💡 Where and how are the most impactful creative concepts born? How can we put the power of aesthetics at the service of the originality of the message? What are the challenges and sources of inspiration for professionals in this fascinating universe in perpetual (re)invention?
🎨 Let yourself be carried away by the magic of creation and natural en communicating alongside two experts
Jacques Seidman et Maxime Rouyre.
Jacques Seidman,
Founder of the naming agency Malt – Long Term Brands
Maxime Rouyre
Artistic Director of LIGHTING
#Definition
What is creation in communication? What does a professional in the sector look like?
Jacques Seidmann: The creative professional must demonstrateopen-mindednesst and be intrinsically atypical. He must also know how to argue with his interlocutors, to succeed in making them adhere to his creative concepts. However, there is a submerged part of the iceberg, because our jobs require coolness, but also quite the opposite, seriousness and rigor.
Maxime Rouyre: Of course, you have to be perched! 😉 On the one hand, a creative person must show himself insatiably curious, feed yourself daily with new trends and more generally with everything that surrounds it. On the other hand, the creative must show himself very technical, master all the knowledge and all the tools that serve its creation.
# Achievements
Can you tell us about your pride: projects and achievements that have marked you?
Mr. R: I would start by presenting to you a pride that dates back to my studies, it is in fact one of my first creations. I think it represents my world and my style well. The brief? We had to create an original design for a television channel. Behind this dressing lies the development of a whole concept, a whole story. What do we want to tell? In what way? This achievement perfectly illustrates all the fun I can have while working. Above all, work should be fun.
More recently, our client Point S came to us – l’Illuminerie – to support him in making a TikTok video intended to sell a young drivers pack. The most fascinating thing about creative professions is always starting from a blank page and exploring a whole bunch of possibilities. How can we draw inspiration from TkTok codes to build a coherent and impactful narrative? Here is the result.
J.S: This is a complicated question, since I'm still very proud of the last brand name I created. 😊 More generally, I am extremely proud when I manage to solve an impossible equation, an equation emanating from a precise brief and numerous sometimes contradictory constraints.
For example, I proposed as a brand name “66°30”, an anti-brief name, which has too many syllables when spoken and which does not speak to anyone, apart from a small handful of astrophysicists. My client wanted to find an original name for an organic brand of men's cosmetics. And to break the codes of organic, which at the time still had a slightly grandmotherly connotation, he wanted to add a technological dimension to this name.
During the creation process, which consists of finding 200 or 300 names, I came across a philosophical book, which taught me that 66°33 was the angle of inclination of the sun in relation to the orbit of the earth, a number on which the days and seasons depend. This name was a revelation, right between natural and technological. He was subsequently rewarded with the Design Strategies Grand Prize.
At the same time, I am also proud to collaborate regularly with the automotive group Stellantis (Peugeot) on the names of their models.
#Square to the debate
Why did you choose this sector of creative COM? Tell us about your motivations and your background!
MR: It was completely by chance that I landed in the world of creation and design. Initially, I worked in the documentary world, mainly documentary writing. In other words, I was working on the concept, a key notion of creation. I produced presentation files for television channels.
What I liked about this experience was the daily novelty. You never know what to expect in the morning, every day you learn and experience something new. This is why, quite naturally, I ended up devoting myself fully to creation and design in an agency.
J.S: Each project is a dose of adrenaline, I consider myself a bit of an acrobat of the blank page†
Our role is to find the missing piece of the puzzle. The puzzle is brief of the customer, the brands already registered, the expectations of consumers... What satisfaction when you end up finding a name that meets all the constraints! This is also why I continue this activity, with the same passion as when I started.
The role of a naming expert is not just about saying “this name is great”, you have to know how to explain a concept, explain your motivations and convince your interlocutors. For that, I am delighted to also have a marketing profile, perhaps a little more reasonable, thanks to my training in the field.
@Jacques, what does a typical day look like in the creative world?
J.S: I am convinced that by practicing naming, we manage to develop a specific part of the brain. I see names everywhere, all the time. I have, in a way, become obsessed with creating names. It has become an automatism and that is so much the better, because it is a multiplication of inventions that ultimately THE good idea emerges.
Beyond this creative aspect, a typical day also involves trademark law and strategic recommendation. Also, I have to juggle between pure creation, legal constraints and a whole more advice-oriented part.
@Maxime, do you have any final advice to give to communicators and future communicators who are listening to you?
Mr. R: Be curious and daring! Always be interested in new things: new trends, new tools... It is by understanding the world in which you operate and its challenges that you will be best able to develop impactful creative concepts. Finally, dare! Dare to step out of your comfort zone.
#Cultissime
JS: Too often, the importance of naming is overlooked. However, by looking at certain names, we realize the importance of this choice. Take for example “La Petite Robe Noire”, the Guerlain perfume. This name absolutely does not correspond to the product sold, it has more than 4 syllables (the usual recommendation) and above all, it alludes to the symbol of the competition (Chanel).
And yet ... this bias, even this hold-up, was at the origin of an international success. The name constitutes a real foundation, an unrivaled communication lever capable of building powerful storytelling.
MR: I recommend viewing the “Inside Chanel” video collection. A little over 10 years ago, the luxury house chose to retrace its history and highlight its unique brand DNA in a series of quite incredible short films.
How can we talk about a brand that everyone knows with originality? By producing documentary content in motion design. It goes to show that the simplest things are sometimes the most effective.
