The creative influence of ducks

I think creatives should be forbidden to stay at the office the entire time. In fact, I think everybody who works at an office should be forbidden to stay or should at least be motivated to work outside every once in a while. We are nowadays more mobile than ever. And when you sit between the same four walls all day, these same four walls and the same things that are in there will inspire you. I can work very well on trains. Somehow the feeling of being on a speeding train does wonders for my brain. Besides, you get in touch with lots of people that are not in advertising. Another place where I fled to as often as possible during my time at Jung von Matt is a park called "Planten un Blomen". This is a gigantic park in the centre of Hamburg. When I first entered this place I was amazed by its beauty: little waterfalls, flowers of every colour, ducks, birds, little plateaus where you can sit down on wooden chairs; this park was like a resort to me. It's the perfect oasis of rest in the agency world, where stress usually reigns. The fact that not a lot goes on there puts my mind in a state of rest that allows me to think of good ideas. I remember working for a pitch at Jung von Matt/Fleet. My teampartner Savina had to do the visual work for the campaign so I had to think of ideas myself. And then they teamed me up with a Swedish intern called Sandra Bondesson and put me in charge for all the guerrilla/online/out-of-the-box-ideas. We decided to work at the park. It was very warm that day and we sat on the grass next to a platform with waterfalls. There's nothing more relaxing than this. What a difference with the agency, where people were stressing and running around. Instead of resting, we thought of numerous ideas and got the whole presentation crammed with great concepts. Unfortunately, we didn't win the pitch, but at least the work we presented was good. Sometimes it's better to be around ducks than to be around agency people.