Jess
Hello, and welcome to The Theory of Marketing Relativity Podcast. I'm Jess Burton, a marketing specialist here at Epic Marketing Consultants Corporation. Let's talk all things marketing and merchandising with our Epic team.
I am here today with Epic's Creative Director Amy Warrington. Hi, Amy. How are you doing today?
Amy
Hey, Jess, I'm doing well. Thanks for having me.
Jess
No problem.
Glad you could join us today. Since we are going to talk about all things creativity, and it's in your job title.
Amy
Yeah, yeah. So you'd think I'd be pretty good at talking about this, right?
Jess
I know, right? I feel like we all have to be creative. We work in a marketing company. Your job is everyone's job is to be creative. Yours is just to be creative on all levels.
Amy
That's a good way to put it.
Jess
Yeah. So jumping right in. Work can get fast, furious, stressful, crazy. What do you do to stay on top of your creative game?
Amy
Well, honestly, I think the most stressful part for me is the fact that the product that we put out as Epic Marketing Consultants, all starts with one creative idea. So it's like, regardless of what we're doing, whether we're doing social posts, whether we're doing a full campaign, whether we're doing a new website, the basis of everything we do kind of is hinged upon that creative spark that we get whatever, that creative idea that then sets loose the strategy and everything else that goes behind these campaigns that they create. So it's kind of like this be all end all for me, like I need that creative campaign. But at the same time, having this awesome team to bounce ideas off of, I never have to work alone in a creative vacuum — because it doesn't exist. There's no such thing as a creative vacuum. I can't sit here in a room by myself and think of all of these ideas. So while coming up with the idea is the most stressful part , i t's also the most fun because I am able to allow myself that freedom to take a walk, talk with my team, do whatever I need to do to get in that creative mindset instead of feeling like I have to come up with something on the spot, does that make sense?
Jess
Absolutely, which I was just gonna ask you, do you feel like you get stressed? And then , if you do, how do you handle getting stressed? Since we all work from home , w e don't necessarily have a traditional workspace. There's no office to go to, I mean, in your house. There's no car ride to get to the office. Like there's no cubicle to sit in. Do you find, do you get stressed from working at home? And how do you handle any kind of stress that you might get because you work at home or because we have a non - traditional workspace?
Amy
Well, working from home, it's kind of like that weird juxtaposition that you have. Like, in some respects, it seems like it should be the most carefree low stress environment. But other times it's also like there is no escape from the pressures that come from home or the pressures that come from work. It's always on you in this one environment. So knowing how to regulate myself — figure out when I'm in work mode, when I'm in home mode — and kind of giv ing myself t hat delineation really helps me to stay sane and stay less stressed.
T he other important thing is just always making sure I have a clear visual picture of my priorities and their due dates. Say that I am trying to figure out what I need to do next, I can look at my million to - do lists and I can see wh at I'm in the mood for creatively, because sometimes ideas will strike me for one client over another one, not because one project is any more fun than another or whatever. But just whenever creativity strikes, and that's one of my big rules for me, when the idea strikes, go with it, drop what you're doing if you can, and focus on that idea and figure out how to flesh it out how to get it down in notes, how to do something, so that when you come back to it later, you can grow that idea and you can turn it into something amazing.
I always have a notepad with me at all times. I've always got my phone. My boyfriend will get ridiculous texts for me that are just an idea I had so I can't so I don't forget it. So I can refer to it later and h e’s still getting used to that little side of my personality. It’s being able to see everything I have in front of me at once. Being able to give my mind the freedom and the leeway to focus on what it is most prone to focus to at that point in time. And then also being able to rely on my team to get some of the smaller things done to get some of the ideas fleshed out that I just haven't been able to get to on my own.
C reativity is a lot of little things that add up instead of one big spark moment that you rely on.
Jess
Oh, I love that. It's a bunch of little things that up to one thing versus one big moment. Yeah, I'm up on the whiteboard thing I have, like, if anyone has ever used the Google jam board, that's what my wall looks like next to my desk because all of my sticky notes are color coded by client
Amy
Sometimes that's what you need , whatever your system is to keep you on track.
Jess
Exactly. So I totally understand the 17,000 whiteboard conundrum. Um, not to change topics, but I have to mention that you just got a puppy.
Amy
Yes.
Jess
Who is ironically named Newton. And the theme here at Epic is E=MC2 , Einstein, all that kind of stuff. So how did Newton get his name?
Amy
Well, it's actually kind of funny. So, I have been begging my boyfriend for a puppy for a little while now. My old Pomeranian passed away due to diabetes about a year ago and I knew that I wanted to bring another puppy into my life when I was ready. So around March of this year, my boyfriend and I decided, Okay, let's get a puppy.
So, we started going through and doing you know, the millennial thing that you do on a Friday night and we went on baby name websites to find a baby name for the d og, and he doesn't like anything that sounds like a human name. It just he's against it, like he doesn't like naming a dog Tom, he thinks it's weird. And I, of course, love naming dogs human names.
So we were trying to figure out what to do with this dog name, neither of us could agree on anything. We came up with some ridiculous stuff like one of them was A nubis. But when we were, typing it into text to tell our friends that we were thinking of anubis that kept changing it to anus and we were like, well, that might not be the best idea. So like we kept trying to figure out what dog name to name him.
W e kept coming back to the name of N ewt because I'm a Harry Potter loser. And I love Harry Potter and Newt Scamander, and Zach really liked that movie of the Fantastic Beasts. So whenever we would refer to him or after we got him we just kept calling him Newt in place of like puppy. And then we were like, you know what? Why don't we just name him Newt?
A nd that's when I put my foot down and said no, no college will ever accept him if his first name is Newt — because you know, our dog is g oing to be filling out a college application and everything. So that's when we decided that we would name him Newton, because it's not a person's first name, which is Zach's number one rule. It is the longer term of Newt, which, you know, we were calling him anyway. And if he were to ever apply for college or whatever else because you know, he is an evil little genius of a puppy, Newton would look really good o n a college application.
So the long story is that I'm ridiculous and I wanted my dog to be named after a genius and now he is definitely an evil genius territory for sure.
Jess
So th en it's fitting that he's one of our like, hashtag Epic pets.
Amy
It is fitting that he is an Epic pet. He has already learned how to not only follow the rules, but bend them, which is the true sign of genius not only knowing what the rules are, but figuring out the loopholes to the rules to get around them.
Jess
Absolutely. And then looking you dead in the eye as they work they work the loophole.
Amy
Oh my gosh he has a bell to ring to go outside he will look me square in the eye after I've told him he's not allowed to go out and hit the button. He's fun.
Jess
Puppies are like small children.
Amy
They are small children but that's another reason that I love him so much because I use him to get in a creative mindset sometimes.
Jess
Awesome. I was gonna ask does, so obviously we work at home? Does having him there and him needing to you know, go out or eat or play with you? Do you find that as more of a addition to your creative juices, or do you find like if you're in the middle of something and he interrupts you, you kind of lose your train of thought.
Amy
He is definitely both a hindrance and a help and for the exact same reasons.
I have so much more respect for all of the working moms that I work with and know and don't know, but just are working and have children around them at all times, because, good gracious if my puppy is this bad, I cannot imagine your toddlers or your grade school kids or whatever.
it's been an adjustment having him home with me, especially because when we first brought him home, he needed so much attention. But at the same time, it's kind of been a blessing as well as a curse. So the curse is when we're on, you know, a podcast, and I'm just waiting for him to bark in the background, or when we're on a Zoom meeting or something, and you just hear the little puppy when you have to speak and he's just letting you know that he's bored and that, that gets annoying.
T hen you have those times when you're just stuck. And all of a sudden the puppy wants to play. So you're like, you know what, I'm stuck right now. I'm not thinking of anything. I might as well stop my timer — because at Epic, we use timers — and I might as well just give my brain a little bit of a break. And sometimes it's exactly what you need.
Newton and I will go outside. We'll run around in the yard. I'll get down on his level, and even just getting down on his level and changing my perspective there, kind of allows me to open up my mind and changed my perspective on the other things. It's like okay, I was coming at it from this angle. What if I got down a little lower? Or what if I went over here to the left? Or what if I just changed my perspective completely and turned around? How might that change how what I'm seeing right now and how might that change the campaign I'm trying to shape. So it's both good and bad. I would say more good.
Plus, you know, because he's so smart and because he has such expressive facial features, I like to bounce my ideas off of him. And he'll let me know if he thinks it's good or bad you know, he’ll tilt his head he'll be like, ruff ruff, no way mom. Like I swear he speaks English a little bit. But if and you know, working from home, you do kind of get a little stir crazy and you do kind of need to talk to somebody. So having Newton around makes me both more and less crazy at the same time.
Jess
I can totally see that. We have I have a turtle tank in my office and there are literal times where like he'll just start splashing around because turtles really don't do much else. And I'll literally just look at him, and most of the time, I'm like, What are you doing? And just like for half a second, think about like, what a turtle is thinking about? And from there I'm like, because I've now cleared my brain. It's now easier to cut. It's almost like a mini reset button. Like within an hour. I'm going to focus on this and all you needed was like a slight distraction. It wasn't a complete, dereailment.
Amy
You didn't need a derailment.
Real. Oh, I can hear my little Newton bringing the bell downstairs. Can we pause because he needs to go outside.
…. A few moments go by…..
All right, so we didn't quite make it. He tried to tell me in time, but he didn't hold it until I got down there. Poor little guy. We have two different bells, one at the back door, one at the front door and there was an accident at each so he did try.
Jess
Oh well. Now Everybody has like a free pet parenting tip. Get a little bell get a loud bell
Amy
Yes get a loud bell. Yeah, so we just moved my office up. It was downstairs when we got the puppy. That's where the hardwood floor is. So it's easier to keep them contained instead of upstairs where the carpet is. So I had moved my office downstairs and this is the first day that my office is back up where it used to be.
I tried to get him to go outside before we started filming this podcast, but he decided to stay asleep and well what happens it's okay learning curves. But we know that he knows how to hit the bell. We know that he knows where he's supposed to be. Yes, go to the bathroom. And it was just me not being there fast enough. So, learning curves, learning curves. It's all okay.
Jess
Exactly. So you mentioned that you just moved your office back upstairs. Um, and I find like myself, sometimes I will grab my laptop and work outside in the shade for a little bit. A couple hours in the morning to get a different environment, just from my normal desk and walls. Do you have any tips for everybody who's working at home? Because I know that I feel like for the foreseeable future, most people are going to have to build a work environment in their home environment. So do you have any tips for anyone who's working from home and has to be creative, which I think is everybody. To build an environment around you, that inspires you?
Amy
So my only tip will be that it's going to be different for each personality type. So I am probably the most introverted extrovert you'll ever meet. And by that I mean like if I have a friend somewhere, I will be talking everybody. I will be out I will be including myself, but if I don't know anybody, I'm very shy. I'm very timid. And I'm trying to get out of that. I'm trying I'm trying to break free. But so that's kind of like my point when it comes to setting up your home office as well.
Depending upon your personality, will depend upon what makes more sense to you. So like, for me, I am a very needy person, my boyfriend, he will tell you that I am so needy. So I kind of like having my office space be my own during the day. But if it's something that I need to keep working on after I kind of like sharing that space with him, so then I still feel like we're together. He's doing his own thing. I'm doing my own thing, but it doesn't feel like I'm working late. Because I still get to have that family time with him, with Newt. He's still in the same room. We might not be talking or interact interacting, but it's kind of like that nice. I'm home. I am working. This doesn't feel like an extra stressor on me that I have to work late.
T hen there's also the other turn of the page where like during the day when you really need to focus. You need to have that space that you can go that you're like okay, this is work. This isn't a fun space. This is why I mean work. So fun. If you're not having fun while you're working your're probably not doing the right thing. But like, this is where I work. This is where I focus. This is where I get that, where I get the shit done that I need to get done. Sorry, Nancy for cursing, but this is where I check off my to do list.
A t the same time, you can't let that workspace become like a prison to you. It's got to be something where like, instead of going there, where it's like, oh, now I gotta go to work. It's like now I have my freedom space. Now I have my quiet space. Now I have my space where it's just me, my computer and my thoughts. So I like that now I'm back up in my office. I can close the door if I need to, except for a Newton because apparently boundaries are not a thing to a puppy. But I can go there and it's like my own little space.
W hen my boyfriend had to work from home and when and I always work from home. But when COVID happened and he had to work from home, he and I quickly realized that my work energy does not match his work energy. So he had to move downstairs, while I stayed upstairs.
So it's just kind of like a mix. So like, it's this personality thing. So if you get to have the house to yourself working from home and you can, like assign whatever room or whatever space you want to be your office, great. If you have to share it with somebody else, my my, the only advice I can give you is find a place where you can feel safe, where you can feel like you can read something out loud if you need to.
S ometimes when I'm writing my copy, I have to read it out loud. And I have to do it in weird different voices because what if somebody has an Australian accent that's reading this? Or what if somebody's like, you know, like, what if somebody reads in a different tone than I would. So like, I like to read my things out loud in a bunch of different ways. So I can see what it sounds like. And it's just like a weird, it's probably nobody else probably does that. It's probably like a super weird thing I do. But I like to read back my copy and strange little voices to myself just so I can get a feel for it.
In order to do that, though, I'd like to have my little safe space where nobody can hear me doing a ridiculous Mickey Mouse voice about you know, credit union and changing their rates for something. Like, um, but then also you need to allow yourself that time to like, okay, I don't have to regulate myself to this one space, if I need to stretch my legs if I need to go do something, and whatever it is that gets your creative juices flowing, like that's the best part from working at home because sometimes, my best ideas come to me when I'm in the shower. And it's nice to be like, you know what, I'm just going to go take a shower at 2:30 in the afternoon, and just let yourself let your mind go blank. Let yourself just think whatever thoughts you want to think.
And then usually it works out where it comes around to whatever it is that you were trying to solve, when you were sitting at your desk, just staring at the screen. So that's I think the best part about working from home you have that freedom to not work if you're not being productive.
Jess
love it. Yeah, shower thoughts are definitely a thing.
Amy
Well, an agency and having to do the timer like if I'm working. If I'm working on Epic stuff, sometimes I'm not as strict with myself on the timer because sometimes I let myself have those minutes and that I need to get my ideas. But if I am charging a client for my time, I am making sure that my time is 100% focused on them. So if it takes three hours for me to give them one hour of work, I will stop that timer so that they are getting what they pay for and that my one hour of work is like legit, but that means that sometimes you have to allow yourself that time to make it so.
Jess
Absolutely. Yeah, I think the nice thing I think for us like working for an agency that's great is that we all are a part of so many different clients who are in different spheres. Not Britney Spears, spheres.
Amy
Britney Spears is my girl.
Jess
But yeah, so I feel like we have so many clients that are just completely different from one another that like, if you're getting stuck on a credit union, you can always, you know, say, okay, I'm gonna pause this and come back to it, let me work on this tech company. Or let me pause because I can't handle the technology. Let me move to this company that's more like science based. And I can read their blog that they just put up about all the sciency stuff. I think the great part is that we even within our workday, like I have found that working from home, too, you have to like set those time boundaries, because I will look at the clock and go, Oh my gosh, it's 545. I should have been done 45 minutes ago, just because you get on a roll like not necessarily like I'm working the midnight oil, but just like you need to, you need to like make sure you're for your own mental health, working like nine to five or your allotted eight hours. So I think having the ability to like switch back and forth between clients is also super beneficial because you can keep working like straight through for three hours. But you can change your the way you're thinking,
Amy
yes, you can stretch your mind.
Yes, yeah, you don't have to do the same thing over and over again, it's nothing repetitive. But then at the same time, you do have those tests where you're like, I just need to do something for two hours that I don't really need to think about it. And then that's when you do like the stupid stuff that you keep putting off.
So it's, it's nice, but I definitely I subscribe to the idea that I need to be available from the hours of eight to five. In case my team needs me in case a client needs me, you know, whatever. But I don't have but I don't make my I don't force myself to get my eight hours in from eight to five. I like it when I can get my eight hours and from eight to five, because that's a lot more efficient. And then I'm done with my day and I can move on and whatever.
But also on those days where like you're just not there. You're just not able to focus. You're just not able to get your shit done for lack of a more elegant term. That's when I really liked the ability that hey, I'm home, I'm at my office. If I went out, put this on hold and watch an episode of Unsolved Mysteries to chillax for a minute. It's perfectly okay. And so I. So I kind of am the worst at giving advice on how to give yourself a work life balance because my only real advice is to make sure you don't work more than eight or nine hours a day. But when you work those eight or nine hours, it's kind of up to you. And when you're feeling the most creative or the most inspired or the most like, yes, let me get this done.
Jess
I agree with that. 100% I think I was listening to a like one of the like a virtual conference like, I think the first within the first two weeks of like the world shutting down in March, and one of the speakers had said, this is an opportunity for companies to kind of realize that like, not everybody works their best nine to five or eight to four. That like you might have someone who does a very good job because they come to work from nine to five and that's what's expected of them. But when you let them work from home, you might find that, you know, because they have kids or because their significant others also working from home, they might take a break in the middle of the day. So now they're working later. But now you're finding that by letting them work at nine o'clock at night or 10 o'clock at night with like a four, like a two to four hour break in the middle of the day. Those extra two hours are letting them tap into a level of creativity that you didn't know they had.
Amy
Absolutely, Sorry, I kind of injured I kind of interrupted you on your
Jess
You are so fine. I was just trying to remember like, which, um, I feel like I feel like when COVID happened, I literally listened to like 14,000 virtual seminars, like while I was working because I was like, I wouldn't be on top of this. And I just remembered. It was actually our very own Futurist-in-Residence, Peter Shankman, who said it here. And I mean, obviously, like it's July and that like is still like stuck in my brain as like, it's okay if you're eight hours takes place over 6am to 6am the next day. Just work when it's efficient for you and take, but I think the key is to take the breaks, take the breaks. Exactly.
Amy
Exactly. There have been times where I've been working till like two or three o'clock in the morning. But it's because like, I'll be like, okay, it's 11 o'clock. I'm good, I'm done. But then I'll have another idea. And it's like, no, I need to keep going, like, I'm in my flow. I'm in my zone. I just need to keep going. I need to keep doing it. And that's, I guess that's kind of like what Peter talks about all the time and how he wakes up at three o'clock in the morning to do his try Iron Man training. It's like that's when he has the time. And then because he does that he's more focused for the rest of his day.
T hen our very own corporate handler Ann, she does the same thing. She's crazy. She wakes up at 5:30 every morning she does her Peloton, she kicks ass on it. And then she gets to work and she's like ready to round us up. And she's like the most pippy up person in the morning at 8am. She's like, hey, ladies let's go. And I'm like, it's eight o'clock in the morning. What are you doing? She's like, I've been up since 530. So, it's just kind of like, you use what makes you more productive. And that's the best part about working from home. So if you need to wake up at two o'clock in the morning and ride on your Peloton and then start working at four to be productive, more power to you. That's not me, but if it's you, like go ahead.
Jess
I am right there with you. 1,000%. We log on I let all log in sometimes, and I'm like, I am three sips into my cup of coffee and I need at least four more to make it through this meeting.
Amy
But right and you know what I've started giving myself a little treat in the morning, I signed up for the New York Times, and they give me a briefing every day. So I feel a lot more educated about the world but they also have a little teeny tiny mini crossword. That's like maybe 10 clues in total. And it usually takes me between one to three minutes to finish it. But that's like my little treat every morning. I have my coffee. I have my little crossword and then it's like, okay, let's start the day. Let's go. So it's like a having that nice morning ritual is good to get me into that right work mindset.
Jess
I love that. Well, I am so glad that you could join us today. And chit chat about being creative. Just in case anybody listening wants to find you in the digital world, whether it be on social or wherever, where can they find you.
Amy
Ah they can find me at amy@epicmc2.com. That is my email address. They can find me on LinkedIn, I believe my LinkedIn is Amy Lynn Warrington 3 at LinkedIn. But you can just search my name. I probably should have looked this all up. I didn't realize you're going to be asking me this.
Jess
Amy, thank you so much for joining us today.
Amy
Thank you so much for having me. I've had so much fun.
Jess
Thank you all for tuning in this week. We hope this theory is relative to your marketing needs. Make sure you subscribe to get notified of our latest episodes.
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