In His 2024 Homecoming Alumni Lecture, School of Communications Alum Brent Anderson Shared Insights About Creativity from his Career Experience Working with Apple
Apple’s iconic nature was reflected in School of Communications alum Brent Anderson’s Homecoming lecture opener: an Airpods advertisement that he worked on in collaboration with none other than Harry Styles. The advertisement set the tone for the rest of his message — one that spanned the beauty and challenges that come with creativity, as well as the act of making something wonderful and sending it forth into the world.
Anderson, currently Global Chief Creative Officer at TBWA/Media Arts Lab, shared that even as a high school student he had the desire to do something that incorporated both business and creativity. By job shadowing his scoutmaster Ted Phillips (who attended the lecture) at his advertising agency, he found the perfect blend of the two.
The person who has had the most-lasting influence on his career, Anderson shared, is Lee Clow, founder of the advertising agency Chiat Day where Anderson worked for several years.
“He’s been my mentor, my wise, white haired charismatic leader who would charge forward, protecting our ideas,” said Anderson. “You all must find mentors as well. You need to find people who have walked the path that you want to walk the way you want to walk it.”
Many of Anderson’s reflections upon creativity centered on a quote from former Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who said, “One of the ways that I believe people express their appreciation to the rest of humanity is to make something wonderful and put it out there. You never meet the people, you never shake their hands, but somehow in the act of making something with a great deal of care and love, something is transmitted there. It is a way of expressing to the rest of our species our deep appreciation.”
“What an opportunity we all have to make something wonderful of our life, to make something wonderful of the time that we have here and to put it out into the world,” said Anderson. “Whatever that is, it is definitely going to take courage to put your creation out there.”
Anderson also outlined two principles that have helped him in his quest to make his creative ventures go from good to great: simplicity and craft. “Reduction and subtraction is always challenging, but by doing this, we pull things back to the essence, and increase the chances that what we’re making is going to pop and be successful,” Anderson said.
“Craft is to make or produce with care, skill, exactness or ingenuity; care and craft are two sides of the same coin,” Anderson said. “All I've tried to do in my career is care. Care about what I was doing. Care about how what I do influences others. Care about what my bosses need. Care about what Apple needs. Caring is one thing that really matters. Caring makes you want to work harder. When you find something you care about, you never compromise or settle. And when you care, something is transmitted. People will pick up on it.”
Jobs also brought up the idea that there are “many ways to be as a person,” or many ways to live our lives, a concept which resonated with Anderson in a spiritual sense.
Anderson also emphasized the importance of remembering that we are inherently creative, and that embracing this helps us remember our divine heritage. “When we open ourselves to our creativity, we open ourselves to the Creator's creativity within us and our lives,” he said quoting from The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. “Creativity is God's gift to us — our creative impressions and influences come from a divine source. As we move toward our dreams, we move toward our inherent divinity.”
Anderson gave a final invitation to students: “Make something wonderful and put it out there.”