Andy Sandoz, creative partner at Havas Work Club, has been sworn in as D&AD President 2015-16. According to D&AD, he’s “a sci-fi traveller stuck in the wrong time, working very hard to help us all catch up.”

When Sandoz states that creativity is going to save the world (and he has), this is what he means:

“The next 20 years will be a golden age, in which we envision, design and deliver a new world. With good reason, as right now this one we have really needs us. We have to design a new way to live on earth, create new ways to live with each other and work out how we are going to live with technology.”

“Fortunately we humans are already sophisticated problem solving machines, able to start with just an idea and the belief that it can be done. And rather than fighting against the machines as we see in the movies, we actually have technology on our side.

“Understanding how science and technology works makes you think about what is possible. Asking yourself ‘can this work?’. It makes you experiment, and to me that is the essence of creativity. To every day explore what is possible.

“The future is anyone’s guess, so why can’t it be yours? Invest in technology. Invest in creativity. In this D&AD is your rock and your light. We are a not-for-profit platform for creativity, giving directly to initiatives that drive our industry forward. Our Pencils don’t just award excellence, create confidence and make careers – they show us all the way forward. Our education initiatives take the knowledge from the Pencil winners and turn it into wisdom we can all share and learn from.”

“We create catalysts such as the White Pencil, awarding work for good, to encourage answers our industry and our world needs to see. We ask brands to take the responsible seat at the table. Our New Blood education program accelerates the next generation and promotes diversity helping us stay fresh and grow. If the answer to our problems is creativity, and I believe that it is, then D&AD is a vital platform to help us achieve our goals.”

“Become a member of D&AD and you become a member of your own future, enter your work into D&AD and you enter your work into your everyone’s future, win at D&AD and you boost everyone’s future times ten.”