Leo Ho Chi Minh’s Bao Ngoc Vuong’s wrap-up and highlights of LIA’s Creative LIAisons
Bao Ngoc Vuong, Creative Director at Leo Ho Chi Minh City. Ngoc was one of the 130 talented young creatives, selected from around the globe, to attend the LIA Creative LIAisons training program that runs concurrently with the LIA judging week at the Encore Hotel in Las Vegas. Here she wraps up his learnings from the week.
1. What were your expectations coming in to the Creative LIAisons program and did it live up to your expectations?
It was a dream. I came in excited, and a bit nervous, all in the face of this amazing opportunity. But the experience I lived was off the roof — a whole rollercoaster ride of emotions, realizations, and a whole world of new knowledge to put in the vault. I’m still taking my sweet time right now trying to digest the values it brought me.
To be honest, I don’t think this is a 5-day event at all, but one with a tremendous long-term effect. A mind-reshaping, drive-fuelling experience.
2. What were your individual highlights of the Creative LIAisons program?
My best 4:
• Chaka Sobhani telling me I was brave — to brace a calm-and-collected attitude while navigating internally through a very challenging new role as a CD; and to bring that vulnerable side forward and ask for world-class CCOs’ advice.
Being vulnerable can be perceived as weakness, or it can be perceived as strength in the making. And the way Chaka, Liz Taylor, and the other CCOs in the panels were all chipping in with their own pieces of advice or reassurance —all reinforced for me that there’s great potential waiting to be unlocked beyond each hurdle on the journey.
• Westfield x Disney: Crazy 8’s.
I’m constantly looking for new ways to unlock our brains to better creative efficiency. And in the workshop led by Tara Tara Mckenty – AKQA, I found another piece of the puzzle. She introduced a brain exercise called Crazy 8s — which is simply 8 ideas in 8 minutes, repeated again and again until those “A-ha” ideas start happening.
It’s a beautiful combination between time pressure and peer collaboration — and a great way to filter out the obvious ideas until the winning ones show themselves.
• When a juror in my jury room single-handedly changed the perception of the entire panel — changing a work’s award level — just by one solid insight that only she had, being the only immigrant amongst the jurors.
One woman, one unshakable insight, that got the whole room to change their mind. For me, it was like holy shit — this is the archetype I want to be as I grow into this industry (I’m still fangirling right now just writing about it).
But even beyond that, this moment reminds me of the cruciality of challenging assumptions — of others or even ourselves — in creating real, meaningful work for people.
• Rey Tiempo sharing his “Gamification in Advertising Cheat Codes.”
I haven’t had much chance to be exposed to gaming as part of my creative portfolio, so I’ve always found it fascinating. I think Rey gave an enticing piece on various new grounds to meet gamers — which is a massive population — as long as we put our creative magnifier closer to every corner of the games. A session that sparked so many new thoughts. 10/10!
3. What was it like sitting in the back of the LIA Statue jury discussions? What did you learn?
I sat in the Creative Strategy jury room.
Biggest discovery? How “creative strategy” means so many different things — a strategy that’s creative in itself; a strategy strong enough to keep ideas blooming year after year; and sometimes, it even crosses over into product innovation.
That overlap made judging tricky — I saw it first-hand, with passionate arguments flying across nine-hour debates. But it was also beautiful. Because in the end, only the ideas that stand solid on all fronts truly shine.
The Grand LIA going to “Live Fearless – The Guts Behind the Blood” was proof of that. A strategy deeply rooted in a human truth, expressed through bold, uncompromising creativity, and crafted to next-level consistency over the years.
4. What’s your advice to anyone attending next year?
Regardless of the background, this is an amazing pool of knowledge, creative landscapes, and expert wisdom. Yet at the same time, because it’s so amazing, one might get a teeny tiny bit of imposter syndrome (I know I did!).
So my advice is: be a sponge, with a clear sense of self. You’re there, at this amazing opportunity, to learn — but remember, the reason you’re there is because a lot of people already trust in your talent.
Have that confidence. Be there fully. Absorb, build, and challenge.
