Our Pioneer in New York City, USA: Paul Micheal Wood

This week we pay a visit to Paul Micheal Wood in New York City, where the internationally raised creative has spent the past decade working as a Creative Director and Writer. Paul's magnetic attraction to the city began while on an exchange at the NY School of Visual Art from Willem de Kooning Academy. Today, his media-agnostic approach has brought home wins across all major award shows – while working for agencies such as 72andSunny, Edelman, The Fader and McCann, for clients like Google, Samsung, AXE, eBay, Amazon, Mercedes and more.

Through our Pioneers series, in collaboration with Nils Adriaans, we catch up with members of the Dutch Creative Community living abroad and ask them to send back personal ‘messages in a bottle’ about life away from the Netherlands.

Why are you where you are right now?

I grew up some what internationally and that really instilled in me a love for travel, adventure and new challenges. I was born in New Zealand, grew up in Indonesia and (mostly) Holland, before ultimately moving to NYC about 10 years ago.

The latter decision was based on an amalgamation of factors;

1. I had always felt most comfortable expressing myself creatively in English (mother-tongue).
2. I became invigorated by the energy that NYC gave off, when I first did my exchange at the School of Visual Art.
3. The deciding factor was (as sappy as it sounds), I fell in love with an American girl.

What makes you feel at home?

I guess it would have to be my weekly walks through the various “buurtjes” here; there is always something new to discover. The hoods are all different and unique, yet feel familiar and welcoming. It reminds me of Amsterdam, just on a far larger scale.

I have 2 favourite spots, though. The first being the Highline. Despite its touristy’ness, it still holds a special place in my heart, as it’s where I had my first date with the missus and also where I proposed to her 6 years later.

The second would be a little bench in front of the tiny Cherry Lane Theater. It’s on a small and inconspicuous street, hidden away in the heart of the West Village. I would often go there with my old partner to concept or by myself if I needed to clear my head. And even though I have to work from home in Brooklyn now, I still visit it from time to time with a coffee and a good book.

What stands out the most there (professionally)?

What initially attracted me to advertising in NYC, was how different it was to what I was used to. It was both grandiose and daunting, but it also had such breadth as to what was possible for your work. Big budgets, cool clients and seemingly endless ways to execute ideas.

Even though many of the acronym-agencies used to focus on traditional advertising, the vast majority have evolved to the point that they can kind of do it all. And for someone like me, who prefers to fit the media to the idea instead of vice versa, it’s been quite helpful.

What is your Random Pic(k) Of The Week?

I consider myself to be a media-agnostic thinker, so I have two different campaigns that stood out to me, for two different reasons.

The first would have to be The Stevenage Challenge for Burger King. The idea of sponsoring one of the lowest ranking football teams in the league, in order to stick out in one of the most popular video games out there, was just a little stroke of genius to me. It’s one of those “big ideas” that makes it so easy to execute off of. A truly clever, effective and PR worthy campaign.

The other would have to be the Heineken Shutter Ads. It’s clever and simple, but it’s also an idea that actually helps people in a real and direct way. Bars need money to reopen, so pay them for the ad-space that’s available while they’re closed, to help them open again. Simple.

If I was able to create something that not only excited me creatively, but also positively impacted the world we live in, I would definitely consider that a checkmark on the old career bucket-list.

What’s the most radical piece of work or who’s the most outstanding creative over there?

The most impressive and profound project I’ve seen here, is the One School. It’s a free, online portfolio school for Black creatives, founded during the height of the BLM protests and the pandemic, by a mate and former R/GA colleague of mine, Oriel Davis-Lyons.

The school gives their students free access to some of the industry’s best talent and helps them create great portfolios that open doors. They also connect their students with Black mentors to help foster a lasting network of support and guidance. They have since branched out to LA, Atlanta & Chicago and Oriel did all of it while still working full time at Spotify. Bloody Kudos!

What personal ‘souvenir’ would you bring home?

After having freelanced for the last couple years at various types of agencies (McCann, The Fader, Edelman, 72andSunny, etc) I would say that I would take a new outlook home with me. Namely, I have learned to appreciate things more.

Appreciate the creativity of others and the inspiration it gives me while working in advertising. Appreciate getting to do varied and challenging work. Appreciate learning new skills from those challenges. Appreciate actually doing what I love and getting paid for it. And also, I appreciate the fact that I now have another country/city I can call home.