On My Radar: Jessica Kersten

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

[Kersten, pictured above right] That’s hard for me to answer. I don’t really look at other ad campaigns that much. I try to stay in my own bubble as much as I can and get my inspiration elsewhere in the world. Check out the latest ID magazine shoot done by Tim Walker.

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

I always like my work to be as authentic as possible so I research everywhere on the web. For inspiration I love art&commerce, ffffound and showstudio.com.

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

Ha, that’s really a guy’s question. I’m a woman - I only buy technology for practical reasons, like my iPhone. I prefer to buy products that use the latest technology to better the planet, like clothes that are made from recycled materials.

What’s your favoured social media platform?

Instagram.

What’s your favourite app on your phone?

Google.maps.

What’s your favourite TV show and why?

I hardly watch TV anymore. I only watch online, on demand and HBO series like Game of Thrones because of the amazing costumes and because of the art direction, and various content on Netflix.

What film do you think everyone should have seen and why?

I love so many different genres, but my absolute favourite genre is fantasy. I’m a huge Tim Burton [below] fan and I really enjoyed loved this year’s Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. Also, I loved Incredible Beasts and Where to Find Them. Both of the films really surprised me with their huge unexpected doses of imagination.

Where were you when inspiration last struck?

Pfff… tough one. I get it from many places when I travel for work and meet inspiring people with inspiring stories. I get it when reading books, playing with my kids in the forest, rowing on the river Amstel, in my dreams. I get inspiration all the time.

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

We started Cloudfactory during the last recession, this was not easy. But it made us more creative and inventive. We had to rethink our way of working. Since the last recession, more small studios like Cloudfactory have gotten a chance to work on big, global clients that previously only big agencies could handle.

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

The advertising industry is still a man’s world. Where are the female creatives? We need more of them!

Guys, when girls come to work for you, let them make the work they want to make. Most girls don’t want to make guys work. It will be different than you’re used to, but please be open to this. Don’t just give the girls the ‘female’ clients like Pampers or OB. Women have a different POV on the world - use this!

I’m now a girl’s team with Sandrine Huijgen [pictured top of page, left] and am loving every moment of this. I am sure we look at things differently than a male team would. There should be room for both perspectives in our industry.

What or who has most influenced your career and why?

I’ve worked with many amazing people in my career. I’ve had amazing colleagues, clients, craftsmen and partners in crime. I started to make a list of who, but I’m worried I will forget somebody. What they all have in common is that they’re extremely passionate, crazy, big thinkers, generous, entrepreneurial and fun to work with.

Life is too short to work with assholes. I love people who, like me, always push to make the best work possible. Sandrine and I both have this - we want to make the best work of our life with very project. That puts the bar high every time. It doesn’t make my life easier, but if you don’t give it your all, why bother?

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

I don’t have any secrets, no hidden agenda, that’s actually my trade. What you see is what you get.