Interview: Alberto Ponte & Ryan O'Rourke

Learn from the global creative directors behind Nike’s most iconic ads

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At the time of this interview, Alberto Ponte and Ryan O’Rourke are founders and CCOs at Someplace, in Los Angeles. Before opening their own shop, they led the Nike global team at W+K for over a decade, where, according to Fast Company, they have made some of the best Nike ads for almost 20 years.

Here are a few campaigns they worked on, either as creatives or as creative directors: Nike: Find Your Greatness • Nike: Dream Crazy • Nike: You Can’t Stop Us • Nike: Seen It All (Directed and Starred by Spike Lee) • Nike: Risk Everything • Nike: Fate (Directed by David Fincher) • Nike: Human Chain

This interview has 49 bite-sized videos, organized into 5 parts. Check below everything we covered.

Part 1. Foundations & Mindset (Free Preview)

Alberto’s Creative Call / Ryan’s Creative Call / On Dealing with Failure / A Hack To Deal With Pressure / On Competition / Discipline Gives You Peace of Mind / On Insecurity / A Hack to Deal with Insecurity / On Insecurity Burn-Out / Work With Who Are Better Than You

Part 2. Concepting (Free Preview)

On Briefs / First 24 Hours Tackling The Brief / On Working With References / On Creating Volume / Ideating Hack: Do The Opposite / Ideating Hack: Say The Obvious / Ideas Are Like Charming People / On Quick Turnaround / On Brain Farts / Will Anyone Care About That? / On Deadlines

Part 3. Craft (Paid-Subscribers Only)

On Manifestos / From a Manifesto To “Jogger” / The Role Of Chance In Jogger / On Pushing For The Right Casting / Craft It To The Extreme / The Craft Behind “You Can’t Stop Us” / On “Dream Crazy” & Not Giving Up / Craft The Music On “Human Chain” / On Crafting The Music / When The Song Leads The Script / What To Look For In a Treatment / “Best Athlete Ever” & Limited Budget / Point Of View Vs. Craft

Part 4. Presenting Work (Paid-Subscribers Only)

On Presenting Work / The Right Number Of Ideas To Present / On Presenting “Human Chain” / On Presenting “Jogger” / On Presenting “Dream Crazy” / The Risk Of Presenting Too Well

Part 5. Creative Direction & Leadership (Paid-Subscribers Only)

The Role Of a Creative Director / Fast Decisions In Creative Reviews / Tricks When Reviewing Work / What To Look For In a Creative Review / One Vs. Many Teams Ina Project / On Portfolios & Hiring Creatives / Getting On The Client’s Team / What Makes a Good Client / Make Meetings To Push Meetings / Note On Pushing Meetings

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FULL INTERVIEW

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Part 1. Foundations & Mindset

A few quotes from the clips in this section:

• “Yes, I guess we are competitive. But one thing we don’t do is look around too much. When we are doing our thing, we are doing our thing.”

• “You do need to be constantly thinking of what you’re working on. You need to have the idea in your head, you need to wander around with it (…) and I do think that requires discipline.”

• “I think insecurity is a really good friend because it keeps you on your toes.”

• “I would sit and stare at my computer and try to force the ideas to come. I swear they never came that way.”

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Part 2. Concepting

A few quotes from the clips in this section:

• “We always sort of say that the first creative idea is the brief.”

• “We don’t put much pressure on the first day. We probably don’t even talk too much on the first day.”

• “The idea of forcing myself to have to have 10 ideas by the end of the day sounds terrible to me.”

• “I feel like ideas are like charming people: when you first meet them, they are really inviting, but the more layers you dig into, the more they reveal themselves.”

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Part 3. Craft