Phoenix Santamaria and Rory Moore’s Creative LIAisons Diary #3: Inspiration, takeaways and final goodbyes
DDB Melbourne creative team Phoenix Santamaria and Rory Moore represented Australia at the 2025 Creative LIAisons program in Las Vegas, featuring some of the world’s most respected creative directors as speakers. Here, Santamaria and Moore share their final thoughts, exclusively for Campaign Brief.
It’s 10:23am. The watery airport coffee is doing little to resurrect us after last night’s final Vegas hurrah with all the new friends we have made from around the world. What a week it has been. The people we’ve met. The insights we’ve learned. The things we’ve experienced. The six days have flown by – not just because this 24/7 entertainment city is a total time warp – but because the days (and nights) have been so action-packed with incredible lessons, laughs and gold-plated advice.
We’ve spent the last two days in a marathon of talks, panels and workshops with the likes of the literal legends who created the talking M&Ms, Doritos campaigns and endless other multi-award winning, culture-driving work. The talks covered everything from dealing with imposter syndrome, to unleashing your creativity, to what the playbook is to creating next-level non-traditional campaigns (and so much more). If we were to list out everything that was said we’d be here all day – so we thought we’d touch on some of the themes that emerged between speakers, and what stood out to us.
AI is obviously the hottest topic on everyone in the industry’s lips. There’s a real element of fear that surrounds this technology that everyone promises is going to eventually take our jobs. The common theme was that AI is a tool – like Photoshop is a tool and the internet is a tool. Chris Smith said it best – a hammer can’t build a home, you use it to build a home. Ultimately it’s about harnessing AI with our innate humanity to create the next generation of incredible work we’re all striving for.
Nearly all the speakers spoke about the importance of having an intimate understanding of your client’s business. How they operate. How they make money. What they want. Ultimately, our job is to solve business problems, and we can only do that if we reframe our perspective of them from ‘clients’, to ‘partners’ and collaborating with them in every step of the process. That’s how you get organisational buy-in, and open all sorts of wonderful doors.
“What would you do if fear wasn’t an option?”. The idea of being brave and bold, challenging norms and flipping what’s traditional on its head permeated throughout the talks. But so did the idea that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Don’t be afraid to do something that’s already been done as long as you can tell the story in a new way.
Craft. Craft. Craft. This was one of the biggest themes of the week. With a world of AI tools at our disposal, it’s never been easier for creativity to be shortcut and timelines shrunk. One sentiment from that stood out was that “craft is the membrane between your brand and the audience. If we’re not focused on craft, all our communications will be lost.”
“If you don’t have imposter syndrome, you’re in the wrong room”. It was refreshing to hear that even the cream of the world’s advertising crop feel or have felt those thoughts that inevitably creep in our heads. A good reminder to back yourself, even when your gut is telling you to run away.
What a privilege it has been to be here for the six nights. There’s so many people to thank for making this the unforgettable experience it’s been. The LIA. The team at DDB for getting us here. All the incredible speakers who were so generous with their time and answered our endless questions. Our fellow mentees who are confrontingly talented. The Wynn for feeding and watering us. And a special shoutout to the dealer on blackjack table 12 at Treasure Island who accidentally miscounted our cards and paid out on a 22.
We’ll consider it justice.
Until next time, it’s been real Vegas.
Thanks for following along with us.
