‘I faked it as hard as I could’: How Mojo Supermarket’s founder broke the Madison Avenue-style advertising mold

By Kimeko McCoy

Mo Said has been faking it for years. For the better part of his advertising career, the Pakistani-bred creative has bluffed everything from his accent and his name to his interests, with the hope of blending into a predominantly white ad industry.

“I faked it as hard as I could until my personality broke and I went into depression,” Said explained. “If you play a character for a really long time, you eventually break as a person.”

Back then, Said was a 28-year-old copywriter working at Droga5, one of the most highly-regarded agencies in the world. But he was burnt out, exhausted from large agency culture and unimpressed with advertising’s sameness. “I’m faking it. I’ve lost all the friends that I needed to lose to have this perception of who I am so I can work in this industry,” he said. “I’ve lost my identity and accent. I’ve done all this, become a different person to make this work and this work sucks.”

With no prior business experience or financial backing, Said took a leap of faith and left Droga5, determined to make space for people like him, people he calls “outsiders of mainstream culture” who were also reeling from burnout. In 2018, he founded his own agency, New York-based Mojo Supermarket.

The move paid off. Said’s agency and its 60 staffers have spent the last four years giving legacy agencies a run for their money and raking in creative awards, including Cannes Lions, One Show and American Advertising Awards. The shop has snapped up work with big name clients like Match.com, Adidas and Girls Who Code. Said said he is just getting started with plans to expand Mojo Supermarket’s capabilities to include product, strategy, content and more.

“I saw the work, what it could be and I thought I’d give it a try,” Said said. “If it doesn’t work, then I go home and work in a bank in Pakistan.”

This attitude speaks to Said’s dedication to his craft. His friends describe him as a creative with no off button. “When he’s not working, he’s writing songs and playing guitar. He cannot stop,” said Camilo De Galofre, founding member and director of art and design at Mojo Supermarket. “His brain just keeps going and going. That’s what I truly admire about him.”

Said and De Galofre met early in their careers, and the two recalled memories during their time together at Droga5.

De Galofre recalled a story in which Said was at a wedding when he met someone from the Adidas marketing team who was looking for a creative agency. At the time, Said was still working for Droga5. But instead of offering names from his current place of work, on a whim, Said offered Mojo Supermarket. There was one catch: It wasn’t an agency yet. It was a bold move, but one that worked, De Galofre said. “We totally faked that we had an agency. We made it work and then won an award with it,” he added, referring …read more

Source:: Digiday