After graduating in journalism, Danni Liu started her career as a trainee movie journalist in traditional media before moving to a new media platform focused on lifestyle. A year later, Danni felt limited by expressing ideas through words alone and wanted to use writing to fuel creativity in a bigger way.
That’s what led her to jump into the marketing and advertising industry and to Dentsu Creative, where she’s since had the opportunity to work with brands like L'Oréal, Johnson & Johnson, KFC, and HALEON.
Danni Liu, senior copywriter from Dentsu Creative China, sat down with Little Black Book (LBB) to discuss her commitment to staying foolish and humble, diverse exploration, and the storytellers that continue to inspire and influence her work. Discover more LBB’s Creativity Squared series, visit lbbonline.com.
PERSON
Q: How do you like to see the world?
A: I think it depends on where you are in life.
When I was very young, it was all about ME. My immediate surroundings were my world. For most of us, that initial understanding of the world comes from personal experience – our family, friends, community, and school. It’s like starting out on the Great Plateau in ‘The Legend of Zelda’. You’re gathering sticks, finding axes, lighting torches, talking to the old man for clues to move the story forward. It’s that childhood process of ‘decentration.’ But as you get older, you realise that your own experiences, and even the experiences of others, don’t make up the whole world. There are countless shrines beyond the Plateau, and even more beyond that in the DLC (downloaded content).
During university, I had two very different volunteer experiences.
One was working at the Yellow Deli café in the Blue Mountains, Sydney, which is run by the Twelve Tribes community. They have their own farm, their own art – everyone seems to be a musician or choreographer – their own school for homeschooling... They try to shield themselves from the outside world to create a safe space for their beliefs. But in doing so, they also reject modern culture and technology. Their entire universe, their life’s understanding, is contained within that café.
My other volunteer gig was helping a retired photography professor organise his family albums. He and his wife built a Mondrian-style villa on the outskirts of Melbourne. The house itself was a gallery, filled with sculptures, paintings, records, and a whole wall of cameras. Even in his 70s, he had this incredibly forward-thinking spirit, constantly keeping life fresh. But of course, they also carried the deep sorrow of losing a daughter young.
In a worldly sense, the former has all but exited the game, while the latter clearly stands as the winner. It’s like two extremes of living. But which life is more worth living? There’s no answer. The most fascinating thing about life is that so much of it can be proven false. The truths you hold onto so firmly today might be completely overturned years later. I hope that in my limited time, facing this vast world, I can stay foolish, stay humble, and keep updating myself.
Q: When it comes to creative ‘stuff’ that you enjoy, do you like things that are similar to the work you do or do you enjoy exploring?
A: Most of the time, I lean towards diverse exploration. I try to enrich my creative perspective through music, books, films, and podcasts.
One of my all-time favourite docs is ‘How To with John Wilson’. He uses this absurd, almost chaotic narrative style and deliberately rough footage to turn everyday topics –like how to remember your dreams or how to find a parking spot – into something utterly fascinating. Then there’s indie game developer Kan Gao, with games like ‘To the Moon’ and ‘Finding Paradise’. He creates these incredibly complex, moving stories using just pixel art, and apparently, he’s made millions of tough guys cry.
They’re both brilliant storytellers, and that’s a skill that transcends any single creative field.
At the same time, it is also crucial to pay attention to content similar to work. Unlike some other creative areas, advertising creativity is almost always tied to a specific business goal. It’s about dancing in shackles.’ You must think about strategy, logic, media, ROI... it’s tougher in some ways. I make a point of checking out international award winners from places like Cannes Lions or The One Show, as well as successful local campaigns, to learn from their approaches.
PRODUCT
Q: How do you assess whether an idea or a piece of work is truly creative? What are your criteria?
A: Maybe it boils down to just one thing: Did it change how people live?
At the 2025 Cannes Lions, a winning project called ‘Captioned with Intention’ really stuck with me. Since the 70s, subtitles were just static white text on a black background. For the deaf individuals, watching a movie felt like reading a boring silent script. So the Chicago Hearing Society launched this project that uses colour, animation, and font changes to give subtitles emotion, rhythm, and personality – turning them into actual ‘actors.’ It allows deaf audiences to fully experience the story’s depth and the characters’ nuances. It was so impactful, it even won a technical Oscar.
Another great example is how the UK brand LUSH reshaped people’s handwashing habits. We all know you’re supposed to wash for at least 30 seconds to effectively kill germs, but almost no one does it because who wants to stand there counting? To solve this during the pandemic when hand hygiene was critical, LUSH created a 30-second soap. It’s this tiny bar that you hold in your palm and lather until it completely dissolves. By the time it’s gone, you’ve washed your hands long enough. Simple, brilliant, and it changed behaviour.
Dream Concert in the Mountains sponsored by Fenbid
PROCESS
Q: Are there any tools or platforms (analogue or digital) that you find particularly helpful for gathering or iterating ideas?
A: AI tools, for sure. Last year I tried developing a gesture-tracking virtual rock-climbing game using Gemini 3. Players control a character to climb upward with both hands. Though the character and holds were pretty ugly, Gemini 3 got it done in just a few minutes. I also recreated that iconic scene from the movie ‘Robot Dreams’ – the dog drawing the robot’s face on a foggy car window. From the interaction of fogging the glass with your breath, to the finger-drawing strokes, to the realistic water drips, I got it all working with Gemini 3 without too much trouble.
Motion capture may not be a new technology, but it’s now equally accessible to ordinary people like me with zero design or coding background. The ‘code leverage’ Naval Ravikant mentioned is within reach – the vibe-coding era has arrived. All that’s missing is the idea.
Q: Are there any techniques that you’ve tried that just didn’t gel with you, why?
A: I get pretty motion sick with VR.
I went to a Klimt digital exhibition once. I put on the headset, and in this dark virtual space, I turned my head… and there was this huge, massive Egyptian pharaoh just lying right there behind me. It absolutely terrified me.
PRESS
Q: Where did you grow up and what early experiences do you think sowed the seeds of your creativity?
A: Before I answer, I think it helps to break down ‘creativity’ itself: for me, it’s a mix of sensitivity, innovation, and the ability to express.
Sensitivity: I grew up in Xiushui, Jiangxi. For the first few years of my childhood, my parents were busy with work, so I spent a lot of time alone. But that also gave me the freedom to just… observe the world. From a young age, I was always very sensitive to changes in space, sounds, smells.
I think this kind of sensitivity is probably part of the ‘default settings’ for most creative people – it’s what helps you find those real insights. As Bob Dylan once said ‘Some people feel the rain. Others just get wet.’
Innovation: When I was a kid, my favourite TV shows were ‘Art Attack’ and ‘Changing Rooms’. I was obsessed with figuring out how to get my hands on some of Neil Buchanan’s PVA glue, and I’d be glued to the TV watching people renovate houses. In fourth or fifth grade, I wrote a couple of (looking back, incredibly chaotic and immature) full-length novels in Word. I even posted on Baidu Knows asking someone to design a cover for me and uploaded them to Sina Reading. Nobody read them, probably.
Another time, I lugged the towering stereo system – taller than I was at the time – into my bedroom, downloaded a pirated Chinese version of mixing software, and spent the whole day messing around with it on my computer. Still, I don’t think innovation is my strength. My classmate back then was already making intricate wooden models out of his parents’ discarded renovation materials!
Expression: Expression is really the art of storytelling – using a specific medium to accurately convey an idea or an emotion.
For me, I think I started learning this through words and music. When I was little, whenever my parents went out, they’d each leave a handwritten letter on my desk for me. And the next time I saw them, I’d have a reply ready for them. Written words were the first medium I connected with.
Then, after I got my first MP3 player, I discovered that different music genres each have their own unique rhythms and emotional expressions. ‘Where words fail, music speaks’ – sometimes music carries a weight that words simply cannot match. For example, you can express ‘lightness’ so differently through jazz versus city pop. You can convey ‘loneliness’ in completely distinct ways with post-rock versus neo-classical. It was another whole world of expression opening.
-ENDS-
