2019 Press Releases

Bianca Guimaraes - Creative LIAisons alumna...

06 August 2019
Creative LIAisons was born in 2012 as LIA’s designed to be a creative oasis in an industry that is in danger of focusing less and less on its creative output.
It is a week that provides junior creatives with expertise, insight, new professional relationships and unparalleled networking opportunities, LIAisons has been described as nothing short of priceless by countless alumni.
 
Bianca Guimaraes is one of those alumna, she attended Creative LIAisons in 2015 as a Senior Art Director for BBDO NY, today she is still at BBDO, and she has been promoted to VP, Creative Director. Hear what she has to say about her experience and her advice to the future attendees.   
 
Agencies are very competitive environments. Can you tell us what you did to secure your place at Creative LIAisons in 2015?
 
It was probably a combination of things. I’ve learned to be resilient, I’m a hard worker, I’m passionate about work and I try to keep a positive attitude.
 
The higher ups at BBDO are always looking to invest in people who are hungry and who really care about making the work great.

What would you say to the 2019 Creative LIAisons attendees about the program?
It’s one of the best award show experiences you’ll have so take full advantage of it. Ask questions, take notes, make an effort to talk to everyone, including the judges and panelists.
 
The best part for me was watching the judging session. I learned a lot just by listening to the different points of view and applied those learnings into my work.
 
Most importantly, don’t walk around the casino with cash after a couple glasses of wine.

A lot of young people are always seeking a work-life balance. Do you think that it is realistically achievable in this business if you want to do award-worthy work?
I believe that to be successful in any business you have to work really hard. Advertising is no different.
 
To me, the trick to work life balance is loving the work that you do. Our job requires us to be always on, and that doesn’t make me feel burned out because I really enjoy what we do.
 
Once you become more senior, the tendency is to find creative solutions faster so that helps too.

Your work PSA “In Real Life” was nominated for outstanding TVC at the 2018 Emmys. Do you think that's your best work yet? Or do you have another favorite?
I’d like to believe my best work is yet to come. That said I’m really proud of the “In Real Life” PSA. It was interesting because in theory we thought the concept worked but we had no idea if people would really stand up for each other. When they did, every single
time, we knew we had chosen the right approach to send our message.

Social media is used by virtually everyone with a smartphone. Do you think it is a good medium to solve social problems? Or do you think they do more harm than good?
Social media has a big impact on our thoughts and how we behave. Because of its interactive nature, and the fact that it levels the playing field by giving everyone a voice, there is bound to be friction between people. But the potential it creates for dialogue, movements, interaction, in my opinion outweighs the negative issues that come along.

How do you keep your pulse on the latest social media trends and technology?
There are a couple of websites that I check every morning to at least read the headlines of what’s happening in the tech/digital world.
 
I also download every app and try to get my hands on every new piece of tech to make sure I know how it works and have a point of view on it.

Any words of wisdom for newbies just entering the business?
Don’t fall in love too hard with your ideas and don’t take yourself too seriously. Having a sense of humor is important in our business. Sometimes things can get frustrating but you’ll get burned out fast if you can't laugh at stuff and move on.
 
If your idea doesn’t get through, it’s ok to fight for it but it’s important to know when to let go and focus your time and energy on the next great idea you may have.