PATRICK HELD
Patrick Held is Creative Director at Advantage Y&R, Windhoek, Namibia. “I got into advertising through the back door”.
Image: Patrick Held
The first thing I do in my day is...
Take my dog for a walk, usually around 6am. This gives me proper time to prepare the day in my head so when I hit the office we can get straight into it.
At the moment I am working on...
There are currently two projects in studio I am very excited about. One is a HIV testing campaign that is going to challenge the country’s national anthem. It’s a very ballsy, risky approach but if everything works out the way we planned it - it’s going to become the next movement.
The second project we have just started with is for Jaguar. We call the campaign “Speed Painting” - I am afraid that’s all I can say for now.
The best piece of creative work around at the moment is...
That’s hard to say as to me each category has its own best work. But let me say that in the “Direct” category, we are very proud of our own work for First National Bank in which we asked a professional pickpocket to do the opposite of what he usually does: put wallets ‘into’ people’s pockets.
I am inspired by...
“What if”.
This year I’ll be attending...
The South African Loerie Awards in Cape Town...
The next big thing in advertising is going to be...
I don’t know what it’s going to be exactly, but I have a feeling it comes along with some crazy-tech invention from Asia.
The work I wish I had thought of is...
That is hard to boil down to one piece but I can say that I am always very fascinated and inspired by the work from Duval Guillaume Modem. To me their thinking is brilliant.
In a film about my life, I’d like to be played by...
It depends which side of my life the film would focus on – it could be anywhere between Woody Harrelson, E.T. and Hugh Hefner : )
The screen background on my mobile phone is...
A photo of my dog “Leif”. I took it the day I picked him up from an animal shelter. He’s amazing.
My last social media update said...
I am very modest with social media updates about my daily life – however the last thing I felt worth sharing was a little feature about one of our agency’s shareholders. His main passion is aerial photography and Mercedes Benz South Africa felt it inspiring enough to do an interview with him.
My dream collaboration is...
A while ago I found this young photographer from California. He is only 20-years-old but does such amazing visuals. Working with him on a job would be, for sure, pretty interesting.
In up and coming talent, I look for...
Pure passion and determination! I believe if you have these two you can achieve anything.
A piece of criticism I’ve received was...
To not be so intense about work, and get a life outside of advertising. That made me really think.
The last song/piece of music I listened to was...
A rooftop set from Jan Blomqvist.
Image: An installation in a major bookstore, which is an extension of Advantage Y&R Namibia's print campaign for Land Rover, which features in Archive Vol. 2/2013. "The books contain blank pages, except the first, which says: 'Words can't take you where a Land Rover can'".
