Creative Minds: How Jaiyyanul Huq defied desi expectations to end up where he belongs

In Creative Minds, we get to know APAC creatives through their answers to 11 questions, ranging from serious to silly. (Why 11? Just because.) Want to be featured?

Name: Jaiyyanul Huq

Origin: Dhaka, Bangladesh

Places lived/worked: Chittagong, Dhaka, Ho Chi Minh, Bangkok

Pronouns: He/him

CV:

• ECD, Grey Advertising Bangladesh, Dhaka (May 2020 – present)
• Creative head APAC, Delivery Hero Thailand, Bangkok (July 2019 – April 2020)
• ECD, Grey Global Group Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh (October 2017 - June 2019)
• Creative director, Grey Advertising Bangladesh, Dhaka (November 2010 – September 2017)
• Associate creative director, Carrot Communications, Dhaka (March 2007 – October 2010)
• Art director, Lemon Communications, Dhaka (June 2006 – February 2007)
• Art director, A-Positive Advertising, Dhaka (November 2005 – April 2006)
• Junior art director, Grey Advertising Bangladesh, Dhaka (September 2003 – October 2005)

1. How did you end up being a creative?

To be honest, it was a fluke. I was still pretending to study at university when a friend’s sister called me one day asking if I would be interested in working in an advertising agency as a visualizer. Didn’t even know what ad agencies were or what exactly they do! 17 years, 9 months, 28 days later—I still don’t understand what advertising agencies do! 

2. What's your favourite piece of work in your portfolio?

Coca-Cola’s Happiness Arcade. This work was a taste of how local ideas also have the power to become global in a matter of hours. And how contextual ideas can live across borders.

3. What's your favourite piece of work created by someone else?

Your plastic diet, by Grey Malaysia. It’s real. It’s honest. It’s something we need to be aware of and do something about right this minute and it’s bloody brilliant!

I would also have liked to have been the idea of creating Bitcoins. Or failing that then NFTs. Maybe I‘ll come up with something cool like that one day soon!

4. What/who are your key creative influences?

Nothing creatively sparks me the the way ‘the moment’ I am in does! In addition Zainul Abedin, a Bangladeshi painter, is someone whom I admire. I love his minimalist art but with visible, powerful brushstrokes. His images of the Bengal famine are vivid and heart-wrenching. His paintings speak of ‘purpose’.

5. What kind of student were you?

The kind of student who changed in phases. Began as the one who sits at the back of the class—the noisy one the teachers hate. Then high school was more like a ‘fake it till I make it’ type. Finally saw the merit in being the ‘not letting education destroy me’ type.

6. What career did you think you'd have when you were a kid?

Desi parents (aka Subcontinental parents), often select or give you some narrowed down career options. So I probably would have become a doctor, an engineer or a lawyer. Very clichéd. Thankfully I ended up where I belong!

7. Do you work best under pressure, or when things are calm?

[Whispering] Do you hear that? That’s the sound of ideas silently galloping through the lush green forest of briefs. I’m calm on the exterior!

8. Tell us about the worst job you ever had.

Money makes you do amazing and awful things. In 2005, I did an event-management gig for my real estate aunt. She wanted the launch of her new shopping mall to be an Arabian Nights theme. All that and a full-on, life-sized Aladdin’s genie hanging down from the side of the building! Well it had the right effect, but not sure I would want to go through all that again. Realised this was a different kind of ‘creativity’ and wasn’t my forté.

9. Tell us about an artist (any medium) that we've never probably heard of.

JumboJan. This girl is going to go places. I had the pleasure of working with her during my stay in Bangkok, and there is so much to learn from her. 

10. Which famous internet meme do you most identify with?

The disappointed Pakistani cricket fan meme. Just look at him. His eyes speak to your soul. And it also describes the state I’m usually in.

11. Cat person or dog person?

A proud cat dad, of Freddie Balsara Huq. He is just as fabulous as his namesake!

BONUS QUESTIONS (THIS ONE GOES BEYOND 11) What's the last song/artist you listened to? Dameer. This young Bangladeshi Kid is a gem of a musician! Who is the most important person in your life that wasn’t your parent? My wife. There is no gun to my head right now, AND I would say she fixed me up real good! What movie/show do you never get tired of? Friends. Every. Single. Time. I’ve always looked up to Chandler as my spirit animal. Could he be any funnier? What food can you not live without? What food would you be happy to never taste again? I can’t live without rice and lentils (Daal). And I’m yet to taste anything awful! In a nutshell I love food and I'm up for trying most things. Chefs are artists in their own right. Early riser or night owl? Never sleep on weekends. Early riser on weekdays. Extrovert or introvert? Extra extrovert. Like…So what did you have for lunch? How’s your dog?...