The Man Behind the Viral Horse Drawing Meme Talks Advertising

"Award-winning Executive Creative Director Ali Bati handles a number of diverse ad campaign initiatives, from getting more people to sign up for an art school to helping preserve biodiversity on the planet. But he always begins his process the same way: ""The key is to find the human truth,"" he explains to Entrepreneur magazine Editor in Chief Jason Feifer. ""The dynamics of the market can be different around the world, but essentially we have more in common than we think.""

Bati talks about how a drawing school ad turned into an insanely viral meme about Game of Thrones.

Recently, the World Wildlife Federation challenged Bati to come up with a campaign that called attention to animals on the edge of extinction. But rather than focusing on cute and cuddly creatures, the campaign took a different approach. They depicted how scary a world without sharks, scorpions, and the like would be. ""For a campaign to be engaging, it needs to have tension so people care about it more,"" Bati explains. ""When you look at it, it ignites a reaction or emotion. And that's what we were aiming for."""