Trailblazers of the Creative Road: Ritva Isteri and Anna Huttunen

Ritva Isteri had a long and influential career at SEK, recognised with a Platinum Huippu award in 2020. Having retired three years ago, the designer now focuses on her own art projects. Creative/AD Anna Huttunen is a current member of the SEK team who joined as an intern in 2021.

How did you end up in the creative industry?

Ritva: Advertising was a rising, magnetic field, and already in upper secondary school in the late 1970s I was asking how to become an advertising illustrator. I got my foot in the door when, on the recommendation of some good people, I landed an internship in Renlund's advertising department in the early 1980s. From there I went first to smaller agencies and later to bigger ones, such as Bates Saatchi & Saatchi, Lintas and finally SEK.

Anna: I remember thinking hard in upper secondary school about which direction I wanted to take, and I felt drawn to creative work. I wanted to do something in the space between media, culture and art. At the time I didn't even realise that working at a creative agency would be exactly that. I ended up studying graphic design, and that's how I worked out that I wanted to work at an advertising agency.

What has your career at SEK been like?

Ritva: As a young designer I had admired SEK and thought I would get there one day. In 1998 SEK called to say they needed a female AD for Spar Finland. At SEK I got some of the best-known brands on my desk, and I stayed committed to them for years. I loved building concepts. Creative leadership was offered to me at times, but I knew myself: I was too much of a maker, and I didn't want to be responsible for other people's work. I wanted to keep my hands in the clay.

Anna: I joined as an intern in 2021. During the pandemic it was terribly hard to get work, but I made a list of Helsinki advertising agencies and applied to every one. I managed to call at the right moment, just when help was needed. Since then I have been at SEK as a junior graphic designer, an AD assistant and now an AD. I have worked on many different accounts, which I have enjoyed.

What single upheaval has defined your SEK years the most?

Anna: Thanks to AI, I work in a completely different way today than I did three years ago. The role of social media has also grown enormously in my time: social used to be a separate thing that nobody knew how to plan into a campaign. Now social is a channel to be taken just as seriously as radio or television.

Ritva: A big shift came with the rise of social media between 2005 and 2010, when mass media and shared mainstream culture broke apart. Suddenly the whole logic of advertising changed, and one-way communication became a dialogue. Clever print or a TV spot aimed at everyone was no longer enough; it took phenomena and earned media. Every brand began to think about its purpose.

It used to be a luxury to spend two weeks on a single idea, because it was so important that it landed and entertained. Today there are hundreds of channels and you have to speak to people in many different situations, and still the messages have to land. So good marketing communication is many times more challenging, and more expensive, to make.

Anna: I do envy that, being able to spend two weeks on one idea. Right now it's a luxury to get two days. A certain hectic pace has definitely increased.

What are a designer's most important skills or qualities in the AD role?

Ritva: Mental flexibility. You need the mental capacity to see things from many perspectives. I would also say an inner flame: the ability to inspire and be inspired. Third, I'd mention hard work.

Anna: I agree with all of those. I would add that curiosity is hugely important: staying interested in what is happening around you and what interests people, not just yourself. As well as a visual eye, you have to understand the world.

Where do you see this work heading in the future?

Anna: I think the more AI develops and can handle the technical side, the more important it becomes to understand people and culture. The AD's role will be more about good taste, understanding and curation. AI may be able to replace drawing, but you still need to know what good drawing or a good photograph is.

Ritva: Well said. I also see the work coming closer to its name, Art Director. We will become directors of art who hold the threads and set the direction in which a brand's look or communication develops.