Jamie Standen and the Unstoppable Force of Optimism
A strategic storyteller with a global sensibility, Jamie Standen has led campaigns across Asia Pacific, the US, and Europe.
Originally from New Zealand, he’s held creative leadership roles at numerous Parisian agencies, often serving as a bridge between European brands and international audiences. Today, he is a partner at the Birthday Collective, based in New York City.
Jamie sat down with LBB to discuss why “dumb moves aren’t always dumb", and how he learnt to “make the leap”, trusting that the rest will follow.
Very early one morning, back in 2007, I received a frantic text from my art director, Mark Forgan, “check your email – it’s bad”. I struggled out of bed, booted up my computer, and hit refresh. Mark wasn’t exaggerating; it was bad, all right. The job we’d lined up in France had fallen over.
Gulp. We were in New Zealand, having started our careers at Clemenger BBDO Wellington. Although France was literally on the other side of the world, it had started to feel closer than ever. We had given notice at work, booked our flights, and had started the laborious process of tidying up the loose ends in our lives. And it wasn’t just us. Our girlfriends had each done the same. All four of us in a boat that now appeared to be turning back to port.
The next day at work was a humbling affair as we quietly informed our colleagues that the flash new job we’d trumpeted around the agency the week before was no longer. We thought about throwing it all in and asking for our roles back… for about five minutes. The thing was, we were already mentally strolling alongside the Seine, sampling odd cheeses and mangling phrases in French. Our minds were in Paris, but our bodies were still in Wellington, battered daily by the Southerly wind. It was a dire situation.
But then, as the dust settled, a quiet optimism emerged. We’d gotten so close without having set foot in France. Sure, it had taken a lot of work. Get this: at that time, a video call was such a big deal, it required a technician. Said technician had done us multiple favours by turning up at 7 AM so that we, bleary eyed, could interview with creative directors who were at the end of their working day in a time zone 12 hours from ours. We’d almost made it work from our little island at the bottom of the world. We said it to ourselves again and again until it sounded true: if we were on the ground in Paris, it would surely be easier.
A decision was made. We’d just go anyway. What could go wrong?
Reader, a lot could go wrong.
Coming from the dreary New Zealand winter, we were excited to hit Paris just as summer was peaking. We discovered, in real time and with no small degree of horror, how France shuts down for business during the summer months. Emails sent in June would come back with ‘contact us again in October’. Forget about skeleton crews – at that time, agencies in France during the summer were shuttered.
We remained optimistic. Despite the uncertainty, it was a thrill to land in a foreign country. We were living the life we’d dreamed, with only one piece of the puzzle remaining: the job. We continued firing out emails into the void. We learned the metro system by rattling around Paris, meeting up with creatives, account people, anyone. We even turned up to agencies unannounced and demanded to see the boss. (Sounds like a good plan out on the street, very awkward once in front of the reception desk). It didn’t matter to whom we talked, the feedback was clear and consistent. You came to France without a job? You Kiwis are crazy!
France was beautiful, invigorating and expensive. Our Kiwi dollars were no match for euro prices and funds were running low. The crunch was coming. And then, a lifeline. Our old colleague and friend James Godfrey hooked us up with a couple of weeks of freelance in Copenhagen. We were back!
We returned to Paris and set to work eking out this cash injection. As the summer drew to a close, creative directors started trickling back to Paris and catching up on their emails. And then a funny thing started to happen. They wanted to meet us out of sheer curiosity. Who are these idiots walking around Paris knocking on doors?
I think it was around October when we got the call. A new collective of creative directors had taken the lead of Y&R Paris and were looking to shake things up. It turned out that a couple of guys from the other side of the world who couldn’t speak French were exactly what they were looking for.
I’ll never forget the relief, the excitement and the pride. There were moments during that first summer when it looked like the return ticket home would be dusted off sooner rather than later; I ended up staying in France for 16 years.
I was going to call this piece ‘Dumb Moves Aren’t Always Dumb’, or ‘Make the Leap and the Rest Will Follow’. But in the end, it was optimism that made the difference. The lesson always stuck with me. Optimism isn’t just a feeling that comes and goes. It’s a choice. It’s a force. And best of all, it comes free.
Today, I’m based in New York. When we launched the Birthday Collective, it was with optimism at the heart. I can tell you from experience, there’s no better way to take a step into the unknown. And God knows the world needs a dose of optimism right now. We all do.
Oh, and by the way, after we got that first job in France, it turned out we had the wrong visas. Very, very much the wrong visas. But that’s another story.
