Interview: Nicolas Cogels

Nicolas Cogels is a Belgium born creative who now calls Sydney home. Art Director by day, but musician at heart, Nic’s band Cogel has been featured on Triple J and toured Australia. They recently launched the beautiful single “Aquarium” with an equally at beautiful video clip. Nic also tells me there’s a photo of his butt “somewhere on the internet”. Google away girls.



1. What do you love about being in a creative field?
Being happy to go to work. I can wear the clothes I’m actually happy to wear. Challenging my imagination. Working with directors, photographers and designers. It helps me developing my sense of audio/visual which is useful for what I do on the side with my band or photography.

2. What do you think are some of the common myths about working in advertising?
Everyone is on coke. We all play foosball –
Also, I think people see an ad on TV and think “I could have come up with a better idea” – the fact is : the client pretty much 85% of the time research our scripts/ideas and there is a lot of great stuff that we need to strip back to get to a status quo and please everybody. It’s like trying to build a mountain (have a point of difference in the ad) but keeping it flat to please everyone.
And yeah sometimes the idea is crap as well.

3. What are your biggest creative challenges in your day to day work?
Selling an idea. Selling an idea. Selling an idea.

4. Are you ever stumped creatively? What do you do?
Yes. Then I walk and do something else, then come back to it.



5. How do you approach a creative brief?/ Do you have any tips for people in approaching Sparkapolooza briefs?
Always try to beat your first ideas. It’s never perfect; there is always a better idea. Looking everywhere, I mean, opening a magazine, talking to people, watching a film, just keeping an open mind and try to absorb things from all corners.
It’s also good to store ideas even when you’re not working on a brief. It’s a 24/7 job!

6. What’s your favorite medium?
Music.


7. Do you do any of your own work outside of your job? What is it and how do you find a balance?
If I can call this work, then yes : I work on my music/band. Balance sometimes hard but try to fit in the gaps whenever I’m not too busy with work + week-ends

8. If you could be doing anything else what would it be?
Music.

9. What are some of your favourite websites for inspiration?
http://www.notcot.org
YouTube is awesome, so random and rich – Random is good !
And trying to avoid Ads of the Worlds !