Mete Erdogan

Background

About Mete Erdogan

Art and comedy have always been the tools I’ve used to connect with people, from drawing hybrids of potential clients’ favourite food and animals (spaghetti dolphins are oddly common) to reenacting Shakespeare’s King Lear with a short film cast entirely by our thumbs. I’ve always been armed with a pencil and a desire to bring joy with my ideas, no matter the medium—and now I am fortunate enough to do this for a living, not just to get on the school bully’s good side. I am an award-winning Creative Director with an illustration background. I set off for a five-year stint in New York in 2013, first as an Art Director at Saatchi & Saatchi and then as freelance illustrator and designer. At Saatchi, I made ads for big clients like Cheerios and Chase, earning me a slew of CLIO, Cannes Lions and Webby Awards, and even a place in MoMA’s permanent collection. As a freelancer in New York, I focussed on murals, hand lettering and illustrations for clients like Sweetgreen, Frank Body, Shinola and Birchbox. I headed back to Melbourne after fulfilling my New York dream to start my own studio, Either Either. We were a network of specialist creatives, all with a focus on (and love for) health and community messaging. This allowed us to move on projects quickly, cost-effectively and with a keen emphasis on craft with clients such as ME Bank, MYOB and the University of Melbourne. I was Creative Director of 50 Crates, an insight-driven branding agency that uses the Socratic method of thinking to challenge the 'why' behind every answer. I helped clients find their own truths behind what they do and develop a company belief they can share with the world through all their internal and external communications. We did this for clients such as Priceline, Quest Apartment Hotels and Frasers Property. I am now art director at Monster & Bear, an end-to-end creative and production agency. This means we walk our clients through each step of the process, from conception, strategy, production, and all the way to the final delivery. We’ve done this for clients like Sexyland, Gilette Venus and FIFA Humor has been the throughline in my career: I take funny stuff seriously and serious stuff funnily. I’ve used humor to change American policy for gay blood donors for GLAAD (the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation), reassured young people they’re not alone through the social-media comedy series ‘Living With COVID’ for the University of Melbourne and raised money for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation with my (anti)viral ‘I’ve done all of Brighton’ face mask.