As part of our 'In The Spotlight' series, we caught up with Leroyson Figueira, Creative Director at 160over90 London, a leading voice in cultural and brand storytelling. With a career rooted in creative exploration, Leroyson has been instrumental in shaping brands through the power of culture, strategy, and innovation.
We sat down with Leroyson to talk about the evolving cultural landscape, the skills creatives need to future-proof their careers, and why staying curious and having fun are key to longevity in the industry.
Tell us a bit about your role at 160over90. Is there a “typical” day or week for you?
A typical week starts with meeting the creative operations team to ensure that the creative teams are well resourced and on track. Then it’s onto new business, to help potential new clients understand how Culture can be used to super-charge their brands and products. For my existing clients, it’s a quick check-in to see how I can help them with any challenges they have and to take any new briefs with the account team. Checking in with our cultural strategists is another important part of my week as they help me understand the latest in the cultural landscape. Finally, I informally meet with each of the other 160over90 departments to understand how Creative can help them in: PR, Influencer Marketing, Talent, Entertainment Marketing and Partnerships. Drinks on Thursdays.
You’ve had a great career, for those looking to enter the industry today knowing what you do, what pearls of wisdom would you share with them?
That like any business or life in general, the business of Creativity is founded on personal relationships. Your career will have more longevity if you are a good communicator, be a collaborator and a team player. Good people with professionalism, kindness and empathy will go the distance. Selfish glory-hounds may feel like they are winning in the short term, but in the long term, real success is achieved by being the person that colleagues and clients want to work with.
What do you find both the most challenging and the most fulfilling parts of your work?
The most fulfilling aspect of career hasn’t changed since the 1st day that I stepped into the industry: to simply create something that wasn’t there before. The simple act of creating, the verb of the noun creativity, gives me the most satisfaction. The most challenging is dealing with the speed at which the industry is changing, and the continued fragmentation of the media landscape where there are just too many channel options. The challenge is to stay single-minded on where and how you think work should be created and shared.
The cultural landscape is always evolving, how do you ensure your work remains relevant and impactful particularly working for a culture driven agency?
We have a dedicated team of strategists known as The Deep End who track the people, places, and things that will be trending tomorrow. As their name suggests, they exist in the deep end, immersed across culture to make the unexpected connections that push brands to be wherever culture is moving towards. I think also that the desire to be culturally relevant is a relatively new approach to creativity(although we have been doing it for a few years now). We’ve had many macro-trends over the last few decades: Purpose, Influencer and Technology etc but the drive and appreciation for cultural relevance is relatively new. Good work has always managed to be culturally relevant but that was almost by accident. We are now engineering it by design, to make sure the work is as culturally relevant out of the gates.
Cultural relevance is always about the audience. So it’s important to understand how the audience passion points are evolving and to work with that. Some passions are evergreen, such as music, sports and entertainment. Other passions are more trend-sensitive, so you need to keep your finger on the pulse.
The trick is to stay ahead of the cultural trends and to help drive culture, instead of belatedly jumping onto the latest trend and being seen as out of touch by the audience.
What do you do outside of work that helps fuel your creativity or do you have any hobbies or interests that influence your work
The most important sources of creativity are to be found outside of the Industry: you need to see and feel for yourself how real people are living and loving their lives. You cannot see the world from your desk. You won’t understand the audience from a brief. You need to know the world before the brief even lands on your desk. So go to theatre, go to a match, browse a market, go to a concert, walk in a park: keep your eyes, ears and heart open to what is going on around you.
When it comes to the industry and our craft, it’s not enough for me to just watch other people doing it. Even though I’m a creative director who directs teams, I’m also still a maker, so I love creating things myself in my spare time. My primary tools being technology, gaming platforms, AI and writing to create my little own projects. It’s important to stay on the tools.
What do you hope to pass down to the next generation of creatives?
To remember to have fun. And to feel free. Creativity should be enjoyable. If you’re not having a good time, it’s time to re-evaluate where you are and what you are doing. Work hard, be a good person, have a good time.
What do you feel are most important skills creatives now need to future proof their career?
Being open, versatile and having a permanent learning mindset will be critical. The rate of change that new technologies and platforms will appear is only going to increase. Not the mention the speed at which culture changes too. While 15 years ago you only needed to learn 2 or 3 industry standard platforms, e.g. Photoshop, Premiere and Illustrator, the future will need creatives to understand many more platforms. I recommend being a creative generalist and experimenting with all the tools you can, with the understanding that the tools mean nothing if you don’t have an idea or creative vision to use them on.
What is best lesson you have learned as a creative professional?
To leave the past in the past. The type of work that was created and awarded over the last 10 years, will not be the type of work that will be created and awarded in the next 10 years. Proudly live in the times.
