For Yemi, navigating the sometimes turbulent waters of communication challenges and finding creative answers is an apt description of his daily routine. Sitting through an interview with him to talk about his work process felt like an education in how ​​non-linear roadmaps can bring meaning - that there’s always a rhythm and rhyme even in a world of ever changing, ever increasing variables.

In this conversation, we explored what it means to be a creative director at a financial institution, and everything in between. Come on the journey with me.

What does the creative direction process look like, from the moment a brief gets on your table?

A major thing for me when receiving a brief for the creative team is clarity. Having a good understanding of the end goal and the big-picture objective of the brief. We've got to have as much understanding of what is being sold as the product owner does. You can’t sell what you don’t know. Once we interrogate the brief and have that understanding, we then proceed to work on it.

Once the creative team has attended to the brief, they share what they've done with the creative strategist; he's the first gatekeeper who takes a look at what has been done, speaks to them about it, and ensures that it's as close to perfection as possible, and then I come in.

At this point, my role would require me to do some quality assurance, ascertaining the quality of the idea generated -  whether it's from a copy perspective, a visual perspective or a holistically conceptual perspective. I take a look at it and decide if the idea(s) actually tick the boxes required in the brief.

If not, I have another discussion with the creative strategist or the creative team where we interrogate the idea(s) and strip them completely bare, looking for that tiny gem of brilliant simplicity that can actually turn that idea around. 

My objective at this point would be to assist the creative team with what I call concept generation triggers, especially if I notice there’s some creative fatigue or mental blocks, I’d suggest my own thoughts to help the team rediscover their creative elixirs. Once I can open up their minds to see other possibilities and inspire them, then they're able to break out of their mental blocks and come up with great stuff. 

How do you think through tasks, and manage expectations in a sometimes unpredictable workspace?

We work in a very fast business environment. Aside from the usual administrative and creative management responsibilities, certain things pop up without warning and this could be due to a number of factors: market trends, sentiments, economic policies, industry regulations, and a host of other things. We are also very data-centric at Moniepoint, so whatever the data tells us is what informs our next line of action.

However, I work very closely with the director of product marketing, Chinedu, and from that relationship, I'm able to understand where the brand is, what the brand needs from a communication perspective, what objectives need to be met, as well as determining what kind of communication the brand requires to meet its objectives at any given point in time.

Not everything can be solved by TV, radio, or still visuals. This means there are times you may have to proffer solutions that are outside of the regular spectrum. In other words, “How else can we push certain products, or features to our target audience out there?” including the “Who?”, “What?”, “When?”, “Where?” and “How?” questions. Sometimes the most effective channel to use may not be the obvious one, and you just have to determine which one will deliver the best results at what time.

That's where I come in as a creative director - to guide the creativity of my team; guide their thought processes, and the ideation creation processes, and also proffer solutions, wherever there are creative roadblocks.

As Creative Director, are there times that you get into a rut? That place where you are tunnel-visioned and really cannot ideate about a particular product or a thing? How do you come out of that?

I go through that pretty much all the time. Having a creative roadblock is not a sign that you’re losing your creative touch. It's just a sign that you are trying not to do the obvious but you just haven't figured out the way to break through the usual, into the unusual.

Here's a secret - for every brief that I'm given, I'm usually blank at first.

At the beginning of my career, it scared me. However, I came to realise that what I called a creative block or blankness, was my brain trying to reconfigure itself to absorb the new information that's presented in the new brief.

First, I reach out to my team members. There's a lot of value in constructive teamwork, so when I hit a roadblock, I'm not too proud to go to my team members and say “Hey, I'm working on so-and-so, and I don't seem to be making any headway. Maybe I've gotten too close to the brief and I need a fresh pair of eyes to take a look at it and then just tell me what you think.”

Whatever they say when they take a look at the brief may not directly be what I'm looking for, but there just might be something in between the lines (or even nuanced) that’ll lead to the light-bulb moment.

The second thing I do is to take a break. The best figurative expression for it is - when you sit too close to the TV, you can't see the entire TV… you can't see the entire screen, and you can only watch one character at a time.

That's how I see it mentally. A mental block may be a sign that I'm too close to the screen. I’ve probably been looking at the brief from just one particular angle and I've become tunnel-visioned. I need to step back and develop a much broader understanding.

What does stepping back and taking a break look like?

One of the ways I step back from the brief is to jump on another brief. It doesn't mean that the other one would stop (because mentally, I’ve not completed it yet).

Or I do something different - watch something, play a video game, or play with my dogs. I call it constructive distraction. Your brain probably has been overheating and you need to calm down by doing something else that relaxes it, and as it starts to relax, your subconscious ruminates on the brief at hand.

And how I know that I've actually hit a gold mine is that I actually feel a thump in my chest. Like shoot, this is it. This is the Eureka moment. And, that's pretty much how I handle creative blocks.

I’ve always been fascinated by creative backgrounds and how they shape a Creative Director. What's the difference between having a copywriting background and having a design background for a creative director role?

Naturally, our core abilities will play a role in how we analyse work. A creative director with a copywriting background will probably have a copy-first approach ie. look at the copy first and try and see that the copy actually says what it's meant to say.  And the same goes for the more graphic-design-oriented creative director; they would probably have a design-first approach. However, personally, I disagree with either route and I try to consistently wean myself off the “stereotype”. 

Here’s my reason; Over the course of time globally, the lines between copywriting and art direction have been blurred; meaning that you don't actually have to be a copywriter to put your idea into words, nor do you have to be a graphic designer to direct art.

A copywriter no longer behaves the way a traditional copywriter will behave, because now they no longer see the creative challenge from just a copy perspective. They see the creative challenge from a more holistic concept-led perspective. And the designer shouldn't see a creative challenge from just a visual expression perspective. Rather, they should see it from a conceptual point of view. 

The developed concept is then cascaded across communication channels; digital banners, print ads, TV commercials, radio commercials, or whatever IMC combination you choose. It's all driven by concept. 

When it therefore comes to being able to direct creativity, I would rather that a creative director has elevated himself or herself above the constructs of copy and graphics into the realm of concepts. Because as a creative director, you cannot say that you don't know how to direct art because you have a copywriting background, or that you don't know how to direct copy because you have a design background.

The role of a Creative Director is not usual at a financial institution or bank. Did you ever think you’d work with a financial institution?

Hahaha. Nope! I grew in my creative career, seeing financial institutions as conservative and thinking they would stifle freedom of expression. Working at Moniepoint has changed that narrative for me because Moniepoint values creativity and technical depth - “What do you bring to the table? How well do you do what you do?”

I know a couple of organisations are adopting the strategy where they have an entire creative unit in-house, but it's not common just yet, especially in our industry. And for that reason, I would applaud Tosin, our CEO, for having the vision of domiciling a properly structured creative unit in-house.

And we can see the impact of that in our communication across the board. If there's one thing people look out for now, it is “What's Moniepoint going to come up with next?”. People have so far enjoyed the creative output from the brand. And it's really not just because there's a creative director, but because there is a properly structured creative unit. 

You talked about your dogs as being part of your constructive distraction. Would you call them a creative muse?

Creative muse? No, they are not, they are way too lazy and eat too much of my food to be muses. 😅😅

Whenever I feel overwhelmed, I try to distract myself; and sometimes I do so by playing with my dogs. Other times, I don't have to play with them, I just have to watch them and then I relax immediately because they always get up to mischief, and do something ridiculous that would make me laugh. That helps me relax. And in my relaxed state, I'm more productive.

I guess that's the function they play in my professional life.

What’s your favourite Moniepoint campaign?

As the Creative Director, I cannot choose. 😂 I love all the campaigns, honestly! But if there's one that I absolutely cherish, and I wouldn't call a campaign, it's the brand tagline, “Powering Dreams”. 

My team and I developed that on my second day of resumption, and looking back at the work and discussions that went into it, it makes me extremely happy, every time I see how it has evolved from being a tagline to becoming the ethos of the brand.

And there you have it! I learnt quite a lot from this conversation with Yemi, and I’m sure you did, too. If you’d like to do cool things with a creative and effective marketing team, we're waiting for you. Join us.