Interview with Annika Hernroth-Rothstein from Ghana

I have always been on a creative journey, from art school to a brief music career, journalism, authorship and now, more traditional communication in form of advertising and strategic communications! As a result, I carry the hope of being a positive influence, contributing to making the world slightly better, something I can proudly stand for.

I am the CEO of NOMAD Ghana and we do full-service 360 campaigns for companies and individuals. I come from the political campaign communication side and I have a fantastic staff of creatives with whom I work closely on every single detail of a campaign. We are a small, extremely tight-knit group!

Instinct. It’s a simple answer but that is what it boils down to. Letting go of what we think we ought to do and embrace actions guided by doing what we feel.

Ideas are like love and music. If you feel it in your gut, you know it’s right.

I always start with data. It may sound dry, but as a foreigner working in foreign places, it’s important to respect your host country enough to learn about it and be humble about what you don’t know. I do surveys and focus groups to get a handle on public opinions and then I pair it with the emotion I want to evoke.

Usually I bring a basic idea to the team and ask them to pick it apart, add and subtract, and then the nitty gritty really begins, when we start killing our darlings.

The huddle. Usually, it happens late at night when that special mood comes out, the one that only exists between and amongst creative minds. We throw crazy stuff at the wall and then, suddenly, something sticks. We don’t know how it’s going to look in the end but we know we’re onto something magical. You can’t beat that feeling!

I’m a firm believer in structure. Only when I have a functioning structure can my mind be free. One can only have chaos without or within and I choose within. So I run a tight ship, with daily meetings twice a day and firm deadlines but within that space, everything is possible, doable, and thinkable.

Absolutely! I’m Jewish and of mixed heritage and I work with Eastern and Western Africans and I really believe that our melting pot helps our creative process that makes for fantastic combos and mixtures. We learn from each other every day when we work together and it truly makes the learning process enjoyable.

It means the world to us! It lets us know that our way of telling stories matters and that our bold choices paid off. We’re just about to write a new campaign and as we do, it’s wonderful to have something to live up to and to push beyond our limits. This is gratifying on so many levels and the entire agency is still giddy about it, frankly. On those difficult nights when we’re struggling with copy or design, I’ll remind my team that we’re award winners and that we don’t back down or give up - we soar higher!

With this ad, we didn’t simply want to sell a money transfer service here but rather show the world how transnational money services change lives across generations. In the midst of a severe economic crash as the Ghanaian economy struggles to get back on its feet after the pandemic, we tell an all-too common story of a young man who has left his family, his country and everything he knows to work towards a better future for himself and his loved ones, sending what little money he makes back home to support them.

This is a common African tale, one that holds both hope and heartbreak and young people like our journeyman carry the weight of the economy on their backs, along with the hopes and dreams of their mothers and fathers, siblings and children.

We want to honour the journeymen and women of Africa and tell their stories. The good, bad and the ugly, so that in a world that often deems them invisible, we may show how much they truly matter and redefine the immigrant as a positive force.

The ad made a big splash in Ghana once it was aired and everyone who watched it felt something, be it sadness, happiness, hope, loss, recognition, anger or inspiration. That’s why we submitted it, because it had struck a chord and done what my gut told me it would – it had been recognised as honest and told the story of our immigrants with humility and love.

The entire campaign was actually written, put together and executed in 3 weeks as the client had switched agencies. It was the biggest challenge but also the biggest upside, in a way, as we had to trust our guts and push ourselves further than we ever had. The result ended up being some of the most honest work I’ve ever produced!

It has made me feel that the bar is set now and I have to reach higher and further as to not let myself down. It’s a great feeling, the good type of scary that a creative mind and soul needs.

Playfulness.The element of surprise.That there isn’t a “gospel” one has to adhere to.

Ghana has a rich history, it is a place of Kings, Queens and chiefs and a nation that has a deep storytelling tradition with expressions ranging from dance and art to tribal symbolism, novelists and the spoken word.

Despite the weight of colonialism, the traditional expression have remained very much alive and discovering the truth beneath the truth, the language beneath the language and culture beneath the culture has been one of the great gifts of my life. Ghana is a kaleidoscope one never tires of.

Storytelling will have to become more truthful. As the world becomes more and more volatile, we owe it to our audience to speak the truth and take them seriously. Not to say you cannot be fanciful and bold, but the audience is ready for reality, and deserves a storyteller that knows their reality and reflects it with respect, bravery and boldness.

To take every opportunity to learn. Many people got through open doors but few have the perseverance to walk through them. Early on, your success is determined by your ability to say “yes” and accept opportunities without a given outcome, to jump onto roads that aren’t straight. Take risks, in short.

I have had a few really good mentors and they changed my life. I soaked up the knowledge with gusto and gratitude and I would advice everyone to find a mentor and start learning!

My grandmother Harriet, in blessed memory, was like a mother to me. She taught me how to be a lady and how to, when necessary, fight like a man. She was the smartest, classiest woman I've ever met and I can say with certainty that I am what I am today because she loved me.

WORK. Work so you can make your own money. Work so you can make your own decisions. Work so you don’t have to stay in bad situations. Work so you make your own happiness. Work so you may say “thank you”, rather than “please”. Work so you create. Work so you maintain. Work so you may lead a life of choice, rather than circumstance.