Many people see being ‘addicted’ to the internet as a hindrance, but for Aaliyah Wattie, Junior Art Director at YoungShand, being online all the time is hugely helpful.
With the world at our fingertips, agencies across the motu are tasked with competing for people’s attention on not only a local level, but also a global scale. Today’s creatives must come up with innovations that are several steps ahead of the international playing field.
Fortunately, Aaliyah Wattie has never been short of ideas. “I fell in love with being a creative because it’s creative and I’m creative,” she says.
Wattie’s innate talent caught the eye of independent agency YoungShand, and now as their Junior Art Director, she serves as their Gen Z eyes and ears, providing new and unique ideas for their clients’ campaigns. Of the work she’s done since she began at YoungShand, she says she’s proudest of her contribution to the social media campaign for the Burnett Foundation (previously the New Zealand AIDS Foundation).
“It’s pretty amazing that [my creative partner and I] were able to even touch something like that, especially since we’ve only been in the industry for a year,” she says. “Being able to get onto that and have some fun… We got to make a song, write some lyrics for the song, make animations and do the art direction behind that. The whole story was really cool for us to be part of.”
Wattie’s able to contribute youthful suggestions to campaigns that encourage younger audiences to connect to brands. Being a regular consumer of online content herself, she has an advantage some others in the industry don’t.
“I know what 21-year-olds think,” she says. “I am addicted to the internet, absolutely, and my creative partner is too, so we’re really tied into that.”
As our lives expand ever more into the digital realm, being online means Wattie has her finger on the pulse of where trends are heading, what pop culture is looking like and how brands should be approaching the evolving advertising world.
“Constantly being alert to what’s going on around the world, whether that’s keeping up with art or fashion, or finding out what everyone’s talking about, you need to be chronically online,” she says. “If you don’t want to be constantly online, how are you going to be able to keep an eye out for what everyone wants to see?”
When YoungShand looks to Wattie for what’s going on in the world of Gen Z, she knows her perspectives are valued. “At the end of the day, we’re getting our voices heard.”
This was first published in our March/April 2024 issue.
