Gorillas And Fake Churches: How Edelman's Oscar Muller And Sabine Stromsky Stay Inspired

Hailing from Germany and Sweden, Sabine Stromsky and Oscar Muller have had their eyes set on adland since their youth.

Children of the ’90s, they were enchanted by iconic ads - from Cadbury’s Gorilla to Roy Andersson’s dry Swedish humour.

Having lapped up the Golden Age of advertising, they both wound up in the Big Smoke, working at the likes of Saatchi & Saatchi, Mother, and Grey. Their portfolios span Helly Hansen, the United Nations, Red Bull, John Frieda, and more.

With five years’ experience at Edelman, where they’ve embraced the power of creative earned media, the pair are now associate creative directors. Their latest win? A Bronze Lion at Cannes for their work with Amref Health.

From trips to the V&A Storehouse in Shoreditch to reboots of The Naked Gun, and the buzz of extraordinary work and heartfelt conversations at Cannes - here’s how they fuel their creative fire.

Oscar

I’m a kid of the 90s, which I firmly believe was the golden era of TV ads. Back in Sweden, the best ones were sharp, dry, weird (shoutout to Roy Andersson), and you could tell the people who made them had fun. But it always bothered me that while you could make ads people actually wanted to see, most companies didn’t. That felt like a wasted privilege. If you’ve got the budget and the airtime to put something in front of people’s faces, why wouldn’t you make it worth their time?

Of course, it’s not about creating a new golden age of TV ads anymore. Creativity today isn’t just about writing good words or making things look sexy. It’s much more about solving problems. Figuring out how the pieces fit together - and more importantly, finding the pieces no one thought to look for. Realising that even an asshole can save a life, so you create a tear-jerker about the world’s biggest asshole, perfectly timed to Coldplay. Or seeing that your mobile game has a huge fanbase but no history, so you make one up.

The other thing is action. It's always more interesting to do than to just say. Even in entertainment. That’s why Last Week Tonight with John Oliver stands out from all the other late-night shows. Not just because it’s funnier - but because they act. They don’t just talk about net neutrality; they share a link to the FCC comment section and crash the site. They don’t just talk about shady televangelists; they create a fake church, take donations, and give it all to charity. It’s stupid. It’s brilliant. It’s useful.

There’s another shift happening quietly in the background. The comeback of funny. Over the last decade, we’ve had what - ten big comedy blockbusters? Most of them fiscally safe and expected. And now suddenly, when nobody asked for it, The Naked Gun gets a reboot. That’s not just Deadpool, that’s different.

And I blindly choose to believe they cast Liam Neeson mostly because his name sounds like Leslie Nielsen.

If this means we’re heading into a new era where we help brands solve real problems, have fun, and play with an absolutely mad bunch of technology - this could be a pretty golden time to be a creative.

 What was the question again? Shit, I forgot to say AI…

Sabine

It started with a gorilla.

A chocolate ad, a Phil Collins drum solo and a full-size gorilla losing itself in the moment. I was still in Germany, where ads felt safe and tidy, and seeing that Cadbury ad felt like discovering a parallel universe. I didn’t know ads could be that strange. It felt bold, surreal and strangely emotional. It made me want in.

There was something magnetic about UK advertising, the way it leaned into character and chaos. I started in traditional adland in 2012, but five years ago Oscar and I made the switch into the earned space at Edelman. We wanted to make work that people talk about, that people share not because they’re targeted, but because it hits something real. Since then, it has been concept decks, pitch deadlines, reactive madness and chasing ideas that don’t just sell, but stick. 

What keeps it interesting is that inspiration is everywhere. Sometimes it’s in a TikTok comment section, sometimes it’s walking through the V&A East Storehouse, surrounded by colour, contrast and random beauty. You can get so close to everything in that space, like you’re being let into someone’s private, curated chaos. It reminds me that ideas don’t have to be neat. They just have to connect. 

Cannes was a jolt of that too. I was part of See It Be It in 2022 and left with a head full of stories from creative women around the world. Not just shiny reels, but honest conversations about pressure, ambition, failure and momentum. I stopped thinking about having one creative hero. It’s the work that inspires me now.

This year’s standouts, “Caption with Intention,” AXA’s “Three Words,” Channel 4’s “Considering What?” and “The Final Copy of Ilon Specht,” all stayed with me. Not because they were clever, but because they felt necessary. Because they came from somewhere deeper than just strategy.

I try to bring a bit of that into the everyday. My day usually starts with Oscar. We check in, plan what’s ahead and get each other in the zone. From there, it depends what the calendar throws at me. Briefs, brainstorms, reviews, last minute pivots. Some days are about building something from scratch, others are about protecting the original spark.

What keeps me going is that it never stops shifting. AI, new platforms, new formats, all of it just means more ways to tell better stories. And as long as there’s space for weird, emotional, surprising ideas, I’m in.