On My Radar: Niklas Lilja

Niklas Lilja was announced as LA-based creative agency enso’s innovation lead just over a month ago and has since been working to align business success for companies such as Google with social impact.

Assigned to all clients on the company’s books, Lilja works closely with the agency’s creative, activation, digital and account teams to lead and identify growth opportunities for prospective and existing business.

Previously serving as director of innovation & creative director at Goodby Silverstein & Partners before taking up his new post, he is a firm believer in the positive difference a piece of work can have and, below, lets us in on his own creative Radar.

What’s the best ad campaign you’ve seen recently?

The Net Neutrality movement that resulted in the FCC regulating the Internet as a public utility. In what may have been the longest, most sustained campaign of Internet activism in history, the little guys (we Internet users) were outspent and out-lobbied, yet triumphed against all odds.

What website(s) do you use most regularly and why?

Brainpickings.org – It is full of inspiring, provocative thoughts curated in an insightful, delightful way.

For news I turn to Fast Company, Mashable, The New York Times and The Guardian, and I use Popcorntime to catch up on everything film.

What’s the most recent piece of tech that you’ve bought and why?

A new phone, my third this millennium. I only upgrade when my old one stops working - that way, I get a couple of weeks of feeling like I’ve time-travelled into the future.

Facebook, Instagram or Twitter?

Facebook for peer-curated articles. Instagram for instant nostalgia for places and lives I’m not currently living.

What’s your favourite app on your phone and why?

Right now, Overcast. I’m about 15 years late to podcasts but thoroughly enjoying going back to voice-based narrative.

What’s your favourite TV show and why?

British sit-coms of the Green Wing, Smack the Pony and Black Books era. Dark and absurdly, painfully funny.

What film do you think everyone should have seen?

Living in Oblivion.

Where were you when inspiration last struck?

Here at enso.

What’s the most significant change you’ve witnessed in the industry since you started working in it?

The shift from advertising to action, from saying to doing. Consumers now expect brands to have a positive impact on their lives and the world. To me, the talk about the ad industry crisis is really a crisis in purpose – or rather, the lack of it.

If there was one thing you could change about the advertising industry, what would it be?

Focussing on the outcome rather than the output; on the impact a company can have rather than creating ads. That’s the reason I’m working at enso, pushing for that change.

What or who has most influenced your career and why?

My first mentor, a 65 year old Finnish copywriter who spent her entire career on one client. She taught me most of what I know about writing and how to love what I do.

Tell us one thing about yourself that most people won’t know…

I recently took a sword to a children’s book, in full corpse-paint.