Life & Work with Benjamin Chu of Santa Monica

Today we’d like to introduce you to Benjamin Chu.

Hi Benjamin, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I was fresh out of college and had aspirations to become an exhibition designer but COVID happened so I had to change career paths. Art direction was a slightly different career path but still kept the essence of what I liked, problem solving.
I started interning at RPA, Rubin Postaer and Associates, working on Honda and Farmers Insurance. After a couple months I became a full-time art director. I learned a lot and through the past four years, I got to be apart of multiple Farmers Insurance, Apartments.com and Homes.com campaigns.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I don’t think the road will ever be smooth. There were lots of late nights and busy weekends. But seeing the final product always makes it worth it. What I learned is advertising services when there isn’t an actual product to show isn’t the easiest. You have to think of ways to show your services such as an application on your phone (Apartments.com and Homes.com) or a full on service (like Farmers Insurance) in creative and visually interesting ways. After a while, you get the hang of it but it was definitely a steep learning curve.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m an art director in advertising. I believe what I specialize in is making a mundane service or application entertaining and exciting. As stated in the previous section, my clients that I work with aren’t selling something that is tangible. And insurance services and renting/home buying services aren’t exactly the most entertaining thing to watch but that’s where I think me and my team shine. We take these not-so-exciting subjects and give it a twist that entertains our audience but also puts the brand in their mind.

I also want to give a huge shoutout to my group creative directors, Hobart Birmingham and Perrin Anderson for guiding me and pushing my creative limits to a higher plane.

In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
There has been lots of talk about AI taking over the industry. I wouldn’t say AI would be replacing creatives as I firmly believe AI can never replace creativity. I can see ourselves using AI to make our job more streamline. To be honest, it’s already happening now. AI has been helpful in terms of quickly mocking something up or helping our team and clients visualize easier on how the commercial can look.

With how fast AI is improving in a short span, at some point in the next few years, advertisements may be fully AI generated.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://benchudesigns.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benchudesigns