New Zealand: Antonio Navas; Everything Is Possible

In his office at Saatchi & Saatchi in Auckland, Antonio Navas has installed an old black sofa – “it was ready for the dump” – that he’s inscribed with white paint. “It’s a line that I love by Henry Kissinger – ‘No one will ever win the battle of the sexes; there is too much fraternising with the enemy’.” To Navas, the humour embodied in that quote exemplifies the working environment that he’s trying to develop. “Every day, walking into work has to be a good, positive experience. The process is very important and enjoying it is what I’m really about. You can bring all craziness, all your quirkiness, all your eccentricities… it’s OK, it’s all welcome here.”

A smell of jasmine in the morning

Navas relocated to New Zealand last year at the invitation of Saatchi’s CEO, Nicola Bell, with whom he’d worked in New York (“we have the same love for the business”). He and his wife, Grace, saw the move as an adventure; they switched from a 700sq.ft apartment in New York to an inner-city house where “we wake up every morning with birds and the smell of jasmine”.

Born and raised in Venezuala, Navas started travelling as a child: “My grandparents lived in Madrid, so from the age of nine I was on a plane. I learned independence early on.” At 17, he won a scholarship to study at Idaho State University, where he managed to learn English in four months. From Idaho, he moved to New York and lucked into a post with advertising agency NW Ayer, “basically as a secretary”, despite his two- finger typing skills. Placed at a desk next to “the music guy – a very famous Broadway producer” named Elliot Lawrence, Navas became invigorated by the “energy and creativity” of advertising.

At his next job, with Ogilvy & Mather, he was assigned to work with art director Parry Merkley on the award-winning American Express Portraits campaign, in which celebrities were photographed by Annie Leibovitz. Navas recalls: “Famous people were calling us,” including Miles Davis. “He’s got a really deep voice and he said, ‘Hey man, this is Miles. I love your campaign and I’m interested in being part of it.’” Twenty-five years on, Navas credits Parry Merkley with having “taught me everything I know. I learnt a lot from his taste: less is more.” He adds: “If you have art and commerce in synergy, you really outlast everything.”

After award-winning stints at other agencies, Navas eventually returned to Ogilvy & Mather New York as executive creative director. A video he created with singer Shakira for the 2010 FIFA World Cup – Waka Waka: This Time for Africa – brought him widespread acclaim.

In contrast, a campaign for the 2011 Rugby World Cup caused trouble early on in his tenure at Saatchi & Saatchi. According to Navas, Abstain for the Game was intended to be a humorous call to fans to support the All Blacks by giving up sex during the competition. However, part of the campaign, a TV ad, was “maliciously leaked” before the launch and Telecom NZ, the client, pulled the plug after a public uproar. Was he surprised by the hostile reaction? “I think we underestimated the pressure of a country, and a team, that needed to win at all costs. I come from South America, where the big teams, the Argentinians and the Brazilians, do really well under pressure. The process of going to a final, to a World Cup, is exhilarating to them and they have fun. So I felt that a little bit of humour would be good.”

The agency did have one World Cup triumph, the Tougher Than You Can Imagine campaign for Toyota Hilux. Navas recalls: “It ran in almost every game and it became a big success. Everything came together, the special effects, the amount of Kiwiness, with a guy standing by the shop eating a pie. Everyone loved it.”

As an example of Saatchi’s more recent work, Navas cites a campaign for Women’s Refuge, in which Valentine’s Day cards carrying anti-violence messages were secreted among traditional gifts in a number of stores. A card that read ‘I’m so glad I found you’ opened up to reveal the chilling message, ‘Don’t ever try and hide from me again, bitch’; another read: ‘Will You Be Mine?’ – ‘If I can’t have you, no one will’. Navas reports: “It was really kind of polarising at first. But that’s what we wanted – they were shocking. They were passed around and then there were e-cards online. It was a sensation.” The fact that the campaign went from whoa to go within days was an added bonus: “We have people here that always say ‘yes’. I love the fact that everything is possible,” explains Navas.

In his view, that was no longer the case in New York: “Creatives get really jaded quickly when they know the idea they’re creating has a slight chance of ever being produced. And that’s what I was encountering in New York. It was becoming a bit of a safe place for everyone – clients and agencies – [because of] the economy.” Now, says Navas: “I’m having the time of my life.”