The Formula Behind Work That Clicks with Daniel Foo

Daniel Foo is executive creative director at We Are Social Singapore, leading a team of social-first thinkers creating scroll-stopping work for brands like Samsung Global and HBO Max APAC.

In the past 17+ years, he’s sold everything from skinny jeans to headache pills – even sunglasses that play music. Starting out in design, then art direction before shifting to words, he is a true hybrid creative. He’s worked on brands including Samsung, Panadol, Levi’s, L’Oréal, Lazada, Ferrero Rocher, Mastercard, HSBC, Berocca, NEA, Vaseline and Google.

As VP, regional creative lead at Lazada, he helped the brand level up across six Southeast Asian markets. Highlight? Hearing preschool kids chant a tagline he wrote during pickup. He’s also led global work as a creative director at Grey AMEA, including a long-running Panadol campaign that succeeded across extremely diverse markets – from Colombia to Denmark.

Daniel brings a team-first energy to every brief. He’s a regular awards juror (Gong, Crowbar), a mentor to young creatives, and a reliable pick for inter-agency pub quizzes. He believes great ideas should sell – maybe even shift culture a little.

Daniel sat down with LBB to discuss creating the conditions to formulate great ideas, his background in graphic design, and his creative process.

Person

I’m somewhere between chaos and structure. Obviously, there isn’t a formula for a great idea, but I’ve (sort of!) learned how to create the conditions for one to happen. I’m naturally impatient, yet I’ve realised that pushing too hard rarely works. I like to let a brief sit in the backrooms of my mind while I do other things, and I find that the solution often shows up when I’m not looking for it, usually on a long run.

Of course, many times, time isn’t a luxury. You can’t rely on sudden genius every day, which is why I value experience and collaboration. A good sounding board, whether a creative partner, my team, planners, or even an account manager, often gets ideas moving faster and in sharper directions. I think creativity is part instinct and part skill, shaped by exposure and the people you work with.

Personality-wise, I’m an introverted thinker who enjoys the energy of building ideas with others. I like enough routine to stay grounded, but not so much that things feel predictable. I also enjoy exploring creative worlds outside my day-to-day work to feed my curiosity.

So overall, I’m a creative person shaped by chance, practice, collaboration and curiosity, balancing inspiration with the rigour needed to turn it into something real.

Product

I’ve always gravitated toward extremes in entertainment. Given a choice of movies, I’ll always pick horror or comedy. Both are built around provoking a reaction, which is how I think about creativity.

So you could say I judge creativity by how much it makes my brain sit up. The work I admire either tickles my brain or makes me feel something immediately. And ‘feeling’ isn’t exclusively emotional, it’s also that sense of rightness you get when an idea lands cleanly.

The same way a painting can just look correct, a creative idea can feel correct. It’s not really a vibe, it’s more of a click (sorry for being vague). When an idea is well-shaped, all the pieces suddenly fall into place in a way that feels obvious only in hindsight.

That click usually comes from a mix of timing, cultural relevance, freshness or even choosing the perfect moment to revisit an old idea with new meaning.

When it comes to my own campaigns, I find reminiscing a bit cringe, so my favourite piece of work is usually whatever I’ve made most recently (as it should be!). Also, conveniently, anything new I might mention is probably under an NDA anyway...

Process

I like to start with a good, solid brief (hahaha) but in all honesty, I really enjoy getting involved with strategy. Having the right insight and purpose is more than half the work done. Another thing I find crucial is remembering who we’re making work for: not advertising people, but real people who don’t have time for an hour-long set-up or rationale. The work needs to make sense, land quickly, and ideally make someone smile, or better yet, cry.

Overthinking is hard to avoid, and often the hardest thing is to make something simple. I always ask myself how the work would resonate with someone who doesn’t care – because if they already did, they wouldn’t need to be advertised to in the first place.

Collaboration is key to achieving that perspective. Experience is valuable, of course, but so is a fresh pair of eyes. I love working with the whole team – including juniors – because new perspectives often aren’t burdened by cynicism or preconceived ideas. Great ideas can come from anywhere, and having that mix of experience and fresh thinking keeps the process dynamic.

Press

I grew up in Singapore and was first trained as a graphic designer, with the naive ambition of becoming a David Carson-type figure. It wasn’t until an internship at a now-defunct local ad agency that I really understood what advertising was and what a copywriter did (I hadn't met one before then).

I also had the privilege of earning my degree at Central St Martins under lecturers with real-world field experience alongside a super talented cohort, many of whom are still making head-turning work today. Since then, I've worked under and alongside many many more talented copywriters and art directors who have all majorly contributed to shaping my own creative voice.

For me, relevancy is king. With everyone constantly online and hyper-informed today, a message has to matter. People want to see things that resonate, spark curiosity... things that feel worth their time.