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In the lead up to Christmas, �������� AUNZ is asking creatives, , , marketers, directors, and to share the best gift they’ve ever received - an object, piece of advice or training, or person they’ve worked with. Here’s what creatives shared with ��������’s Casey Martin.

A piece of advice, a job offer, a signed Robert De Niro box set gifted by Geoffrey Rush, wisdom wrapped up neatly in dry British humour, keyboard shortcuts, and Paris Hilton perfume are among some of the best gifts that creatives have received. 

Russ Tucker, ECD of TBWA’s ELEVEN, received a piece of advice from London’s Andy Sandoz. After working on a “boring website design for a credit card company”, Russ’ conversation with Andy changed the direction of his career. 

“‘What are you working on?’ he said. ‘Building a website,’ I said. ‘What if you built it for real?’  he whispered. ‘Real?’ ‘Yeah, like really build it for real.’ He kind of drifted off to something else. ‘Nutter,’ I thought. 

“Later, it clicked. Rather than make some boring design in photoshop, I started building the website from bits of wood and scrap paper. I photographed  it all and scanned bits and pieces into Photoshop.” 

It was that small piece of advice that turned that “boring” website into one of Russ’ favourite pieces of work, winning him his “first big creative award and inspir[ing] more projects with a hand-crafted aesthetic.” 

Psembi Kinstan, CCO of DDB Group Melbourne, was given a signed Robert De Niro box set from Geoffrey Rush at the end of a shoot. But the best gift he’s ever received is also a piece of advice from Nick Gill, BBH’s former long-time ECD.

“He offered me a job, then suggested I turn it down, quoting, ‘your career is a marathon, not a sprint’.

“He was caring enough to confess that I was already onto a good thing, and patient enough to realise that there would be a better point in my career for BBH. He was right, and three years later, the timing was perfect. But that lesson, of focusing less on the next three months, and more in the next three years, had the most profound impact on my career and happiness.”

Lee Lowndes, CEO at Daylight remembers a Christmas where she learnt the valuable lesson of “never assume anything, or you’ll risk being let down.” She was about 10-years-old when she saw a gift from her father sitting under the tree. It was a “perfectly wrapped square box.” 

She gave it a squeeze, prodding and poking the box until she ultimately made her mind up that it must be an iPod Nano. 

“By the time Christmas Day rolled around, I was so sure of what was inside that it was hard to hide my disappointment when tearing off the paper revealed… a bottle of Paris Hilton by Paris Hilton eau de parfum. It taught me a valuable lesson,” she said. 

Loz Maneschi, senior art director at Cocogun, was “knee-deep in end-of-year exhaustion” when she was offered a role by Chiquita King, a “Christmas enthusiast and legendary gift-giver”.

“That holiday break felt like I’d been dunked in festive optimism,” she said. “ I started planning my new commute with embarrassing enthusiasm. The best gifts aren’t wrapped in bows—they’re the ones that let you grow and remind you why you love what you do.” 

The gift of “wisdom wrapped in dry British humour” reshaped how Donna Kallish, an art director at Think HQ, approaches “every fear-inducing, high stress” moment in her career. During 2016, Donna was four seasons deep into the British cult classic, Peep Show, when Mark Corrigan delivered the line, “The world’s just people going around, walking into rooms and saying things. It’s all a big swizzle!”

“At 24, I gave the first lecture of my academic career,” she said. “120 dead eyed students stared at me, waiting to begin. My imposter syndrome went into overdrive: I’m too young for this. 

“Then, a pompous British voice cut through the panic: ‘It’s all a big swizzle.’ I reframed the situation: I am standing in front of a lecture hall. I am saying I am a lecturer. Therefore, I am. Simple as that.”

Today the Brave’s head of design Ethan Hsu gave Kate Idle, an art director at the indie agency, her best gift: “a plethora of keyboard shortcuts.” She noted the gift was a “true Christmas miracle.”

Cyndall McInerney, creative copywriter at Today the Brave, called out a time during AWARD School that gave her the gift of clarity. 

“I didn’t know whose advice to take and it made my head spin. Then, in the most poetically meta moment, my mentor said, ‘Follow the advice of the person whose work or career you want to emulate.’ It was off-the-cuff, but really deep, and it’s since been transferrable to so many aspects of my life.”