Ad Land’s Young Guns: Devkey Advani, Creative Director, Faces Canada

From a passionate young entrepreneur in her 20s to becoming the Creative Director of a global cosmetic brand, Devkey Advani has wielded her expertise in design and strategy to lead this multipurpose role at Faces Canada. A true believer of ‘Make it simple, but significant’, Advani is a tremendously hard-working and debonair personality in this creative world.

She holds an enriching experience of 10 years in the Creative, Designing, Advertising and Marketing fields. She started off as a young entrepreneur in her mid-20s, and has always been a fashion and design enthusiast. Advani wishes to flourish and expand the reach of Faces Canada in as many regions of the country as possible with an enigmatic presence in key states that not only garners offline but online growth as well.

Find out from Devkey Advani about key plannings and learnings to gain knowledge in the industry and a lot more.

What particular skill sets do you think you bring to the table?

Solution-based creative ideation. Ideas influence how people feel and solutions encourage people to act. Creating engaging content, I believe, is the sweet spot – it moves a consumer to engage with content online and interact with our communities on digital. 

While my key focus areas include: Brand digital content strategy, ideation and creative implementation planning work with various stakeholders, C-level executives as well as external agencies. The Creative Director role at Faces Canada has given me a lot more than I bargained for – including an opportunity to leverage my extensive design and strategy background and increase the output of marketing campaigns, overall strategy, new launches, photo shoots and strategy to launch new products.

How did you join your current organisation?

I wasn’t looking for a job shift at the time when I got a call from a recruiter with an opportunity with Faces Canada. I personally love this category and the role and responsibilities drew me even closer to considering making this shift to the brand side, and the rest is history!

Icons in this field you look up to and how they have influenced you and your work?

My icons are spread across industries. It is tough to single out a name, there are so many professionals doing such great work in this space. Tony Futura has been such an icon for me from the start. His quirky design style and the intelligent way he manages to take up serious matters and put his creative spin to it, is awe inspiring. I enjoy following Christoph Niemann’s work too. 

Having said that, I am constantly drawing inspiration from the people I work with on a daily basis. I am particularly inspired by the leadership qualities, and infallible solution driven approach of our CEO, Kunal Gupta.

What are the five most productive things that you do in your everyday routine?

  • I take out some time in the day to meditate daily and align my focus in the right direction.
  • 45 minutes of Exercise/ walk daily, (I hate it when I miss out on this part of the day)
  • Brainstorming with the team at large on campaigns, I love listening to ideas from all verticals. Sometimes this happens over a quick catch-up call in the day during break time and some of our best ideas have come from it!
  • I used to love reading, with the constant strain on the eyes, I have moved to Audible and it’s refreshing. I like to hear audio books before sleeping
  • TO-DO List(s). My absolute go-to during the day. I love planning things out and striking off tasks is so satisfying!

Do you think a career in this field is a viable one in the long term?

Absolutely, without a doubt. The advertising and marketing space has evolved by leaps and bounds in the recent past. Adding to that, the pandemic has been a huge driver in this change, the landscape of communication across the globe has shifted from traditional media to digital. There is a huge shift in content consumption patterns and this only pushes the boundaries to create better and better content every day. I believe this space will just keep expanding, keeping creative people like me super busy.

What does it take to succeed in a career?

I don’t think there is a magic sauce recipe for this. Along my journey, I have realised there is no substitute for great work and hard work. Keep at it and trust your gut. Always keep improving yourself, stay relevant, up-to-date and never ever stop learning! I believe in working as a team and always uplifting each other – creating a positive and inspired work environment.

What would be your advice to youngsters planning to enter this industry?

Be ready to learn something new every day and learn from every single vertical, whatever you can. Don’t be too worried about designations and roles at the start of your career – do loads of hands-on work and build your unique skill set. Great work always speaks for itself. Also, be nice and build a fun working environment, people do their best work in a positive environment. I always say – do great work, but don’t be a jerk in the process.

Where do you see yourself in five years’ time?

I see myself enjoying my work, as I am doing today! Getting excited about a campaign and the rush of adrenaline in cracking THE idea. I hope I can inspire others along my journey with my work and energy. 

Is there any organisation that you would like to work with in the future? 

I really enjoy the cosmetics and skin care category and would love to stay in this same space.

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