Vancouver, March 18, 2015

Jackson Murphy suddenly wakes up. He desperately looks for a pen and a napkin to write a great idea encouraged by a mysterious dream. Only by writing it down, he ensures not to lose the concept. It is only then, when he can fall back on sleep, entering a new inspiring dream. The Creative Director of POUND & GRAIN DIGITAL INC. wakes up with some napkins to develop.

Where’s the story of a brand? How do you get to the story and what they want to tell?

Usually, companies just come and tell us they want to create a product or website but they haven’t thought about how it feels or looks like yet. We do lot of work with brands to help them find that voice hiding inside them. If you are trying to improve customer’s life or to make it easier for them, that’s a pretty good story to tell people in order to connect with them. So I think is always about finding that truth that lies within the problem they are trying to solve. Building something great is awesome, but it’s even better if you find something to tell that’s essential.

Where do you look for inspiration before starting a project?

I’m not someone who loves brainstorms, mostly because I’m just not good at them. I like going off with myself and think about it. I always look for inspiration in another industry or on something completely different rather than looking at what the brand and their competitors are doing. In the same way, some companies totally try to disrupt an industry by seeking outside, like how Airbnb has disrupted the hotel business model. I guess is about solving the problem in a different way. A lot of inspiration also comes from a nice glass of wine or cold beer and not just when you are thinking about the idea.

Which was your most interesting project up to now?

Recently we’ve worked with the BC Dairy Association and the BC Agriculture Council to breathe new life into their existing brand, Buy Local. Eat Natural. The challenge consisted in telling a story that gathers farmers, food and people together. This resulted in creating a more consumer centric brand, We Heart Local, developing a responsive website and also building an IPhone app. All these things allowed people to know when local products were in season, or to look at recipes that included those products and then find out where they could get them, either in a farmer’s market or in a restaurant. The subject matter was great, the clients rocked, and the idea of bringing all types of consumers, farmers, producers of artisanal food products and even larger producers all from a local basis was a really exciting topic.

Where do you find time for your own?

I find this challenging but in Vancouver office we have nice places where you can find silence. Besides, we have a great coffee shop across the street and a bar, so if you need to have time for your own without being disturbed…go there! Now that I’m in the Toronto office, I am exploring our new neighborhood’s coffee joins

What do you like doing in your free time?

I love travelling, that’s my biggest passion. My favorite place is France but my girlfriend won’t let me go there every trip, so sometimes I have to go with new places. She picks one trip, and then I pick the other one. When you start you own agency you don’t have so much free time, so just take what you can get.

When you started your own agency, which where the challenges you had to overcome?

When you first do it, all seems really easy. But reality comes on in the first day. When you first start, you have to do everything and not just what you like doing. You are hiring, mentoring, you are making accounts payable, creating invoices; and this is always the hardest part for people: moving from “I do this for my career” to “I want to create something new”. You have to open yourself to more skills. But is worth it, I wouldn’t like to work for another man anymore!

Once you quoted: “Our clients know we’ll do whatever it takes to make it happen”. Which was the most difficult thing a client asked you to do?

I shouldn’t be sharing this, but I think one of the hardest things we’ve done was a project when we had just opened as an agency. They asked us to do branding, advertising, and a website all in just a week. I don’t recommend that. But it was a nice sleepless 7 days. We were a really small agency then, but we’ve grown and today we are 21 people strong. Small projects are always harder to do when you’ve grown. But you can always do something great with a small budget if you are smart about what you are trying to accomplish. Maybe you can’t build an app but you can design great social content or a super cool infographic.

You said that the online world intrinsically mirrors the human behavior. Why do you think that?

The digital world is like the way we enjoy living. Probably, in your own building, you ride up an elevator and very few people chat with each other. The online world overcomes some of the barriers of personal interaction. People are shy or nervous and digital breaks down the barriers a little bit and people are more comfortable sharing or even oversharing their life on Facebook or other social networks. That’s why we love digital so much, it’s a cool place to connect with people and try to solve problems for them.

Digital communication is constantly mutating and changing day after day. What do you feel like working in a field that is a never ending learning process? Which important changes you predict might take place in the next 10 years?

I think that’s what makes super exciting working in a digital field. What you did 24 months ago doesn’t apply anymore. It’s always changing and keeping you on your toes. You can never get bored! For the future, that’s tough. For example, will Apple built a watch that people really care about? Perhaps the future is one where we won’t need devices in some point. We might live a sort of virtual reality. I’ve been wanting my holodeck from Star Trek: The Next Generation since 1987.

Do you think is important in this digital world to conserve your manual skills? In which way you apply them in your daily work?

In my opinion, it’s super important to be able to think conceptually and not just open up your computer. The tendency for younger creatives is to go right into Photoshop and directly finish the product without sketching. We always encourage people to do it on paper first. It helps you to think more before starting to build something new. I do all my notes on a note book before typing. The old school never runs out of batteries!

Thank you, Jackson.

To follow Jackson: @jacksonian

To learn more about POUND & GRAIN DIGITAL Inc.

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