��������

There’s a legendary story about oranges that many of us in advertising will be able to recount by heart. Over a century ago, in 1916, America had simply too many of the spherical citrus fruits. Farms in Florida and California were producing more oranges than the country could eat, with the risk of stock rotting growing evermore real. The impact on business’ bottom lines was set to be devastating. This was a challenge that, ultimately, only creativity could solve. 

Albert Lasker, one of the most pre-eminent ad men of the 20th century, saw something that nobody else could. Those vast stockpiles of oranges causing headaches for his clients did not, in fact, need to be eaten. People could drink them instead. 

With a now-iconic one page print ad, Lasker instructed Americans to ‘’ - in one swoop solving the farms’ over-production crisis and accidentally revolutionising the way billions of people start their day in the process. It was the unstoppable power of creativity in action. Lasker’s ad agency would eventually become known as FCB, and it has been using creativity as an economic multiplier ever since. 

“That’s something that’s always been part of our DNA - using creativity to find new ways of growing businesses,” the company’s global CEO Tyler Turnbull tells ��������. “We have a fundamental view that creativity is an economic multiplier, and that shared clarity has been transformational.” 

It’s a belief that the agency has made a habit of sharing with its clients. Albert Lasker made a beverage out of an unlikely source in the same way that, for example, FCB New York made a music video out of a spreadsheet for Spotify. Or how FCB Toronto made a Pizza dispenser out of an ATM. 

In so many ways, the world of 2025 is unrecognisable in comparison to that of 1916. “It’s a world dominated by discussions about media fragmentation, data, technology, and AI - all topics that I’m very passionate about,” says Tyler. “And at the same time, I have to be honest and say that I have seen a regression in the overall quality of creativity worldwide.” 

Many might see that as a pity, but Tyler sees it as an opportunity. “It’s easy to play it safe, and a big part of that mentality is the belief that every dollar must be spent in a way that is entirely predictable for its future performance,” he explains. “In this effort to optimise every expense, we sometimes lose sight of game-changing, bold, and breakthrough moves.” 

So, in order to take those opportunities, FCB is set up to do what Albert Lasker did in 1916: help businesses to see what nobody else can. “We constantly examine category norms in advertising, and challenge ourselves to evolve our clients' positionings and platforms,” Tyler says. “It requires bold, progressive clients to take that leap, but those who do often realise that playing it safe is actually the riskiest move in this business.”

Landing on the right ideas is a blend of insights driven by data, and the lightning-strike creative inspiration that comes from the best human minds in the business. “We encourage our clients to test and learn, but also to ask: Will this work stand out? Will it drive attention? Does it reinforce the distinctive assets and memory structures we want for the brand?,” says Tyler. 

As part of that process, teams’ focus is divided between two groups of people on behalf of any given business: the customers it already has, and the customers it’s about to have. “Earlier in my career I spent a lot of time working in SEO, optimising content for brands in the air travel space,” recalls the CEO. “It soon dawned on me that we were obsessed with optimising for the 5% of people who had already bought from us, and neglecting the 95% who weren’t yet considering travel.”

But isn’t it so much more challenging to see who your future customers are going to be, as opposed to sticking to the tried-and-true reliability of your pre-existing audience? It’s a point that Tyler pushes back against. 

“Metrics like brand consideration, while not as immediate as tracking a converted shopping cart, are still measurable and consistently tracked,” he says. “The challenge for marketers is that building consideration takes time and investment, but it's ultimately beneficial to long-term brand cycles. We know that share of voice relative to market share is predictive - if your share of voice exceeds your market share, the latter will catch up.”

What’s crucial for Tyler and FCB is that, as Albert Lasker showed so long ago, creativity is not best-used as a resource that’s ring-fenced for the advertising and marketing teams. Instead, it’s a force that’s applied across an entire business - and every way its customers see it. 

“A lot of channels are often overlooked in terms of creativity - email, SMS, direct marketing. I’m really passionate about exploring these ‘uncharted’ areas and finding ways to make them more engaging,” he says. “At FCB, we’ve seen a lot of our clients invest in platform technology - Adobe, Salesforce, and similar tools - to deliver personalisation at scale. But implementing these platforms can be complex and time-consuming. And often, once they're up and running, the actual marketing materials they generate are forgettable. Think about how many emails you delete every day without a second thought.”

At every available moment, Tyler sees the lacklustre as an untapped opportunity for creativity to shine. “From an FCB perspective, we're asking: How do we ensure strong brand platforms and voices carry into these spaces? How do we turn these channels into something that drives impact rather than just adding to digital noise?,” he explains. “To be clear, this isn't about throwing shade at Adobe or Salesforce. These platforms are incredibly powerful. The challenge is ensuring that creative talent is involved in shaping the delivery and content within these systems. That’s where agencies like FCB see a major opportunity.”

What’s perhaps most refreshing about Tyler is that his passion for great, transformative creativity is modern rather than nostalgic. It could be so easy - especially standing on the storied shoulders of Albert Lasker and the other defining creatives from the last 152 years of FCB - to get trapped in a backwards-looking view of ‘the glory days’. 

“Nostalgia can be so limiting,” he posits. “Creativity today is infinitely more exciting because it can be applied across so many different canvases. It’s not about going back to the Mad Men era - it’s about using every tool and platform available now to drive behavioural change.”

Rose-tinted glasses have never been of much interest to Tyler, whose personal definition of the ‘golden days’ was always something entirely of his own generation. “For me, the golden days weren’t about a particular era of TV ads - they were about the rise of social media, blogging, and digital innovation,” he says. “When I started my career, digital investment was less than 5% of marketing budgets, and brands were barely experimenting in these spaces. It was uncharted territory.”

So the most exciting question today, for Tyler and FCB, is just where the new uncharted territory can be found. “Now, the most exciting creative work integrates data, technology, and storytelling. Look at our work for brands like Andrex in the UK, Michelob Ultra globally, or our recent Spotify campaigns,” he concludes.”These aren’t throwbacks - they’re using the platforms of today and tomorrow in the most innovative ways.”

Big ideas look forwards, not backwards. That’s something Albert Lasker knew when he used creativity to transform his clients’ businesses. And it’s something that FCB hasn’t forgotten.