An Interview With Peter Knapp, Landor Associates
Peter is Global Creative officer for Landor Associates, he specialises in integrated branding programs where graphic, three-dimensional, digital, and engagement design platforms merge to form total branded experiences for consumers.
Peter is Global Creative officer for Landor Associates, he specialises in integrated branding programs where graphic, three-dimensional, digital, and engagement design platforms merge to form total branded experiences for consumers and is speaking at Inspiration 2015, Book your ticket now!
Who Are You?
Hi, I’m Peter Knapp, Global Creative Director here at Landor, based in London. Landor is a worldwide company and we are a branding consultancy who come up with cross channel solutions for the difficult business commercial world that we live in.
What Inspires You And Where Do You Look For Inspiration?
I try to look up for inspiration. I suppose by that, what I mean is the possibility of the future. NASA inspires me, I follow the Mars rover on Twitter. I just find it incredible to see landscapes of Mars beamed back through your phone. I find the Hubble Telescope inspiring. Just generally thinking what is up there and out there. That’s really the enormity of things is what I find inspiring.
What Do You Do When You Have An Idea And How Do You Go About Turning It Into Reality?
What do I do? What do I do when we get the idea? I think the first thing is relax, it’s such a pressure and a strain to find a good idea. The world is full of ideas, but I think there are few and far between that I would really call good. That’s the pressure of it, it’s like looking for hen’s teeth or sifting for gold. When you get it, you are so pleased, so joyously pleased that that’s the bit when you can afford yourself ... I don’t know ... 5 or 10 minutes relaxation before the project then starts.
The secret of turning a good idea into a reality is two fold. One, I think is to communicate it really clearly so people know exactly what you’re talking about. The other candidly, is to work with a great team, I’m lucky, I work with a really great team. Fantastic designers, fantastic creatives, brilliant strategists, really effective client services to people.
I think to be clear and to surround yourself with great talent is the way ahead.
Talk Us Through An Idea Of Yours, From Inspiration to Realisation
We have been authoring the brand of Etihad, the Abu Dhabi airline, and really, Etihad represents the fascination and the developing of Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi I think is going to be a really fascinating destination and they are doing things in a very unusual, very unique way. Etihad had to represent this in some way, be true to its roots and its heritage and its region, but also talk about the place of its origin, Abu Dhabi.
The idea was all centred around Etihad being remarkable, creating things that forced opinion, forced reaction and weren’t just average or normal or nice. To come up with things that really did make people stand back in admiration and engage. Because it’s a pretty bland old world out there at times, and I think we wanted to make something special that really did engage with its audience.
I think the idea of remarkable will do that. We’re just beginning to see that now with the Etihad brand, the new livery launched recently and I think the reaction to it has been great and people have said it is remarkable. You start to see the brand living through the idea, which is great.
What Are You Going To Talk About At Inspiration?
My inspirational talk I think is going to be about science fiction. Again, it’s all around the idea of what could happen. I think of some of the most remarkable minds who have projected into the future, the likes of Gene Roddenberry, Gerry Anderson and Stan Lee. People who have seen no barriers to what could be, who have had powerful imaginations and who have helped inspire the engineers and to some degree, the politicians and the innovators of the world by the strength of their future projections.
I find a lot of inspiration in science fiction in many different ways. That’s what the talk is going to be about and to show the value of science fiction and tomorrow today.
Hear Peter Speak at Inspiration 2015, book your place now:
