Steve Vranakis: "Creatives are more powerful than they think"

[Music] my name is steve vranakis i am the executive creative director at the Creative Lab at Google in London how has your experience been an on-ground so I hadn't had incredible experience I've had an emotional experience as you saw on stage but seeing all these different brands and as I was mentioning earlier you know the you know Jay from Ben & Jerry's coming on just before me an ice cream company and I'm working for a digital company couldn't be more different as businesses but in terms of our ethos our philosophies the causes that they're supporting the purpose that they're trying to instill in their employees and in their in their company was just great to see and it's it's it's it's incredible to see I always think the more the merrier the more types of businesses like these that can have that sort of philosophy it's only it's only better for all of us like said previously there could be more different the company's manager is Google but why do you think both companies have the same sort of philosophical values yeah I think I think there was a time again maybe when I was growing up or where you used to think that it was somebody else's duty to deal with some of these real world problems and as as per the theme of my talk were more powerful than we think we are as creative people I think that we're starting to realise we are really well positioned to tap to try to tack on and tackle some of these meteor challenges ourselves not because the people who are meant to be doing a lot of that stuff aren't necessarily doing it some of them are doing it some of them aren't doing it but because we're all human beings we should all be helping each other out and we are in a unique position as I said in my talk where the way we deconstruct challenges the way we try to remove barriers through communications and that problem-solving skill combined with the approach we take to bringing creative ideas to life is a really potent nation that can force and instill change when we really need it and this is what you mean when you say creatives can be activists yeah I think I think we are I think we are inert activists I think I think there's a latent activism from a creative perspective in all of us because I think the active of channeling your creativity I think feels like it becomes a lot more amplified when you apply it to causes that need it more than your day-to-day so I think again for me it's not an either/or proposition I think there are people who are like oh you got to run a business or oh it's all good vert izing I think it's actually neither I think you got to run a business so the commercial aspect is the thing that allows us to be here but by the same token you can do it with their conscience and you can do it not only by not being damaging to the environment and exploitative and that sort of thing but you can also do it by being an organization that that actually wants to make a positive impact and give back and what is beyond me for you today well I love the theme I love I mean I love how you left it open to interpretation I think I think I may have emailed you said what beyond what was I mean and I think you said what does it mean to you and then I said well you know what to me beyond sort of brand because I think there's a load of different like interpretations of brand in itself right from a visual mark to a set of values and beliefs to a set of actions that an organization takes whatever however you want to do it broadly speaking and I think everybody would give you a different interpretation of it but I think the notion of beyond and that that additive bit which is we've got to do this and we have to do it well but we can be doing more is the thing that really resonated and why really was honored to be asked to take to take part you