pharma and Wellness feels like knowing how to play any kind of game in any kind of court. I like the sports metaphor because you have to be good to play some sport and yet you have to follow the rules. There's no goal made with hands in soccer. You have to be able to kick the ball with your feet (yes, I'm Brazilian and Italian and we love soccer); same thing for Pharma and Wellness, in order to score you have to be good at the game, really good. 

WHAT DO YOU FIND THRILLING ABOUT THE INDUSTRY NOW THAT MAY HAVE BEEN DIFFERENT 5 YEARS AGO? 

Renata Florio: One of the things I like more and more of working as a creative in advertising is that today everything is a touch point with the consumer. Of course, there are the traditional pieces like online video, tv and print ads or digital media, but today - and especially in the health and wellness area - a label on a product jar is a creative opportunity. The box that delivers the medication to a patient's home is an opportunity. The doctor's laptop at his office is an OOH opportunity. I just love that. 

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE PROJECTS THAT YOU’VE WORKED ON THAT YOU’RE MOST PROUD OF AND WHY?  COULD BE ANYTHING. 

Speaking of anything being an opportunity, once my team came up with a Cannes Piece for a weather forecast media company that was an umbrella. The umbrella said, "I told you so" and it was a free gift given on a rainy day. I also like to talk about a print ad (yes, traditional print) that won a Gold Lion in Cannes for an oral care brand, where the middle of the magazine represented the space between teeth. It's just the unexpected of the ideas that make me happy!