In Search of Pakistan’s Simorghs

The Simorgh Awards were recently held by the Pakistan Advertisers Society (PAS) to celebrate and recognise rising talent among the under-30s in the marketing and advertising industry.

The coinage of the word simorgh has an interesting and profound story based on the mystical masterpiece, The Conference of the Birds, an epic Persian poem, the central theme of which is how all the birds of the world gather to decide who is to be their sovereign. The hoopoe, the wisest of them all, suggests that they should seek out the legendary simorgh. After a difficult and challenging journey, only 30 dedicated and passionate birds survive and manage to reach the abode of the simorgh, where they discover that the simorgh they have sought is none other than themselves – the word Simorgh in Persian means 30 (si) birds (morgh).

It was in the spirit of this quest for the Simorgh that PAS introduced the award to: “Shine a spotlight on young and emerging talent who through their dedication, passion and exemplary achievements, have not only blazed a path for others to follow but will inspire them to discover the same spark within themselves.”

Now this article is not a plug for the Simorgh Awards (although it may seem so!), but the judging process was enlightening and raised some thoughts not only about the direction the young talent is headed in, but also about what is the truly important criteria in determining success.

With the ongoing debate on the proliferation of AI-based tools and their impact on business, one thing is clear: people who rely purely on their intellectual-based craft are in serious danger of being made redundant. This reminds me of the time, some three decades ago, when the Mac started making its way into the traditional design studios of agencies and an entire generation of talented people were in danger of becoming redundant. Painful as it was for them, they either had to adapt to, or adopt, this new mode of working or their usefulness to the agency was in peril. In my own former agency, I saw people who adopted and adapted to other complementary skill-sets or faded out of the scene.

Over the past decades a lot has changed. Technology, agency structures, hierarchies, and workflows have all evolved. What has remained constant is the simple fact that a creative person has to create. Create something memorable, impactful and – this is key – deliver it yesterday. As a result, in the pressure of deadlines and other pressures, a creative person’s worth is measured purely by efficiency. No one has time to craft, execute and polish a thought to a reasonable level. Hence the mediocrity we see all around in our industry. And AI-based tools are not going to make it ‘better.’ Only the power of human intelligences (yes, intelligence-S), when harnessed properly, can help people be better doers, thinkers and decision-makers.

If we look at an over-simplified agency workflow, ‘a client brief’ comes in, the strategy team does its dissection, analysis, and back-and-forth with the client for clarity, the creative team is handed an internal brief and they get to work. Output is critiqued and evaluated internally, presented to the client and (fingers-crossed) gets the green signal. Or not.

A lot of this is very head-based work. Analysis, critique, strategic rationalisations. A few creatives may try and toss in something triggered by their intuition or values, but sadly it all gets smothered because efficiency is key and “no one needs all this soft-skill stuff. It just messes up the workflow.”

Have you ever had that feeling when your head tells you to go in one direction and your heart is yearning to go in another and your guts are revolting against both choices or pushing you into yet another direction? As a creative person, that is my constant dilemma. Imagine the ease of the process of creation if all this conflict could be resolved.

Modern neuroscience has only recently rediscovered what ancient wisdom knew to be true; that we have multiple centres of intelligences within our body – not just the brain in our head. We have the head brain – in charge of processing information in a rational and creative way. The heart brain – in charge of processing emotions and sentiments. The gut brain – focusing on perceptions of danger and on actions to ensure survival.

For any thinking process we do, imagine a table with all three brains present. It may happen that one brain completely drowns out what the other two brains say (it is usually the case). The best outcome is achieved when each brain is given the opportunity to contribute. Some people’s intuition is very strong and their gut brain plays a very vocal role in their thinking process. For others, it is all head-brain-led and the other brains have no role to play.

Where is all this leading to? To the fact that our ability to harness our multiple intelligences makes us better thinkers, creators and doers, and that understanding this will also help us understand how our work impacts the people destined to experience it. Consumers are not remote, anonymous statistics on a data spreadsheet; they are human beings who (consciously or unconsciously) use their multiple intelligences as well.

Imagine an insight-generation exercise that simply asks: what do you REALLY think, perceive, mean? What do you TRULY want, desire, feel, connect with? What do you DEEPLY need, are moved by, identify with?

Imagine a creative output that is the product of harnessing what we feel passionately about (in the context of the brief, of course), allowing our intuition to participate in the creative process, without just relying on our ‘creativity’ (which is primarily a head-brain generated output).

In this context of client servicing people, your role in the process of creating an agency’s output is probably the most “non-creative,” but as champions of the agency’s ideas in front of the client, you have to speak from the heart and be deeply moved by what your agency has created and then use all your intellectual wiles to convince the client to make the right choice.

Coming back to where I started from. The nominees that stood out in the Simorgh Awards were not the ones with the longest list of achievements, accolades or awards, but those who led with their hearts, relied on their intuition and inherent courage to do what is right and demonstrated the ability to produce work that had creative, analytical and strategic excellence at its core.

To create work that is impactful, meaningful and memorable, agencies need to invest in helping their people develop the ability to think more deeply, meaningfully and holistically. This is not a skill that is taught at any business/art/design school here. Only then, PERHAPS, they might be able to produce work yesterday!

BTW, I have heard that the Simorgh Awards are being expanded in scope for next year’s cycle, so keep a look out!

Adnan Syed is Chief Ark-eologist, Green Man’s Ark.adnan.syed@thegma.com