Fadi Yaish leads Impact BBDO – an agency that’s currently producing some of the world’s most inspiring ideas – as Regional ECD. He joined ADFEST this year as Jury President, Outdoor and Press.
Different ideas matter
“The most obvious thing to me about the work that comes out of Impact BBDO is that it was born from diversity. Dubai is made up of 80% expats. We have 68 nationalities, at least. Our agency has 25 different nationalities – from every corner of the world. Each one of them comes with a bag of new things – their different background, culture, work experiences. They share these and influence each other.”
Trust trumps everything
“Trust comes from hard, hard work over a long, long period, especially in the current state of the advertising industry with a lot of financial pressure, and all agencies around the world having fewer people than they should have. To have someone trust you with their business means a lot. We don't take that for granted.”
The bad client is a myth
“There’s this cliche that clients are not good, clients don't get it. I always feel like that at the beginning of a project. We think we have a piece of work that’s great. We present it, and then the only thing we come back with is frustration. Well, it can't be that all the clients around the world are not good. They just don't trust you yet. And that’s natural.”
Trust is a journey
“Trust is like a loop. If you do good for your client’s business, your client will say you’re capable. And then you get to do better work. But that process doesn’t happen overnight. It's a journey with clients, even if you have a reputation for great work. That’s really only the door for you to walk in.
It's like when you go to the gym and the trainer comes along and gives you 50kg weights. Maybe he wants to push you, but you think he’s trying to kill you. So either you quit or the trainer gives you 2kg weights at the start, and you feel a little more comfortable. And once you feel too comfortable, he gives you 4, 5, 10kg weights. Then you reach 50kg.
“This was our four-year journey with some of our clients. Increasing the level of creativity a notch every time until we reached a point where the work we’re producing now, people ask, ‘How did you do this with that client?’”
Watch our full interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9iio_Bk4Wg
- Candide McDonald
- Directed by Miles Cooper, edited by Scott Dali, with reporting from Anika Ali
