Decoding the futures I was once inspired to pursue.
After leaving my last job as the Head of Brand/Creative Director at 2nd Best Studio, I took a few months off to focus on my young family, ride bikes, and carefully consider my next professional move. This paper synthesizes my viewpoints, creating a timestamp of my thoughts and where these might lead to—or not.
2023
Today’s world is built on stories. This made me reflect on my own story, and I realized that to regain my sense of agency, I needed to decode the futures I once felt inspired to pursue.
Past Futures
With a background in filmmaking and a degree in Design & Communication, I’m a proud multidisciplinary Creative Director, dedicating my practices to solutions and thoughts that contribute to a future-proof world. A better, more creatively inspired everyday life for both people and the planet.
For over a decade, I’ve seen firsthand that great stories can change the world. I’ve directed films and campaigns, built brands, led teams, co-founded a creative studio, and successfully failed in launching a career in the music industry. More recently, following a story that never truly existed in 2022, I took a career break—a pause that taught me to look at my own story through a different lens.
Hi, I am Bob—proud dad & partner, cyclist and creative.
Twelve years of solving various business issues for clients, peers, and leaders grew not only my body of work but also heightened my awareness of social and planetary matters. As I became increasingly frustrated with the disconnect between what was urgent at work and what truly mattered in life, I realized I needed a shift. Becoming a parent accelerated this transformation, turning my desire for recognition and success into a deeper need to challenge the very structures that defined my work—and, in doing so, to challenge myself.
My Theory of Mind
From the beginning of my creative practices, I have had a particular interest in purpose-driven storytelling and concepts. In many ways, this was a result of what got me interested in storytelling in the first place: great storytelling inspired me to tell stories; aiming to inspire others; and to find meaning in life.
I looked at myself as an advocate for purpose-driven storytelling, aiming to create meaningful experiences for the respective audiences of my work. For instance, when I infused a business coaching tool’s campaign narrative with climate issues. Being opinionated about sustainability not just inspired but largely influenced my decisions when asked to set up a tactical direction for the YouTube channel of a global food company (fulfilling their demand for conversions, as well as reaching brand awareness). And already during my years at the Maastricht Institute of Arts, I approached my work as a platform to raise my voice on social issues.
But was I truly purpose-driven? Was I really using my platform to create stories that make us and our lives better?
No
I am the proud dad of two, Juna-Noé (6) and Anima (4). My 2022 career break, a choice of spending more time with my family, undoubtedly made me a better person. The precious months I spent with Juna and Anima, allowed me to reflect on what truly matters—both in life and my career.
Rebranding myself through the lens of agency: a fluid identity, inspired by the routes which lead to new places.
I don't consider myself someone to chase goals—nor miles 🚴🏻 Riding my bike is an ongoing journey to betterment, leading to an infinitely more alive version of myself.
Being on this #RoadToNowhere, is about being in my most whole purpose. The proud dad & partner, thankfully taking meaningful time for himself. The resilient optimist, committed to the cold wind on his face, the sweat on the skin, and the temporary pain throughout the journey. And the curious explorer, discovering new places without the fear of going in the wrong direction in finding the right route.
For the past decade, I believed I was on the right path, achieving career success while doing work I was passionate about. I had the chance to travel, collaborate with brilliant people, and work on exciting projects for global brands. It gave my family stability and a sense of freedom.
2022, the career break I took to consider my next professional move turned out to be a life-changing event, revealing that my career decisions were based on values that actually supported the broken system that eventually caused my dissatisfaction: recognition, praise, and money. I realized my work wasn’t shaping viable futures; it was merely adding noise to an already shattered narrative.
Sure, it felt good to amplify the voice of sports and how it empowers diverse communities to break glass ceilings. To build a strategic roadmap, celebrating being second in a competitive world that thrives on winning. And it's great to use art as a tool to raise awareness for mental well-being, but with the audience being a few classmates and teachers, it's not going to change the world.
Having agency isn’t linear or straight forward.
Today
In today’s world, where wealth inequality grows while billions go hungry, and our demands on the planet outpace sustainability, stories have more power than ever.
So, what if we tell a better one? But what does ‘better’ mean? And will it ever be good enough?
When I was invited to help shape the vision for 2nd Best Studio, these questions emerged constantly. We envisioned a studio built on the belief that “being second” could help us tell more meaningful stories—stories that make a real difference, focusing less on winning and more on creating work that benefits many.
Yet, the conversations about 2nd Best Studio revealed a story that never truly existed. Instead, these discussions taught me how I think, explain, and make meaning—giving me a new understanding of time and causality.
2+2=5
I’ve always been drawn to fiction—especially its power to build emotional connections with audiences. Maybe it can even do so more intensively than the truth itself. “Isn't the idea of fiction that it can provide an actual perspective amid all the facts around us?”
At 16, I was diagnosed with testicular cancer, and my everyday life flipped upside down. With the uncertain future and an urgency to understand what led to it, I started asking myself questions—leading to more questions, which led to the stories that populated my worldview.
Am I really sick when I'm actually feeling okay? Who's deciding I am sick? Can I choose when I die? Am I ready to accept death? If I get old, will I be able to be a parent one day?
With reality being too big and complex and deeply rooted in uncertainty and insecurity, life became an illusion of action—trying to find meaning and optimism in real life while stuck in a dark imagination.
My time at the Maastricht Institute of Arts was about reconciling with my past and present, with filmmaking allowing me to control the future. Maybe not over life and death itself, but at least over the worlds I imagined into reality: storytelling empowered me to project my fear of loneliness onto a silver screen, and it enabled me to express my notion of being trapped by society, artistically and literally. Storytelling allowed me to be the director of my funeral after having killed myself—again.
Now, knowing that futures are nothing else than stories, I have come to believe the stories that the world needs more of are actually crafted without an urge for control—let alone killing oneself. And now, looking through a different lens, I see I was asking myself the wrong questions. It also revealed that my truth was impacted by the relationship I had with the stories I told myself—about myself. Better stories start with asking better questions.
What has cancer taught me about being alive?
Good stories lead to self-reflection, emotional connection, increased empathy, and real-life impact. They transfer experience and meaning, giving us a deeper understanding of the world and allowing us to connect with ourselves and each other. Better stories serve a purpose beyond ourselves, they shape new myths, ignite new hopes, and reimagine prosperity—for both people and the planet
—new creativity.
A.N.C. Icon
New Creativity
2023 marks the beginning of the agency of New Creativity. Following 12 years of working with global brands, I’m now committed to partnering exclusively with forward-thinking companies and institutions to craft stories that matter—for both people and the planet.
A commitment that turned 'selected work' into
archived work—because the future is about making what’s important interesting, instead of making what’s interesting important. A dedication to solutions and thoughts that contribute to a future-proof world, manifesting a purpose that goes beyond today’s trends, and myself. It’s about being in my most whole purpose and ultimately having agency over life.
So, how?
Rather than focusing on accelerating my career and growing my body of work, having agency is a relentless pursuit, embracing creativity as a tool for good—transforming my practices to be in service of a thriving future. A dedication to bringing my experience from a decade of work in the industry into the social impact and nonprofit space—to help build the world we so urgently need.
bobvb.com
As an independent Creative Director, I offer Brand & Creative Direction to organizations in the social impact and nonprofit space—crafting stories that elevate their voices, give them the platform they deserve, and ultimately help them become the iconic brands of the future.
Contact
hi@bobvb.com
+4915155914582
Based in Cologne, Germany—available worldwide.
