Joy Zhou

What hasn’t creative strategist Joy Zhou done to research a project? She’s gone to cat conventions to research cat fans, attended the world's largest natural bodybuilding conference in DC and spent a month attending Mass for a Catholic-inspired menswear client. Real, on-the-ground field work is what she’s become known for and has led to work for the likes of Barbie and Apple. Getting out into the world – and out of the world of advertising – is her secret to making it in the industry. “When you only watch ads, you’ll never make something better than an ad,” she says.

About my work

My creative practice
I’m a freelance creative strategist, which means I bridge clients’ business needs with human insights to guide creative agency work. Before going freelance, I was a researcher specializing in ethnographic fieldwork. In other words, I people-watched professionally, immersing myself in the communities I was studying.

Influences and inspiration
I have too many to count. Anthony Bourdain, Nathan Fielder and Susan Sontag, to name a few. As a woman, one of my favorite journalists, Jason Rogers, is actually from Men’s Health, because of the way he researches his articles.

Even more so, I’m constantly inspired by and learning from the people around me, whether it’s my lovely friends, the teams and colleagues I work with, or the many artsy New Yorkers I share a city with. I surround myself with curious and creative people because I believe curiosity and creativity are contagious.

My training
I went to school for advertising twice: first, for my bachelor’s at UT Austin, where I specialized in immersive design and technology, and later for a master’s in brand strategy from VCU Brandcenter. In grad school, I entered every student advertising competition I could, which effectively doubled the amount of experience I got writing creative briefs. 

In college, I was part of the outreach team of a faith organization (yes, I was the person who approached you on campus to ask if you had heard of Jesus). Turns out, talking about life's biggest questions with strangers is surprisingly good training for qualitative research. I learned how to approach people whom I knew nothing about and leave with a little more understanding of their world.

Favorite recent project
I recently worked on a several-month-long consumer study with Apple for the iPhone, leading research in China. It’s not every day that you get to work on a product that nearly everyone has in their back pocket, let alone travel across the world to do it.

Some of my favorite project memories are also the strangest: I've fed stray cats alongside residents of an Arizona trailer park; danced at a secret rave in a Bronx bodega; and pretended to have my own small business in order to take a finance course for business owners. What I love about ethnographic research is how it’s taken me to such unexpected places.

A day in the life
I find that I’m most productive in the early hours when nobody else is awake. If I have something to work on, I like to work on it then. But usually, I spend a couple of hours scrolling in bed. I’d like to believe that’s why I know what goes on in culture.

In the morning, I check emails, prepare for and attend meetings. In the afternoon, I continue anything else I was working on, attend more meetings, and reach out to new partners and clients.

Now that I live in New York, I usually try to do something after work. Some days, it’s going to a new gallery exhibition; other days, it’s attending an event. My New Year’s resolution was to learn something new every day, which usually happens by the time I’m ready for bed. When it doesn’t, I’ll put on a long video essay on a topic I know nothing about and listen to that as I fall asleep.

A starter pack for my job:

How I got here

Starting my creative journey
When I studied strategy at VCU, I had a hard time reconciling the way I wanted to do research and the way it had always been done there. I started doing what I call ‘my commitment to the bit’. I’d ask myself, “What’s the most absurd thing I could do in the name of researching this project?” Then I’d do it.

For a project on bodybuilders, I skipped class to go to the world's largest natural bodybuilding conference in DC. On a project about beef, I completed a five-part course and became officially certified in ‘beef advocacy’ by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. When Catholic-inspired menswear was my client, I spent a month attending Mass despite not being Catholic myself. It started as a joke with myself, but once I started documenting these experiences on my portfolio, it became the thing I was known for.

Landing my first few jobs, clients and/or commissions
I was close with several of my professors at school, so they all became aware of the bizarre things I was doing for research. One professor had previously worked with one of the founders of a research firm and sent him my portfolio. Both of the firm’s founders were intrigued to find someone who shared their belief in going wherever it takes for a finding – and who already had a body of work to prove it. That’s how I landed a job with them after graduation.

The commitment to the bit hasn't stopped now that I'm freelancing. If anything, it has become part of how I find work. I landed my most recent freelance opportunity because I found out the agency's chief strategy officer was speaking at an event, sat myself in the front row and sketched a live portrait of her as my introduction.

Biggest challenges along the way
My latest challenge has been transitioning from a full-time job to freelance work. There's less of a defined path in front of me now than before and, admittedly, it intimidates me at times. But there's also something liberating about paving my own path and spending time with different teams to learn who I grow best with. So far, I’ve already gotten to work with one of my dream agencies in New York, so I’m excited to see, with time, where else I end up.

Everyday skills I’ve found helpful for my creative work:
Taking my own taste seriously. My best briefs were written from the insights I found the most interesting. When you’re in the business of making ads, there comes a point when you have to ask yourself, “Will anybody care about this?” When it comes to what’s actually worth paying attention to and what’s not, your taste is the first filter your work needs to pass through. If something I made already bores me, how can I expect it to interest anyone else?

I also believe it's important to keep making things, even as a strategist. Strategy is as much about imagination as it is about analysis, so making things yourself helps you become better at both. Right now, I'm taking DJ and writing courses and doing fiber arts and film photography on the side. My latest project has been needle-felting custom ‘reverse voodoo dolls’ from colorful Merino wool. I find regular voodoo dolls too mean-spirited, so mine work the other way around: if you treat these dolls kindly, then good things will happen to the person it represents.

My social media and self-promotion vibe is…
Post the behind-the-scenes and thoughts you had while making the work. Post what it meant to you, not just the finished product; your audience cares about the person behind the work too. As a personal project, I’ve been building out a suicide prevention campaign, and the most engagement I've ever gotten was from talking about applying for my first grant.

Three things I've found useful in my career

My greatest learnings when it comes to making money and supporting myself as a creative:
You have to advocate for yourself as much as you advocate for your work. It's easy to get caught up in the excitement of doing work you love and forget that you're also navigating a business. Read the fine print, know your rights and start documenting if things ever don’t feel quite right. It's also worth having a lawyer in your corner when you need one. Protecting yourself is part of building a sustainable creative career too.

Advice

My most useful career tips

When I was in portfolio school, I kept a running list of the most important lessons I had learned by being there. These are the ten creative commandments that I still try to live by now:

1. Do what’s best for the work, not your ego.

2. Listen to everyone, but know you can't please them all.

3. Be interested, and be interesting.

4. When you only watch ads, you’ll never make something better than an ad.

5. The best ideas are brave.

6. Learn the rules so you can break them.

7. If you don’t pick a day to relax, your body will decide for you.

8. Everyone is a person before they are a professional.

9. Show gratitude.

10. At the end of the day, have fun with it.

Where I go to feel connected as a creative
Every week, I go to an AA for artists in Manhattan’s East Village called Serving the People. Instead of talking about addiction, we take turns saying what projects we’re working on and what creative challenges we’re navigating. My friend has also been hosting regular creative coworking kickbacks at his apartment. Being a part of this group of designers, filmmakers, creators and other people making things has made it easier for me to keep making things myself.

What I'd say to someone looking to get into a similar role
Be nosy! Get curious about the way humans live and all of the weird, little things we do and why we do them. Then make things from what you’ve learned. Write briefs for brands you love, enter competitions or come up with your own projects. You don't have to wait for someone to hire you as a strategist to start doing strategy. The world is full of interesting things to investigate and most of them have nothing to do with advertising.