Our new Associate Creative Director, Maria Mihaylova, is one of the few people we know that wanted to become an ad person since she was (almost) a toddler. So we sat down with her to ask her some questions on creative, advertising and beyond.

1. How did you end up in Advertising?

I wouldn’t say I just ended up in advertising. Working in an ad agency was actually my childhood dream—peculiar as that may sound. I loved watching TV, so I used to draw pack shots and write little ad jingles. Very cute, very demure.

2. Which part of your work do you love and which do you truly despise?

I love that I get to do what I love. Advertising feels like the fun cousin in the corporate world, yet it still has a real social impact. What I hate is that I have to practice it within the walls of an urban concrete building. Sometimes, I imagine that instead of being in the advertising field, I am in an actual grass one.

3. What changes have you observed in our work in the recent years? How have you adapted to them?

So much has changed, even in our daily routines. AI has played a huge role—eight years ago, it took me hours to manually remove the background from an image of a parsley leaf, whereas now, it takes seconds. Everything moves faster—trends, apps, topics—so we have to keep up.

4. What’s the challenges you’re facing being with a background in Art Direction in Advertising?

The biggest challenge, in my opinion, is proving that conceptual thinking isn’t just for copywriters. In fact, I often feel the opposite is true—especially now, when visual storytelling is essential and everyone is filming videos with unique transitions and angles. I’ve always seen myself as more of a creative rather than just a designer—for me, the difference lies in the depth of the idea.

5. Favourite project you’ve worked on?

I don’t have one all-time favorite, but a few stand out:

• A bookstore rebranding that genuinely brings people joy.
• Launching a Korean cosmetics brand using authentic videos of Bulgarian people with diverse skin tones.
• A campaign identity where we melted aluminum and poured it over hot water (despite all warnings) to create typography.

6. Favourite person you’ve worked with?

Aside from my amazing colleagues at &play, my favorite person I’ve worked with would be my father. As a composer, he brought my childhood jingles to life and made them feel possible. I’m deeply grateful for the support I had in my creative ideas—even at the age of 10.

Also, I have to mention a dog named Vihra—exceptionally well-behaved on set and a true professional!

7. Tell us the most irrelevant but interesting thing that has happened to you recently.

I found my lucky chestnut, which had been missing for the last 12 years. I also like baking cakes.