How Ray Smiling Adds Destruction Into Creativity
Interview by Trey Alston / Working Not Working Member
Working Not Working Member Ray Smiling speaks about creativity as if it were a recap of a Transformers fight. It’s about creating and destroying, it “needs more explosions.” He’s the kind of Creative Director that you want to have if you’re into advertising. With stints at BBDO New York, Johannes Leonardo, and Translation LLC in the role, his ability to think outside of the box, and encourage other creatives to do so, is well-documented.
So what’s his secret? Well he hates always being in meetings, but he’s driven by putting a unique viewpoint in the world. That’s probably not the answer you’re looking for, but that’s the beauty in it: he answers like a Creative Director needs to think: around the solution, not directly at it. And that’s what makes his insight into the profession so intriguing in only a way that he could make it.
Here’s Ray Smiling on being a Creative Director, what comes with the job, and what inspires his work.
What drives you as a creative?
The thing that pushes me through all the different types of work is an attempt to push a unique worldview into the world. I’m trying to get people to see things how I see them. That way, they can view the things I find beautiful, or troubling, or fascinating.
How did you get into advertising? More importantly, why?
I got into it after spending a good time in the world of design. I found that while I was really into executing things visually, I was more interested in the idea that governed the design. So I started pushing more into that world and ended up getting my "foot in the door." The thing that drew me in was the ability to tell stories in the most succinct way possible. It felt like a way to do mini movies.
“I found that while I was really into executing things visually, I was more interested in the idea that governed the design.”
You've spent the last leg of your career as a Creative Director. What is that like? Could you walk me through what a day in the life for you is?
Creative direction is a weird, amorphous job to be perfectly honest. Depending on the hour of the day it can be anything from ideation, writing, managing creatives and helping them make their ideas as tight as they can be, putting out production fires, and sitting through so many meetings. Really, the core of the job is decoding other people's thoughts. Making sense of strategy for creatives, making sense of creatives' creative for clients. Just a lot of translating ideas.
What is something that people don't realize comes with being a Creative Director? How do you deal with it?
A lot of people have seen Mad Men and think that's the job. Maybe it was in the 60s or whatever, but that has not been my experience. The job is not about your personal genius. It's largely about using what skills you have to make other people's work and ideas sing. Creative Director is a lot more of a "service" position than people might imagine. I deal with it by making sure I do my own work outside of the job, so I can flex freely there.
“The job is not about your personal genius. It’s largely about using what skills you have to make other people’s work and ideas sing. Creative Director is a lot more of a ‘service’ position than people might imagine.”
What do you think is a recurring theme that shines through your work in your career? For instance, your work with Adidas and Under Armour. Are their thematic threads that connect them?
I'm always concerned with outsiders. I define them as people with very specific experiences or interests that pull them away from the norm. I think most of my work speaks to that outsider/mainstream conversation. Celebrating the specific, the niche. Drawing connections between the outsider and the mainstream. Just highlighting different worlds and different points of view.
What is the meaning of "create" and "destroy" for you? How do the concepts connect to each other?
That's the creative process to me. To get to any new idea you have to deconstruct things that've come before you, figure out how it works. You ultimately attempt to destroy it until it's at its smallest parts. Then you start recombining those broken parts, take a little something from here, something from there; and then you have a whole new thing.
What's your favorite part of the job? Worst part of it for you?
Worst part is never-ending meetings. A necessary evil, but they're not fun. Best part is definitely shooting things, watching stuff you came up with in a room months ago become real and physical.
“I want to see more points of view. Different types of people telling stories. More interesting insights. More explosions.”
How do you generally judge the strength of an idea that you create or is brought to you? What makes something pursuable versus dead upon arrival?
Novelty, simplicity, clarity, truth. Is it something that's never been done/something new? Is it easy to understand? Is it true or a bunch of BS we're saying to just sell something? Is the execution of the idea representing it in an understandable way? Generally if you've got three out of four of these, you're doing pretty good.
What do you want to see more of in the industry? How is your work helping you to do so?
I want to see more points of view. Different types of people telling stories. More interesting insights. More explosions.
