Andrew Simon is Partner, Chief Creative Officer of the recently re-christened Blammo Worldwide in Toronto, Canada. Prior to his role at Blammo, Andrew was Executive Creative Director of DDB Canada, leasding his team to Strategy Magazine’s Agency of the Year and Canada’s top creative agency in both 2009 and 2010.
Over the years, Andrew’s work has been recognized by a wide array of international and domestic award shows including Cannes, One Show, Clios, Communication Arts, London International, D&AD, Marketing, Cassies, and CMAs. In addition, Andrew has been named one of the top Creative Directors in Canada by Strategy Magazine for four years running.
And now, Andrew is a Giant Hydra Believer.
Andrew brought an exciting project to Giant Hydra, and after the intense project was completed, we sat down with him to find out his thoughts on using Giant Hydra as a Creative Director.
Giant Hydra: How would you describe Giant Hydra?
Andrew Simon: “It’s a wonderful creative extension of your agency’s capabilities. It’s the ability to bring together a very diverse group to any project in a very simple and quick manner.”
Giant Hydra: What were some of your initial thoughts before you used Giant Hydra for your project?
Andrew: “I was very excited to find an opportunity to use Giant Hydra, just to see how it all played out first-hand. The concept itself made total sense. Whether your agency has a lot of creative groups or a few, Giant Hydra would bring different minds to the project. Traditional minds, planner minds, digital minds, it’s different minds that have no agenda except to solve the problem.”
Giant Hydra: As a creative director, how did you find using the Giant Hydra interface?
Andrew: “I found it to be very simple and welcoming. Every day, it wasn’t like “oh god, I gotta log in and figure out what people are doing or what they are talking about!” The system is set up in such a way that you can see the whole stream of discussion. Whenever you want to jump into that stream, you can do it easily and intuitively. If you want to comment on individual work or group discussions, you can do that. If you want an idea to take flight or stop an idea in its tracks, you can do that. It’s so easy to use and flexible.”
“For my project, I added a few people who I’d define as “wild cards.” … In the end, they added exactly the flavor that I wanted them to add… they brought a fresh and different perspective on things, which lead to even better ideas.”
Giant Hydra: For those that don’t know, when a creative director posts a project, he or she gets to select who they wish to have working on it. How did you find this process?
Andrew: “In Giant Hydra, as in the real world, it’s always a challenge to select the right people for a project. You wonder “am I picking the right individual?” The Giant Hydra system helps out with this, as the HydraHeads, the people you choose for your team, have various levels of points. It gives you an indication of who has had experience working in this world. For my project, I definitely wanted to have a few people like that on the team. I also found some people with fewer points, but with portfolios that really made me say wow.”
“The other cool thing is that there are so many types of people in Giant Hydra. If you wanted people who mainly thought digitally, you could do that. If you wanted to see how a strategist would handle the problem, you could add a strategist. If you wanted to see how somebody on the other side of the world would tackle it, you could create a very international team.
“For my project, I added a few people who I’d define as “wild cards.” They had something special, but they weren’t exactly people that I’d naturally gravitate towards. In the end, they added exactly the flavor that I wanted them to add. They weren’t doing the heavy lifting, but they brought a fresh and different perspective on things, which lead to even better ideas.”
“In the end, I was very pleased with who I selected. I was also pleased that it wasn’t like the team was off on an island somewhere. Both the HydraHeads I chose and the Giant Hydra staff were there every step of the way, ensuring that ideas were being generated and any questions or concerns were addressed immediately.”
“It was like getting a smartphone for the very first time. You know, you look at it and say “oh, I don’t know if I need this or if I’ll be using it that much,” and two days later you can’t imagine life without it.”
Giant Hydra: What surprised you most about the Giant Hydra experience?
Andrew: “At first when I went in the system, I was worried about how complex it would be, how often I’d have to stay on top of the team, how I’d allot time and so on. But once I got in there, I was amazed at how easy it all was.”
“It was like getting a smartphone for the very first time. You know, you look at it and say “oh, I don’t know if I need this or if I’ll be using it that much,” and two days later you can’t imagine life without it.”
Giant Hydra: Let’s talk about the bottom line for a moment, for all the CFOs out there. Did you feel that you received your money’s worth?
Andrew: “Absolutely. I had a number of what I could pay in mind when I approached this project, and I was surprised at what that money got me: multiple people working intensely over multiple days and hours. And because each HydraHead is a member of a team, you can see that the teammates are counting on each other to perform. This, plus the points system provides a great incentive for them to work hard, and I could really see this in action.”
Giant Hydra: Now that you’ve used Giant Hydra, how would you see yourself using it again in the future?
Andrew: “One thing that occurred to me right away is that Giant Hydra would be wonderful for a new business pitch, to get some more thoughts and minds. But I could see ourselves using Giant Hydra again for any time we want a different perspective on things.”
Giant Hydra: What would you say to a fellow CD who was a bit skeptical about using Giant Hydra?
Andrew: “The reality is that people are still in denial about new things, but the world has changed, and is constantly changing. All you have to do is look to some of the top creative directors in the world, and see how they have been open to things like crowdsourcing and collaborative partnerships. They recognize this change.
“My advice to a CD who is on the fence about using Giant Hydra? Try it once. Take a small budget and see how it works for you. I think you’ll become a believer like myself. You’ll be amazed when you compare the number of ideas you’d get from a traditional freelance team versus the ideas you’d get from a Giant Hydra team for the same amount of money and time.”
“You should jump on board Giant Hydra and not be afraid of trying something new. If you don’t, everyone else will use it, and in the end, you’ll find that you will have fewer good ideas than they do.”
“Honestly, any CD who doesn’t understand the great potential of something like Giant Hydra, or who pretends that nothing has fundamentally changed in our industry over the past few years and wishes that all of this talk would simply just go away, I think that you might find yourself out of a job. That, or you’ll or you’ll have clients that ask you “I’ve heard about ‘this’, have you heard about ‘this’?”
“For anyone that doesn’t understand a lot about social media or collaboration, Giant Hydra is a wonderful way to get introduced. There’s no harm or foul. There’s nothing about it that you need to feel pressured to do. You can get ideas, see ideas, ask for more ideas, ask people to expand on ideas. And with Giant Hydra, it’s not like you are giving up any power. You are still the creative director. The control is there, the flexibility is there, it’s not as scary as you think and the system is easy to use.”
“And using something like Giant Hydra doesn’t mean you don’t have faith in your own people. You might be too busy on other things, or think that this just needs something completely different.”
“You should jump on board Giant Hydra and not be afraid of trying something new. If you don’t, everyone else will use it and in the end, you’ll find that you will have fewer good ideas than they do.”
