2 Minutes With … Anders Malm, Senior Copywriter at Forsman & Bodenfors

Anders is a senior copywriter at Forsman & Bodenfors in Gothenburg, Sweden. Over the last 10 years he’s worked with Activision Blizzard, Roborock, Fastighetsbyrån, Apotek Hjärtat, Logitech, Bodyform, the Swedish Heartchild Foundation and local soccer teams.

We spent two minutes with Anders to learn more about his background, his creative inspirations and recent work he’s admired.

Anders, tell us …

Where you grew up, and where you live now.

I grew up in the small working class town of Landskrona in the south of Sweden. I am currently living in Gothenburg.

How you first realized you were creative.

When I was 14, I worked in a print shop on my summer holiday. One day we got a job to print the invitation to a photo exhibition. The invitation was printed on a small piece of paper that I had to put into a camera roll. It was hell! So I asked who came up with this idea and learned about advertising. I decided then I wanted to be the one coming up with the idea to stuff paper into a photo roll, and not the person stuffing it in there.

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

Arranging a walk-out in all high schools in the small town of Helsingborg to fight against Neo-Nazis. I probably didn’t learn that much about writing in that journalism class, but it was a real “Captain, my captain” moment when the teacher encouraged us to pursue and execute the idea.

A visual artist or band/musician you admire.

The Hives and the stuff they’ve done to promote their last album. From creating a funny-punny catch phrase for the album to franchise Hives around the world to “meet market demand. ” It’s exactly the kind of lovable and dumb stuff you’re looking for in rock music.

A book, movie, TV show or podcast you recently found inspiring.

A heart-warming Swedish documentary called Den Sista Resan (The Last Trip), about an old man that has grown afraid of life and takes one last trip to the south of France with his son to reconnect with his joie de vivre. I cried! I laughed! I had a babysitter and a date with my girlfriend!

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

“The Spotify Parenthesis.” After an eight-year hiatus, indie band Bye Bye Bicycle tried making a comeback on an indie budget (they had $50 for ads). So, we turned all their old and quite popular songs into ads for the new songs by adding a custom-made parenthesis to each song and album title, making our way onto thousands of playlists.

A recent project you’re proud of. 

We got asked by Activision Blizzard to build hype in the fanbase for the new game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III. And we found that Call of Duty fans had a long-standing tradition of skipping work to play on the release day of a new game. In Sweden, you can call in sick to work for basically any reason without losing your job. However, you will lose one day’s salary. So, we created a grant that reimbursed gamers who skipped work for Call of Duty.

Someone else’s work that inspired you years ago.

Puma’s “Hard Chorus.” Maybe because I love the Premier League.

Someone else’s work you admired lately.

TBWA Belgium and the McDonalds’ Cutlery campaign. So simple!

A mentor that helped you navigate the industry.

Axel Tagg, creative director at Forsman Toronto and Gunnar Skarland. I’d be nowhere without them. Absolutely nowhere! I also owe a lot to my former art director partner Niklas Olovsson.

How you’re paying it forward with the next generation of creatives.

I make sure to to mentor portfolios at my old school YRGO each year and try to offer internships as often as I can. And answer all emails from young students! It’s so important to never forget how daunting it was reaching out to creatives at agencies in the beginning of your career. 

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

A swanky bartender somewhere spending my days making Tepache and Manhattans.