From Entrepreneur to Creative Visionary: #GettingToKnow Mike Beukes
Read the original Creativepool interview here
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In agency life, no two days are ever the same, especially for Mike Beukes, Executive Creative Director at Hue & Cry. With a career that spans from launching his own agency in his twenties to leading teams that make work "impossible to ignore," Mike brings a unique blend of hands-on creativity and visionary leadership.
In this interview, Mike shares the highs and lows of his journey, the lessons learned along the way, and what keeps him inspired in an ever-evolving industry.
Tell us a bit about your role! Is there a “typical” day?
There isn’t really a typical day at Hue & Cry, which is part of why I love the agency. While we’re industry specialists in food, drink and travel, a large part of my role is making sure our clients work is ‘impossible to ignore’ no matter the channel.
It’s a hands-on role, so I end up being close to the work alongside our teams, even manning the tools. A good chunk of my time is also spent on the vision and leadership responsibilities that the role requires.
What was the biggest challenge in getting to your current position?
I took a meandering path to get to Hue & Cry today. I started my own agency, Warp & Woof, when I was 27 years old with my then creative partner Adam Fenn, having moved to London two years prior. It was a brazen idea a 20-something would come up with.
A near vertical learning curve taught me a lot about being an entrepreneur but I missed out on years of working under the guidance of amazing Creative Directors at a crucial time of my career. We made a few decent pieces, but I was focused on the business side, keeping the doors open, paying our staff. I only got back onto focusing purely on the work slightly later in my career.
What is your personal background and what role did it play in your career?
I come from a family of entrepreneurs – my dad has founded all kind of businesses from hotel chains to Africa’s biggest recycling plants, while my mom was a shoe designer who bought herself a Porsche at 24, headed up a trucking company before she had children.
My parents prompted me into starting my first business when I was 16 years old, when my dad saved about a ton of unused ballot papers from South Africa’s first democratic election in 1994 when Mandela came to power. (Legally, as they were being discarded.)
They were an incredible keepsake to celebrate freedom and our first black president. Selling them even took me to New York, where I did all right out of turning literal trash into treasures for people who supported a democratic South Africa. In typical teenage fashion, I didn’t keep a single one for myself.
My folks are also creative in an entrepreneurial way and encouraged the same traits in my sister and I - introducing us to progressive ideas early in our lives. My sister, Lauren Beukes, has gone on to become a globally best-selling author and her book The Shining Girls is a series on Apple TV.
We were lucky enough to travel internationally regularly. When I graduated from high school, my dad encouraged us siblings to go on a round-the-world backpacking trip together. It was incredibly valuable. The appreciation of other cultures and differences in people have played a fundamental role in my life and career.
What is your biggest career-related win? What is your biggest loss?
From 2017 to 2020, I was a partner with Wayne Naidoo and Steve Miller in an agency called DUKE in Cape Town. When I joined, the agency was just a few people and three and a half years later we were 80. My biggest win was that we were rated South Africa’s best medium-sized agency in 2020, in the face of a brutal pandemic year felt globally.
My biggest loss was leaving DUKE the same year because of Brexit. My wife is on an Italian passport, and UK visas would have become complicated from 2021 onwards if we wanted to return to the UK. It was a tough call, but the right decision.
Which individuals and/or agencies do you gain inspiration from? Do you have any heroes in the industry?
There are so many cracking agencies out there which I admire. One that springs to mind is R/GA. They’ve consistently been a point of inspiration to me in how they combine business, technology and creative.
I specifically seek out inspiration and heroes outside the industry too. I’ve recently learned the most from Rory Flynn, as we were early starters on gen AI. Paulo Savaget, Nicholas Taleb and Steven Pinker’s ideas are amazing.
Stephen King blows my mind on how he’s still writing great, relevant work at 76. And hey, I’m a South African male – the Springbok Rugby Team, with Siya Kolisi being a particular beacon – their consistent dominance in the face of a country being ravaged by corruption.
What advice would you give to your younger self?
Don’t rush to the top. Most of us are hungry for promotion, and many of us find ourselves in roles we aren’t ready for. Slow down. Lay solid foundations and concentrate on your craft not your job title. Find ways of falling in love with what you do. It’s too easy to be cynical about this industry. Yes, it’s hard, but it’s a rare joy too.
Being busy doesn’t mean you’re making a difference. Learn to discern between what’s important and what’s urgent. Most of the time they’re different things, often until the moment when you might not have the time to affect what’s really important.
Follow the work and good people. Keep finding ways of doing amazing work for brands that personally fulfils you. Do it while you’re surrounded by good people who care for you, inspire you and push you to be the best you can be. And be that person yourself – be kind, work hard, do the right things, right.
Find the forgotten, broken things, perform Kintsugi on them, and rebuild them into things of beauty. So much of the second half of my career has been spent taking brands which have been forgotten or weren’t considered sexy enough by their agency and turning them into award winners. Besides the person fulfilment, and creating growth for the brand, you’ll also make a bigger difference in many people’s lives.
Work as hard as you possibly can, because there is no replacement for hard work, but do it in a way that isn’t destructive of your life, home or those around you. Look after yourself. Spend time with your family. Get regular exercise. Eat well. Meditate. Stay sociable.
If you weren’t in your current industry, what would you be doing?
If I could do it all again, I’d love to have been a rally driver - WRC, Dakar - whatever. Besides being allowed to drive irresponsibly overpowered cars at breakneck speeds off-road, I love the self-reliance which comes with it.
Unlike many motorsports where you can pit and have others sort out whatever is wrong with the vehicle, in rally you must fix everything yourself. I love the blend of adventure and independence. Also, making things fly is fun.
What’s your one big dream for the future of the industry?
This is an amazing industry which continues to develop new potential to be more amazing. But my dream would be to find a better way to match-make brands and agencies. The unpaid pitch is the blight of our industry. It’s damaging to people, agencies and existing clients. It’s often a farce of a pageant.
Yes, the UK has introduced the Positive Pitch Pledge, but only 32 brands versus 257 agencies have signed it at time of writing, which is a pithy summary of how things stand. I’d love to find a better way.
We also need to improve sustainability and the use of our work for a force for good. The industry needs to be doing more to push for meaningful impact in this space and I think this starts from collaborating to ensure the industry is held accountable and leaves a positive impact on the world.
We’re proudly a B-Corp and we are prioritising our ongoing efforts to create positive change for our employees, communities, and the environment. All of which is close to my heart.
What are your top tips for aspiring creative professionals?
Stay hungry and keep making things. Even if you’re trying to break into the industry, just keep creating but don’t push for 10 ideas, push for 100 or more because the more you make, the better your craft will be.
Find a mentor who isn’t in your agency. There is a list circulating of amazing senior people who have offered their mentorship for free. (My name has been on that list since 2020.) They’ll offer you a unique perspective free of your agency’s agenda.
Read, read and when you’re done reading, read more. Don’t get caught in a genre or find yourself only reading fiction. Never stop finding ways to learn new things and expand your mind. Embrace opposing opinions. Find mentors in books and ideas.
The world is an incredible teacher. Go find the adventures. Learn self-reliance. Experience and embrace new cultures. Scare yourself regularly. If you can, go and live and work in another country, or two.
The industry has never been more welcoming to diversity. There are so many opportunities and people willing to open doors, just get in there and try. Anyone worth their salt will give you a leg up if they can. And we need more diversity whether it’s class, orientation, neuro or any other kind. Come aboard and let’s do great things.
What are your top tips for other creative leaders?
Stay kind and park the ego. I love the idea of the South African philosophy of ubuntu – that people are people because of other people. It’s our connection to each other that shape who we are. The more we can interact, partner and work together, the better we can make this industry for ourselves and all the amazing people coming into it.
When you think about your team, what is the thing that matters to you the most?
For the Hue & Cry team, I’d always push for their health and happiness, and the fulfilment they’re getting from their work. There are few better things in a work environment than being surrounded by amazing people who care, and it’s something I’ll always aim to prioritise.
How do you approach collaboration with other creatives or teams and what do you believe makes for successful partnerships?
Creating safe spaces filled with trust and respect is of the utmost importance. Successful partnerships step outside the norm and bring team members together who are from vastly different disciplines to solve problems. Having a diverse team that represents various voices is also integral to creating a brilliant partnership.
I’m not a big believer in the big creative sessions with loads of people in the room coming up with ideas cold. It tends to lead to group think led by the loudest voice who overpowers the often brilliant, introverted ones. I’d much rather have people preparing or working separately or in smaller groups and then sharing ideas to be built upon by the group.
What industry trends do you foresee taking hold in the coming months?
The obvious one is AI and I hate to talk about it, but it will continue to have a profound effect on the way we create. It feels like the hype cycle is starting to ebb now, so we’re only just getting into the real meat of things. We’ve been hot on this for a while now, delving into our first AI work back in 2020. It’s interesting to see agencies still pitching themselves as AI agencies, which I think should really be the norm now.
Immersive experiences are becoming more important as society pushes away from letting algorithms decide our future. We need to create more opportunity for stumbling upon interesting and amazing work that is not determined by the last website you clicked on.
The return of humour and optimism. We need this in the face of the divided world right now. It was wonderful to see a ‘humour’ category at Cannes and we need to keep pushing this as our work has the potential to make someone’s day much better.
What do you think sets apart truly exceptional creatives from the rest of the pack?
Creatives who have an insatiable curiosity, who are constantly exploring and widening their industry knowledge outside of their day-job to enhance their skillset is integral to succeeding in this industry.
The idea of ‘creative suits’ also highlights exceptional work ethic and talent to me. A ‘creative suit’ is a person who has adopted skills beyond their title to become business-minded and able to build a trusting rapport with the client.
How do you think technology has influenced the creative industries and how have you adapted to these changes?
I’m a bit of a geek, so I’ve always loved to explore how we can integrate technology into our work. We are using gen AI extensively across our workstreams, incorporating it into the different stages of our work progress to try and test different ways of working.
On the arguably less sexy side, I’m fascinated by the media side of the industry. One moment which piqued my interest was the remarkable effect the gradual Amazon media optimisation section of a campaign had on sales. This was pure performance marketing, there were no great creative strokes or brilliant ideas, just gentle fine tuning of media choices, language and imagery. Look, I’d take a big integrated campaign any day, but it still floated my geek boat.
How do you prioritise self-care and maintain a healthy work-life balance?
I can’t say I’m brilliant at this, but I try. I tend to work obsessively, with long, focused days, and often a bit (or a lot) of weekend work. This said, I also try to counterbalance. I incorporate exercise into my commute meditate almost daily and I’m also one of those annoying CrossFitters. I’m militant about my sleep too, much to the annoyance of my wife. And I have strict cut off times in the evening so I can wind down else I find sleep elusive. I love cooking and prioritise eating well.
I’m also blessed with an adventurous family, so on weekends we’ll find ourselves outdoors doing some or other activity. Our holidays are also generally active with summer trips to the Alps or sneaking in a surf or two if we’re near the sea. It’s amazing how much quicker activity clears the mind, in comparison to lounging on a deck chair.
How do you handle creative blocks or burnout?
For me, these are two quite different things. I’m not sure I’ve burnt out for many years. I tend to be stoic and quick to spot warning signs, and I aim to get break before anything happens.
Creative blocks are a whole other beast and sometimes come when you least expect them on completely random things. If one arrives, I aim to feed my brain by soaking up great work that’s out there, listening to talks, reading as much of the internet as I can. Or sometimes just taking a walk in the fields by our house.
A great panacea is speaking with someone who can offer insight into the challenge. The best thing is to admit that you’re stuck and do it early, so you can seek the help you need to get through it.
Can you describe a moment when you had to think outside the box to overcome a creative challenge?
One of our clients was a craft brewery. The owner had opted to sell it. This wasn’t great for us, but we switched it into an opportunity. Working with the owner, we created For Sale Ale, a bittersweet ale that aimed to give potential brewery buyers a literal taste for what they’d be buying.
We created the label by running a Classified ad to buy the brewery in the local paper, which we turned into the label. We then stocked the beer in craft beer shops, because what better place to reach our audience of beer enthusiasts. The brewery sold within a few months. And we had loads of fun doing it.
Do you have any websites, books or resources you would recommend?
My top podcasts:
Science Weekly by The Guardian
Black T-Shirts
Unexplainable
The WARC podcast
Revisionist History
Into the Zone
Books:
Any book by Yuval Noah Harari
Rebel Ideas and Black Box Thinking by Matthew Syed
The Four Workarounds by Paolo Savaget
2666 by Roberto Bolano
Anything by Lauren Beukes (my sister, so I’m biased. Plus, she ‘kills’ me in many of her books. It’s sibling trolling at a global scale.)
A Fortune Teller Told Me by Tiziano Terzani
Quiet by Susan Cain
Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan
Most books by Steven Pinker
Any book by Nicholas Taleb
And so many more, but there are too many to list