Meet our two new Senior Creatives
In June, Sunchi and Rui joined the business as a Senior Creative pair to help elevate our creative offering. The duo have worked closely together for a number of years at some of the world’s leading advertising agencies. To mark their arrival, we took five with them to get the inside scoop on their world…
Describe your career in five words.
Sunchi: The best years are ahead.
Rui: Exciting enough to keep going.
You were both previously at Wunderman Thompson together, before deciding to make the move to CSM. You also worked freelance under the moniker, Flip+Flop. It’s fair to say you come as a pair! Tell us a little bit about that journey, including how it began… and what moved you to take the leap into the world of sport and entertainment?
Sunchi: I moved to London in 2016 after working for a number of years at advertising agencies in Sydney, Australia. Agencies push for creatives to work in pairs, so landing in London solo meant I needed to go on several awkward ‘first dates’ with creative copywriters to find a good fit — pairing up is a strange world. Soon enough I met Rui, who had been through a similar journey to London and we decided to team up. To give ourselves a point of difference, we branded ourselves Flip+Flop: a creative team from the sandy beaches of Australia and Portugal. We freelanced at a number of advertising agencies, before winning the 2018 Freelance Creative Team of the Year award in London. That landed us a full-time role at Wunderman Thompson. Three and a half years later, we were ready to make our next move.
We’d spent a decade of our careers working on anything that landed on our desk. We noted we did our best work when we were passionate about the topic. It was clear to us, with our move, sport and entertainment had to be the focus. Enter CSM.
Rui: I started my career in Portugal at Ogilvy where there were no set creative teams. Copywriters and Art Directors would work together depending on the project and their strengths.
Coming from this reality, and arriving in London as a solo creative, it was a bit of a shock when I was faced with the need of having a creative partner to even be considered for a job.
Luckily there were amazing websites and event where you could meet other creatives who were going through the same. It was very much like going on dates with a bunch of different creatives until you find the one. And just like in love, it took me a couple of failed relationships to find it. Eventually, after some wine and dine, Sunchi and I got together and Flip + Flop was born.
In regards to our move to CSM, the truth is that we’ve spend our careers in more traditional big agencies, and we reached a point where we felt like we need to change. The work was not exciting anymore, the fire was gone. We wanted to go to a place where we would be able to do work that we’re proud and care about. And because sport has always been a passion of our and we loved every time we got to work on a brief that was sport related, CSM felt like the perfect place to go.
You join us as Senior Creatives but you each come equipped with a different set of skills. Sunchi has a wealth of experience in art direction, whilst Rui is a copywriter by trade. How do those two creative disciplines intersect? And in terms of campaigns you’ve collaborated on, are there any that stand out from the crowd?
Sunchi: In the most basic sense, as an Art Director, I bring skills related to what is seen in any brand communication. Rui, as Copywriter, brings skills related to what is said and/or read. The crossover is in coming up with creative approaches to any given problem. Combining our skills allows us to think about the communication from angles, which alone, we might not have otherwise considered. It also allows us to deliver a complete creative solution with visuals and wording both being considered from beginning to end.
There’s been some exciting projects over the years. Certainly a front-runner might have been working for the International Olympics Committee — unfortunately, it was for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics which was postponed by a year due to global lockdowns. Our global, 360-degree campaign suffered the same fate as many flights that year, and was cancelled.
Rui: Yes, our job titles do set us off in different direction, but the truth is that despite each one having a specific set of skills, over the year the lines get blurred, and in times of need we do help each other either it’s me mocking something up, or Sunchi tweaking a script.
If I had to pick a project from the ones that ended up seeing the light of day, I would say the creation of Captain Aquafresh’s daughter. Animation has always been a passion of mine, so working with Aquafresh introduced us to the world of animation, and when we got the chance to increase his family and actually create a character that would live on as part of the brand was amazing.
You can meet Ella below.
You’ve swapped the world of advertising to follow your shared passion for sport and entertainment. Clearly these are two sectors with a degree of overlap, but advertising has traditionally had a little more license for creativity. What are you looking to bring from your old roles across to your new ones here at CSM?
Sunchi: We were brought in specifically for that purpose — to help bring that license for creativity from our advertising backgrounds to the world of sport and entertainment at CSM. There’s a brilliant creative department here at CSM that have a shared goal in elevating our creative offering. Rui and I are another step toward that goal.
Rui: I think Sunchi summed it up perfectly. CSM has an amazing list of clients, and already does amazing work for them, we just want to be part of an even more integrated offering to our clients. And I believe the work we’ll put out for Rexona is the proof we’re heading in the right direction.
When not at work, what would we find you doing?
Sunchi: Escaping the city with my partner (not my creative partner) for the countryside or beach. Trying out another vegetarian restaurant. Chatting over the phone with friends and family in Australia. Nervously watching Arsenal matches at my local pub. Taking out those frustrations on a game of five-a-side. Taking out those frustrations on a workout at the gym.
Rui: Ouch, that hurt. Thank you Sunchi. If it happens to be a F1 race weekend, you’ll find me on my coach, glued to the TV watching practice session, qualy and rooting for Max, Perez and Norris during the race. (sorry Hamilton fans, I’m still a good person and willing to accept tickets to any F1 race). I will also watch my football team Sporting Clube de Portugal, and when I’m not watching sports, I might be practising it. Going on for a run or playing tennis. I’m also someone who loves to cook, so I’m always looking for a new recipe to try.