Erin Kawalecki of Angry Butterfly on Seeking Out Creative Inputs

Plus: Her work for the Jane/Finch Centre and Stok’d Cannabis

Erin Kawalecki is co-founder and CCO of Angry Butterfly in Toronto. Her work has won prizes at major international shows including the Clios, Cannes Lions, The One Show and D&AD. Most recently, she was runner-up in her kids’ “Best Parent of the Year” ranking.

We spent two minutes with Erin to learn more about her background, her creative inspirations and recent work she’s admired.

Erin, tell us…

Where you grew up, and where you live now.

I grew up in Toronto and still live here.

How you first realized you were creative.

I think it was just always part of my identity. I was that kid constantly making up stories, drawing (badly), or performing for real or imaginary audiences. Studying economics in university might have been my version of a rebellion.

A moment from high school or college that changed your life.

One spring break I was on a family ski trip and caught a flu bug. I was stuck inside, so I was looking for something to read (this is before you had the entire internet on your phone). I found a random book in the hotel lounge—David Ogilvy on Advertising. That planted the seed. Who knows where I’d be now if they had a book on plumbing.

Your most important creative inspirations, and some recent stuff you love.

These days, inspiration tends to look like working non-stop and meeting deadlines. I don’t take enough time to reflect or read or take in art, and your creativity suffers for that. I do get inspiration as I move through the world, spend time with my kids, that kind of thing. That said, this question is a good reminder to stop once in a while and focus on my creative input, not just my output.

One of your favorite creative projects you’ve ever worked on.

For the Jane/Finch Centre in Toronto, dedicated to fighting poverty and supporting its community with food and legal aid, we found a little-used mechanism in Twitch where Amazon Prime members get a small sum of money each month to give to their favorite streamers. In the vast majority of cases, this amount goes unused—most people don’t know the feature even exists. So we turned the Centre into a verified Twitch streamer (not as straightforward as it sounds) and framed the whole thing as a way to donate Jeff Bezos’ money instead of your own. 

A recent project you’re proud of.

Cannabis advertising in Canada has so many restrictions that it’s basically illegal. And media platforms often forbid it altogether. So, our client Stok’d Cannabi) made ads for the businesses next door to their stores, subtly noting the Stok’d locations at the end. Since our client is genuinely community-minded, it not only was a great work-around, but it was right for their brand. 

Someone else’s work you admired lately.

It’s hard not to love almost everything that Liquid Death puts out. But my real creative crush these days is on the work that Mischief does (get in line right?). The thing about their work is that it’s not only creative, it’s so strategic. Even their craziest campaigns can be traced back to a solid strategic insight or product truth. That’s the holy grail.

Your main strength as a creative person.

Probably empathy—that’s crucial to what we do. Sometimes it’s also a weakness, as I can take on the emotion of the people around me, but it’s so important to understand what drives people if you’re writing ads for them. I’ve had to learn the difference between being empathetic in the moment and wanting to solve things for people, and doing what’s actually good for someone’s professional growth, which is giving them feedback and letting them solve things on their own. I think I’ve gotten better at that.

Your biggest weakness.

Overthinking. I’ve had to really work at knowing when to let go, and when to keep pushing. Don’t get me wrong, you have to sweat the details. But it can lead to indecision if you spend too much time analyzing every little thing. You have to leave room for magic. My partner Brent Choi taught me to make a decision when you’re 80 percent sure. That was transformative for me as a leader. It’s not that I hadn’t heard similar advice. But coming from someone I respected and trusted so strongly, I really took it in.

A mentor who helped you navigate the industry.

Aside from Brent, the person that comes to mind first is Marlene Hore. She was the first female creative director in Canada, and happened to be a friend of my grandmother’s. She explained to me how the industry worked, steered me toward a post-grad copywriting program and gave me incredibly valuable advice. Years later, we were both on stage the same night—she was being inducted into the Canadian Marketing Hall of Fame, and I was co-chairing the show. One of those rare full-circle moments where you pause and think, “How lucky am I?”

What you’d be doing if you weren’t in advertising.

In university I dreamed of working at the U.N., but in the chaos of my early advertising days, I fantasized about being a barista. I love the smell of coffee and talking to people, and you’re not tethered to a screen all day. Plus, your clients leave after 10 minutes. (I’m kidding, I genuinely love our clients. But no one asks for 12 rounds of revisions on their latte.)