On My Radar: Jaime Tan

With a producer role at Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam, when Jaime Tan isn't at the agency she's kept busy by her collection of house plants, gets her kicks from talk show host Graham Norton and is optimistic about the idea of helping the world receive clean drinking water via an innovative self-help book.

Below the experimental foodie and yoga enthusiast expands on the above and reveals what else is on her creative radar.

What’s the best ad campaign you’ve seen recently?

Water is Life – The Drinkable Book. It’s a testament to if you create a great, innovative product; communications can be combined with real-world action that’s both creative and practical. This book contains info for villages on the dangers of drinking unclean water.

The pages of the book can then be turned into a water filter that removes bacteria (through colloidal silver in the paper) and purifies it. Each book can provide four years’ worth of filtered water to an individual. How much better does it get than that?

What website(s) do you use most regularly and why?

It’s not a website, but a search engine. Google.

What’s the most recent piece of tech that you’ve bought and why?

iPhone 5. ‘Cause my previous iPhone 5 was just 30 days over its warranty and futzed out on me, and the Apple store made me buy the same old brand new phone ‘cause they couldn’t repair it. It was an infuriating purchase.

Facebook or Twitter?

Facebook.

What’s your favourite app on your phone and why?

Koubachi. It reminds me when to water my plants. I still end up managing to kill them though. I love that the ridiculousness of humans means that such an app even exists and even though it clearly doesn’t work for me, I still love the idea of it.

What’s your favourite TV show and why?

The Graham Norton Show. He’s super sharp, very funny and always has good guests.  

What film do you think everyone should have seen?

Barbarella.

Where were you when inspiration last struck?

My kitchen.

What’s the most significant change you’ve witnessed in the industry since you started working in it?

Having emails on the go. Suddenly everyone expects you to be switched on and replying to every single email all the time. People need to put boundaries between “work time” and “switch off time”.

If there was one thing you could change about the advertising industry, what would it be?

I think people (me included) need to be given the occasional reminder to “Relaaaaaaaaaaax.” Whatever ‘crisis’ you’re in right now will sort itself out eventually. Dudes, it’s just advertising. Roll the shoulders back, count to ten and exhale.

What or who has most influenced your career and why?

Erik Verheijen. The most recent head of broadcast at Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam who recently left to do his own thing. We worked together 10 years ago in Singapore, but he’s always been my mentor through all the different countries and agencies I’ve moved to. He’s been the one I’ve always spoken to about every job offer I’ve considered as I trust and respect his opinion. He was also the one who pulled me over to work with him again in Amsterdam, and it’s been a blast.

Tell us one thing about yourself that most people won’t know…

I officially have an apostrophe in my name. Uh huh. It’s officially spelt J’aime, like the conjugated French verb for “I love”. Try explaining that to your French teachers at school, or French immigration officers. I guess that was my introduction to the art of making small talk. Thanks, mum and dad!