I'm Edu Pou, originally from Barcelona and now living in Tasmania with my wife Demelza and our two kids, Oscar and Axel. I spent years working in advertising around the world before moving into research, and I'm currently in my third year of a PhD at the University of Tasmania. I write books, think about interruption and human behaviour, and love finding unexpected connections between ideas.
Edu Pou had previously worked face-to-face with hundreds of people, and transitioning to fully remote collaboration across large groups was a significant shift. His honest assessment, shared in April 2022, was that the company was still fig
In advertising, everything moves very fast, and there is a real temptation to just deliver what is asked within a three-month project cycle and move on. Edu Pou pushes back against that rhythm. He wants to create something that is meaningfu
One of Edu Pou's bosses in Amsterdam made a point that stayed with him: advertising usually expects people to fit a role, to write and design like a brand. When you try to mimic a company's voice, the work becomes completely soulless. The a
Edu Pou is honest about advertising's bad press: it tries to sell you things, it interrupts what you're doing, and it gets everywhere. That reputation is deserved. But he puts it in perspective by noting that 95 percent of virtually any dis
Gladwell's article describes how in the early 1950s, dyeing one's hair was largely reserved for actresses and a very narrow slice of society. When L'Oreal launched 'Because You're Worth It', it was a message of female empowerment wrapped in
Malcolm Gladwell wrote an article arguing that capitalism allows people to vote not every four years, but every single time they buy something. With companies now far more exposed, not just through their products but through their behavior,
The headline that NFTs are polluting has become very mainstream, and there is truth to it: there is a lot of computer power behind all of these technologies. However, the view from inside the space is that this is quickly being fixed. Pollu
Edu Pou uses a quote from Charlie Brooker, the creator of Black Mirror, to frame the uncomfortable reality of user-generated content campaigns. Brooker wrote in The Guardian that TV advertising used to work like this: you sat on your sofa w
Edu Pou reflects that projects which go beyond the ordinary can only happen when you have a client who believes in pushing further than what is expected. In the case of the road-trip film shot during the first COVID lockdown, the client was
During COVID-19 lockdowns, Edu Pou directed 'The Drive', a four-hour slow TV film for Audi Australia, without ever being on location. The entire direction happened via WhatsApp and Google Meet. Inspired by the slow TV genre (long-form unedi
The Toyota Hy Project started from a deceptively simple question: could the sound that vehicles emit actually help the environment rather than harm it? Global research, including studies from Oxford and other prestigious universities, sugge
The Etihad Airways VR project 'Reimagine', starring Nicole Kidman, was the first time an award-winning actor appeared in a 360-degree film. The production recreated a full flight from New York to Abu Dhabi, combining a heist plot with mista
MembersTo promote Netflix's Altered Carbon, a show set in a future where wealthy people transfer their consciousness into new bodies called 'sleeves,' Edu Pou's team created a fitting room experience that let people try on different bodies before
To launch EA Sports FIFA 15, Edu Pou's team wanted to capture the emotional intensity of real football and translate it into a physical artifact. The result was a custom chocolate bar called 'Bitter Sweet: The Taste of Football.' Two versio
Edu Pou makes a point that is easy to overlook when celebrating creative work: for something like the Domino's Pizza Tracker to exist, you need a client with real courage. It was not enough to have a clever idea. Domino's had to change the
The Domino's Pizza Tracker is a progress bar that shows customers exactly where their order is, moving through five stages: Order Placed, Prep, Bake, Box, and Delivery, complete with the pizza maker's name and exact timestamps. Before it ex
In 2003, Edu Pou and his team created a campaign for Nike built around a conspiracy theory set in Madrid. Madrid has a famous statue of a bear and a strawberry tree at the centre of the city. The campaign invented a story that lightning str
Edu Pou's first job in advertising was at an interactive digital agency, and he believes that set the pace for everything he did afterward. He graduated around the time the internet was blooming, and entering the industry through a digital
Edu Pou describes his relationship with advertising through a quote from The Godfather: 'Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in.' He has been in advertising for over 25 years, but never felt drawn to the commercial side of th
Edu Pou's Placelists project was supported by a launch television commercial as well as a series of content films featuring real people, including pieces titled 'Pia and Leiti' and 'Will and Jake'. This combination of a broadcast launch veh
Edu Pou's 'The Legendary Posters' project was a multi-platform creative series that included a trailer, individual story pieces such as 'The one that played fire tennis against Jimmy Connors', and dedicated presences on Tumblr and Instagram
Edu Pou's 'Life Size Messi' campaign extended across multiple touchpoints, including a dedicated mobile site and a perimeter board animation at Camp Nou. Using the stadium's perimeter boards as a creative canvas allowed the campaign to reac
As part of Edu Pou's advertising work, the Coca-Cola 'Roll Out Happiness' campaign featured a portable park concept. This suggests a physical or experiential activation designed to bring a sense of public space and leisure directly to peopl
Edu Pou is a PhD researcher, author, and advertising thinker from Barcelona whose creative portfolio includes a diverse range of projects. His work spans brand campaigns such as Coca-Cola's 'Roll Out Happiness' with a portable park concept,
I'm originally from Barcelona, but I spent years living and working around the world in advertising. That's where I met my wife, Demelza Rafferty, who is originally from Tasmania and is wonderfully talented. We moved to Tasmania because of
As of October 2026, I'm in the middle of writing the sequel to my first book. It's called The Lie. The first book was about interruption, and this one continues that thread into new territory. I can't say much more than that yet, but the ti
I wrote a book about interruption and the role that advertising plays in life. What surprised me while writing it was discovering that interruption is a very human thing. It's not the nuisance we usually think it is. That reframe changed ho
Every piece here is something Edu Pou can talk you through, in their own words.