–
A FEW WORDS WHO
I AM, HOW I WORK
& WHAT I DO.
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I AM A DESIGNER,
CREATIVE DIRECTOR,
AI CONSULTANT
& PROMPT ARTIST.
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I’m Mike John Otto, a Hamburg and Berlin based Executive Creative Director, Creative Lead & AI Supervisor, Creative Consultant and Creative Tech Artist. I believe in the power of the image. It is the great narratives and images that stay with us. Epic images are as powerful as ever, despite all the floods of information. The power of the image plays just as big a role in politics as it does in pop culture, advertising or art. I call this type of creation Art-Driven Creativity.
Art-Driven Creativity incorporates artistic thinking and references from all conceivable art forms 
and helps to develop the unseen and as yet untold.

My strength and passion lies in creating relevant, mostly digital brand experiences with a creative, technological and cultural driven approach in the field of XR, VR, Immersive Experiences and all Web 3 / 4. I describe myself as a Creative that stands in between the unseen narrative brand experience, culture and a tech-orientated approach. Most of my work emerges from the cross-application of common creative teams and collaboration with other inspiring minds from neurosciences, developers, data scientists, artists or film directors, always looking for the unseen narrative to tell, how to tell it and where to tell it and base my work on the methodologies of human-centered design, (pop)-cultural trends and purpose driven communication.

I like to work on a variety of thematic projects that stretch across disciplines, I am able to quickly adapt to the complex and ambiguous variables of a situation, identify insights and understand challenges to create a roadmap to a shared vision that generates value for the customer in alignment with ultimate creative and business goals. My work not only draws upon visual theories and user-centered research but also purpose based marketing, Cultural Analytics, web3 tech and fast changing cultural trends.

I work a lot with AI Tools and do AI Consultancy to advise clients on using AI not just for speed, but for real value — helping them unlock innovation & transformation and deliver meaningful, lasting results. The most valuable skill won’t be fast producing — it will be choosing what goes into production and the final result. Choosing the idea that matters. Choosing the detail that transforms. Choosing the story that resonates. AI without direction is just noise. Vision turns it into meaning. Story turns it into value.

With more than 20 years of professional practice, I gained the experience and had the pleasure of building products, shaping brands and create narrative experiences for some of the boldest global clients. No matter for which brand I am working, I believe that everybody should have it’s own purpose, a north star to follow. Mine is to help forward thinking brands to change by creating culture driven narrative brand experiences that convert humans into brand fans. My creative personality was shaped in the digital artistic design boutique scene, advertising agencies and global consulting firms, where I learned to apply my skills interdisciplinarily. While studying graphic design at the Münster School of Design, I started my professional career working as a freelance design student for BBDO Interactive. In the early dotcom years I started working as a designer for razorfish in London and later in Hamburg, moved on as an Art Director for Springer and Jacobys’ Digital Studio elephant seven and moved on as a Creative Director for BBDO’s famous Interone. I founded the creative collective blackbeltmonkey and joined the award winning Studio Hi-ReS! London as a Creative Director some years later. I was the Executive Creative Director and Managing Director Digital at Philipp und Keuntje, a top ten advertising agency in Germany. I joined the ACNE Family as a Executive Creative Director working then within Deloitte as the Chief Creative Officer for all german based ACNE / Deloitte Digital Studios. My latest Adventure was at Artificial Rome, a creative tech boutique in Berlin where I was ECD and Partner and launched several immersive brand experiences for Diesel, iF Design Award and Bentley.

You can find me as a speaker at Creative and Tech-Festivals discussing the newest technologies and cultural trends, labs to test out the newest XR / VR equipment and judging at ADC, Cannes Lions and many others the recent Metaverse Experiences and at the Factory Berlin to philosophy about newest urban experiences and how brands become sustainable.

Besides being a Creative I am an Artist. In my creative tech inspire Art I transform fragments of design, moodboards, styleframes and layouts I do into analog Art Pieces. Most of the Work is a mixed media between sketches, painting and using a drawing robot that is controlled with processing scripts and feeded with assets of my commercial work. Each piece is a unique work. I do exhibitions across europe. I believe in „Freiheit statt Freizeit“ (a quote by Joseph Beuys). That is why I see my studio and commercial work as one part of my story and my Art as the other part. Both are able to survive and co-influence side by side. Follow me @mikejohnotto

Let’s find out how we can work together to change the way brands communicate and how they stay ahead of culture. Download my CV for additional information.

CV & Portfolio as PDF.

Follow me @mikejohnotto