Make It Fizz: Pablo Creatives Flora And Shivani’s Recipe For Wit And Meaning

Shivani Patel and Flora German are a pair who know how to make the most of a moment.

The creatives have made a name for purpose-driven work that sparks conversations – like Itty Titty stickers, a playfully innovative cancer awareness message designed to remind people to check their breasts for lumps.

But the duo excel at embracing their humorous side too. They marked Gavin and Stacey’s iconic revival with a quick-witted response for Deliveroo, and in a previous display of playful ingenuity they once turned Lick paint into Mac lipstick.

Whilst they studied on the same course at the University of Lincoln, it was a few years later that they joined forces.

And it has turned out to be a perfect match – not least because they both love a full fat coke. The pair have continued to impress since joining Pablo in June 2024, after three and a half years at Grey London where they took on their first midweight creative role.

From New York Times brain teasers, Leigh Bowery and Married At First Sight, they share the eclectic inspirations that fuel their creative energy. Here they explain what they are and why.

Shivani Patel - The letter A

I didn’t know anyone in advertising or that it was even an area I could work in growing up. I had phases of wanting to be a writer then a florist then a chef. And as with any project ever, my first idea - writer -  was the one that went live. When it came to picking my A-Levels, I was overwhelmed. So the chronic planner in me (even at 16 years old) researched what I wanted to study at uni in order to help me pick my sixth form classes.

The careers website started alphabetically, and guess what, Advertising begins with A. I clicked on it and found it was all about art and writing combined. Eureka! I read about art direction and copywriting, and reverse engineered my choices based on what would get me there. And it worked. 

I was the big boffin that picked Fine Art, Photography, English Language, and Graphic Design, which landed me unconditionally in Lincoln’s Creative Advertising course, and that’s where I met Flora.

Though we graduated with different partners, years later we were both hot, single, divorced wives in London and our love of prawns brought us together.

Kierra Lewis

Okay hear me out. I recently came across Kierra Lewis on Instagram, and my god, was I instantly obsessed. She’s a Tennessee woman who started reading the Harry Potter books for the first time. She went viral for her organic, real-time emotional reactions to plot points. And at times, she had me cry laughing, too.

The nostalgia, the comedy, the cinema - chef's kiss.

Another female creator who’s caught my attention is Sarah on @femalephysioco, she does short, daily pelvic floor exercise videos. It’s such a great way to use social media to get people interacting with her brand and wanting to come back for more.

At a time where it's so easy to scroll to the next video if it's not entertaining in the first 0.001 second, this one does it right.

Moving from digital to something more analogue, I recently went to the free Lives Less Ordinary exhibition at Two Temple Place. It’s all about working-class Britain re-seen. My favourites were Corbin Shaw’s 'Soften Up Hard Lad' and the collection of Britain’s Desi Pub signs, truly delicious.

The Japanese book of colour and cheesy rom coms

I’m decorating my flat at the moment and my algorithm seems to just be interior design bits and bobs. I’m enjoying looking at how to use space efficiently and have found a lot of it is subconsciously seeping into work skills. It’s almost like building my own set design. Like how much lighting can change your mood and what picking unexpected colour combinations says.

What’s making me feel warm? What’s making me feel energised? The Japanese Book of Colour is a great one to flick through. 

I also take a lot of inspiration from film in general, I try to get to the cinema regularly and note references. Some of my favs from this year and last were Perfect Days for its quiet joy and its banging soundtrack. Kneecap for its comedy and originality. The Brutalist for its cinematography, casting, type treatment and that intermission (big fan). Poor Things for its costume. I even have a deck full of movie posters I like, it’s a fun challenge to apply techniques from them to print.

I also admire directors like John Hughes in all his cheesy rom-com glory, my parents exposed me to 80s films pretty early on and I've been obsessed ever since. The truffle-shuffle lives rent free in my head.

A brain teaser and a full fat Coke

I have an unhealthy infatuation with NYT puzzles, I love a little brain teaser. So when LinkedIn started doing them, I was sceptical but bloody hell does it have a chokehold on me, a good way to start the morning and anyone who disagrees can fight me.

When it comes to concepting, it’s funny… I’m a copywriter who thinks visually first. I have to get my moodboard down before I can write, which is weird, but it works for me. Flora and I are all about the snacks, and sugar is our vice. In the afternoon, brain fuel comes in the form of some outside time - a walk to Tesco to buy a can of full-fat Coke each and some sour sweets… we listen and we don’t judge. I’ve even taught my CD that putting jalapeno brine in your [full fat] Coke is a game changer – thank you, Dua Lipa

Post work, I need a bit of trash TV. And the best of the best is Married At First Sight Australia, IYKYK.

Silliness and salmon

How many other people can say they go to work and just get to be silly? Advertising is a fun job. It can be hell at times but ultimately, it’s a big playground. Now, it is great to knock our funny bones but Flora and I gravitate to purpose-driven work. Our jobs don’t save lives on a daily, but finding a great insight smooshed together with the right tools and team, it certainly could save just one life. Like our Itty Titty Stickies campaign. And that’s a fantastic position to be in. It’s also optimistic to watch more women making it to the top.

We’re incredibly lucky to have Hannah and Harriet, two women as our joint MDs at Pablo setting the goalposts, a host of female mentors in the industry and friends for life who continue to be our muses.

The most intriguing thing I’ve had to teach a senior is… how to change the setting on Chrome so that all your tabs open back up again when you exit or your laptop does an annoying software update at the most inconvenient time. There’s no heartbreak like losing all the pages you have open. RIP to that one delicious salmon recipe I've never been able to find again. 

DIY banners

My first creative inspiration is my grandad. He’s definitely where I got my artistic gene from. He used to draw, paint and build miniature models. For every family event or birthday, he’d make a massive banner and hand paint bright red lettering in his own font. Banners aren’t cool? I beg to differ.

Flora German - Leigh Bowery

I’ve always been more of a 70s girly, seeing the 80’s as a bit garish and loud. But, the Outlaws: Fashion Renegades of 80s London at the Fashion & Textiles Museum opened my eyes to the creativity of the era. The exhibit centered around Leigh Bowery's club Taboo which had the dress code “dress as though your life depends on it, or don’t bother”. Needless to say the exhibition delivered on that and I came away ashamed of the lack of neon and wacky prints in my life. Both of which I learnt are a fabulous way to take up space.

I like going to see things I don’t know about or “get” yet. It's the perfect place to deep dive into something completely new to me, like Leigh Bowery’s 80s.

When I want to learn about something, I’m more drawn to good storytelling than documentaries. I like coming away having experienced a part of it. As we all know feelings stay with us a lot more than facts and figures. For example, we all know about how horrific the HIV/AIDs crisis was when it first broke. But watching 'It’s A Sin' taught me more about that time than any documentary could. I came away from it with a better understanding of the depth of fear gay men must’ve felt, not just of the virus, but even worse, how they were ultimately left by the rest of the world to deal with it. I sobbed to my parents, “What do you mean no one wanted to help?”.

Other shows like 'I May Destroy You', 'Big Boys', 'and The Boston Strangler' are also amazing examples of this. And, you know what, I’ll throw in a great documentary - 'A24’s The Deepest Breath' (because it had phenomenal storytelling). I’ve also currently got my eyes on the Secrets of Soil exhibition at Somerset House.

Glue Society

Glue Society has such a wicked portfolio of work. At Pablo, we’ve been thrown into more activation-based work which has been new and fun so I’ve been looking to Glue Society for a masterclass. Reel screenings at work bring a lot of inspiration too, Shiv and I like emotional storytelling, but are always keen to add a weird quirk to cut through the cheese.

An all-time favourite of mine is Childline’s 'Nobody’s Normal', because it tackles a difficult issue but in a quirky way.

I also just like anything a bit creepy like Rosco 5’s Gargle Brothers. I’ve always been into art being raised by an oil painter. I’m proud to say I’m friends with my mum, and a lot of that is based on everything she’s been able to show me about the art world. Creativity gets fobbed off as a soft skill, but I don’t know anyone who works harder than her. I hate the word ‘talent’ because of her. She got to where she is because of her hard work and obsession, not some inbuilt magic power.

So I’d love to work on a piece that involves some painstaking craft like stop frame animation to dip into an artist's weird and wonderful world, Anna Matzaris would be a dream.

The pub 

The best and worst thing about adland is that there isn’t always structure. There’s always something different to work on. I like the flexibility to flick between briefs for a bit of a palate cleanser, or a snack walk. If there’s a dog in the office, priorities naturally change. Shivani and I have joined the culture club, which is also fun to be involved with.

It’s nice to pepper in organising Pancake Day between timesheets, no? On a busy day, we’ll be heads down. On a quiet one, we’ll work on proactive or personal projects, always making sure to carve out time to improve our favourite probation feedback note “good in the pub” to “excellent”. There’s always room for improvement…

Female leaders

A friend recently pointed out that they didn’t know any CD double female teams, and I realised I could only pick out one myself. If you’re out there, please do "hola". My hypothesis is that it’s a symptom of the industry’s ever-improving, but still present, gender disparity up top. Perhaps a double female team is considered a risk at a certain body clock age? Or female/male teams benefit from the male typically taking a shorter paternity period (assuming both wanted to reach that period in their life at a similar time). I don’t know. I’m just raising the point that from our position and what is presented before us, this is something to think about, which feels bleak.

We’ve been beyond lucky to work with many phenomenal and supportive male and female leaders. Hannah and Harriet here at Pablo lead with authority, heart, and heels. They recently brought in their heroes; Katy Talikowska (CEO of the Valuable 500) and Hattie Matthews (founder of Unchartered), for a talk, who are now also our heroes. Matthews recently set up Uncharted with Laura Jordan Bambach who hired us at Grey and led by example (and again with heart). So, even just knowing that all these women are taking up their much-deserved space up top makes it all feel that bit more possible.