‘Seinfeld’, Philosophy and Conversations on Hinge: The Perfect Ingredients for a Dream Team

There are some who believe the creative partnership is a disappearing art, but the duo Ludachris prove entirely the opposite. Lucas De Barros and Chris Markham (aka Ludachris) were hired as junior creatives at We Are Social UK earlier this year, following their successful participation in the agency’s Next Gen programme. They first met as students at the School of Communication Arts 2.0 (SCA) in London; it might have taken them until towards the end of the course to start working together, but the click was “instant”.

“We became friends through a shared sense of humour (‘Seinfeld’) and love of the same kind of advertising and tinted sunglasses”, they tell LBB. Next up was We Are Social’s Next Gen scheme, established as part of an initiative with the pair’s alma mater to encourage new talent entering the creative fields. Participants are offered paid placements, mentorships and the opportunity to work on live briefs, with Lucas and Chris impressing with their work on global heavyweights Carlsberg and Lucozade.

It was a match made in heaven for both sides, as they explain, “We discovered We Are Social through its relationship with SCA and the brilliant briefs it regularly set for us as students. As a team obsessed with culture and social, it felt like a natural home. The Next Gen programme stood out because it offered the chance to learn while making the kind of work we genuinely cared about.”

​Lucas and Chris said at the time of their appointment, “Funnily enough, we never felt like a placement team while on the Next Gen programme. Everyone was happy to listen to us; we were trusted and given responsibility, enabling us to showcase our talents.”

The work they care about tends to strike a delicate balance between “logic and madness”, which they achieve by “finding ideas that initially feel slightly mad, but completely obvious once explained”. No doubt this is made easier by their complementary interests: Lucas loves fashion, sport, and his algorithm, whereas Chris is an “82 year old 28 year old philosophy major, who loves a classic and the occasional Renaissance reference”. They elaborate, “Lucas fishes for ideas in the reel world; Chris finds them in the real world. Lucas is always sending Chris a Reel, while Chris is usually sending back something he spotted in a book, or in conversation on Hinge. Together, it means we’re constantly scanning culture from both sides of the screen.”

Any challenges they encounter while working together are purely professional, stemming from the deep care and pride they take in the work. “Our mutual trust in each other's judgement allows us to challenge the other without making it personal”, they say.

Since joining We Are Social back in March Lucas and Chris have delivered pitch wins for various brands such as Experian, and directed shoots for JP Morgan Chase. They feel “more inspired than ever to make bigger, bolder work that taps into something relatable, provocative or insightful. Because once the sun sets, who actually wants to watch an advert, apart from advertisers?”

The pair have also been inspired by Dove’s r/eal Reviews and Colombia’s Expedition Impossible, social-thinking campaigns whose approach to engaging and entertaining their audience won plaudits at Cannes Lions this year. This is the method that, according to Lucas and Chris, prove that people will be drawn to advertising “when it feels like entertainment is the priority. We were once guests in their living rooms, now in their social feeds - and to us, that’s what great social should be.”