Susana Albuquerque is Uzina’s Executive Creative Director, a Portuguese independent agency based in Lisbon. She’s also the president of the Portuguese Creative Club (CCP), member of the ADCE Board since 2019, and now, the newly appointed ADCE vice-president.
Throughout her career in the advertising industry, she’s been leading creative work awarded in local and international festivals and has also been a jury for Cannes Lions, One Show, El Ojo, D&AD, Golden Drum and El Sol, among others. She has been recently elected nº1 Executive Creative Director in Portugal in the Portuguese creative rankings. And Uzina, her agency, was the Independent Agency of the Year 2021 in Portugal, according to El Ojo de Iberoamerica.
What moves her most as a professional is to create work that people care about. We have interviewed her to get some insights on European creativity, ADCE and the network’s goals for the future.
Why is it relevant for the Portuguese Creative Club (CCP) to be a member of the ADCE?
Portugal is a small country, it’s important for us to be connected with other countries and share ways of thinking and doing. Besides that, there’s a match between CCP and ADCE’s vision and purpose. Both are non-for-profit organizations born to bring creatives together to push the creative industry forward. We both think our industry plays a significant role in society, and we are committed to help develop that role. We both exist to help professionals, companies, students and brands do a better job doing what we do.
Regarding European creativity: does it have a characteristic? How is it compared with other big regions and markets, such as the US or Asia?
We are a very diverse region when it comes to creativity, I think this is our main characteristic. European creativity means a lot of different things. We are so many different cultures with so much history, traditions and issues. When you look at advertising and design, you think of the UK, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Romania, just to name a few. We form a beautiful, creative patchwork together. Hope we can restore peace soon and respect each other.
What are ADCE goals for the future?
We have a new president, Alex Schill, and a strong conscience of our potential. I don’t know other European Creative Club that gathers so much diversity. We are 23 members from different countries, our potential is huge. But we have to work more on our relevancy and our visibility. We are so much more than an award show. We are committed to education, we promote excellence in the industry while improving our impact on society. Our main goal is probably to do this better and bolder. And to have all European countries on board!
Welcome on board, Susana! We are looking forward to working with you and making our voice more strong, relevant and meaningful together.