Campaign Brief Asia spotlight on Chad Song, CEO of Crack the Nuts Korea: ‘Creativity Wins All’

Campaign Brief Asia spoke with Chad Song, CEO of Crack the Nuts Inc. who created the slogan and poster for the 2024 Korea Advertising Awards. He shared the behind-the-scenes story of the slogan and key visual.

Q: Tell us about the slogan you created for the 2024 Korea Advertising Awards?
It’s an honor to have created the slogan and poster for the Korea Advertising Awards, the most prestigious awards in Korea. As a member of the organizing committee this year, I put a lot of thoughts into crafting an English slogan that would reflect the authority and prestige of the awards.

Above all, I wanted to deliver a message of hope to the advertising industry, which has become increasingly challenging and difficult. It’s true that the advertising industry is facing greater difficulties than ever before, which is why a message of hope is so essential.

Previous Posters of the Korea Advertising Awards © Korea Advertising Association

I recently attended the D&AD Festival 2024 in London. I went there to take a break and seek some inspiration. During my time in London, I wrote numerous copy such as “Change the Game,” “Lead the Change,” “Shift the Future of Creativity,” and “Confront the Challenge.” Logically, all of these made sense, but none of them really resonated with me. Then, on the flight back from London, I watched IU’s music video “Love Wins All.”

Actually, I’m a fan of IU, but I had never watched her music video this closely before. I think the in-flight environment made it possible. IU’s music video conveys the message that in a world broken by violence, discrimination, prejudice, and hatred, the only thing that remains whole is love. In the end, love conquers all.

As I was watching, I learned that “Love Wins” was a key slogan in the LGBTQ+ rights movement, especially during the process leading up to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 decision to legalize same-sex marriage. That’s when it struck me—by slightly altering this message, I could create the message I wanted. So, I decided to change “Love” to “Creativity.” #CreativityWinsAll

It was one of those “aha” moments.

Looking back, I realized that at a time when the advertising industry is undergoing significant changes due to advancements in generative AI and digital technologies, the slogan “Creativity Wins All” can deliver a powerful message. Instead of reacting negatively to technological developments that might seem threatening, the slogan encourages overcoming these challenges with creativity and pushing forward with a positive outlook.

“Creativity Wins All” conveys that the advertising industry should continue to develop with a focus on human values, rather than being swept away by technology. I believe this slogan is highly effective in emphasizing the power of creativity amidst the technological challenges the industry faces and in clearly guiding the direction of the industry.

I am grateful to singer IU (Lee Ji-eun) for the inspiration.

Q. Tell us about the visual.
I approached the visual concept intuitively. As I mentioned earlier, the message we needed to convey was that creativity ultimately triumphs. At the time I was brainstorming, UEFA Euro 2024 was in full swing, and trophy images kept appearing on TV. What could symbolize victory more effectively than a trophy? Instead of simply using the image of a trophy, though, I wanted to “visualize the message.”

When I saw the final visual, it felt just right. The organizing committee members also recognized this intent, and I appreciate their excellent decision in selecting it.

2024 the Korea Advertising Awards Poster © Korea Advertising Association

Q: Could you also tell us about your new venture, Crack the Nuts? What does the name mean?
Crack the Nuts Inc. officially started on July 1st. We began this journey with the investment from the INNORED. The company name was also inspired by my experience at the D&AD Festival 2024. Initially, I started with natural language for the name, but after hearing that this approach might not align with current naming trends, I found myself in deep thought.

Then, I attended a lecture by Sinéad Burke, who was one of the speakers at D&AD. I learned that her company is called Tilting the Lens, which also gave me inspiration.

‘Tilting the Lens’ carries the meaning of stepping away from a fixed perspective and viewing the world from diverse angles. The company focuses on centering the perspectives of people with disabilities, and it approaches the goal of creating a better society by emphasizing accessibility, inclusion, and diversity. It is an accessibility and inclusion consultancy with a fresh approach to these vital issues.

The current trend in naming is to create a sense of curiosity and symbolically represent what the organization does, even if the name is a bit longer. For example, in Darlinghurst, Australia, there’s an advertising agency called ‘Bear Meets Eagle On Fire’. Even though the name is long, as long as there’s a clear story behind it, it works.

In Crack the Nuts, “Nuts” symbolizes the various challenges that clients face with their brands and businesses. These could be anything from coconuts, walnuts, cashews, pine nuts, chestnuts, hazelnuts, to peanuts—representing the diverse and complex issues in today’s branding and business landscape. Our name reflects our mission to crack and solve each of these challenges one by one.

Q: What does Crack the Nuts do?
Crack the Nuts is “The Cracktivity Company,” focused on fostering brand and business growth through what we call ‘CRACKTIVITY,’ which goes beyond traditional creativity and marketing activity. We use the term Cracktivity instead of Creativity or Marketing Activity.

Our ambition is to create the necessary cracks at each stage of the Customer Decision/Experience Journey to lead consumers to the final purchase stage. The essence of our company’s foundation is to produce Branded Cracking Contents at these crucial points. Additionally, we’ve named our approach the Brand Cracking System, rather than the Brand Identity System. The term Crack is consistently used as a core element of our branding.

We believe that if we excel at branding ourselves, others will trust us with their projects, so we infused our commitment into our naming. After all, as they say, the monk must first shave his own head well.

Q: What are your future aspirations?
Crack the Nuts aims to become a brand, not just an agency, by cracking all conventional methods and thinking through our unique CRACKTIVITY. We will approach our work with the mindset of “We are not an agency. We are a Brand,” and we plan to engage in a wide range of brand activities.

We will also collaborate with the INNORED FAMILY (INNORED, IDIOT, PAULUS, OPINNO, and BIG INSIGHT) to create synergies and develop meaningful and creative campaigns.