Where were you when the lights went out?

This past February’s Super Bowl XLVII was memorable for a number of reasons, from having two brothers as opposing head coaches, to a highly praised halftime show. But the most unexpected surprise came when the stadium suffered a power outage in the third quarter. While most fans just sat there, waiting for the problem to resolved, one quick thinking advertising agency churned out an ad for one of its clients and sent it out into the Twitterverse within minutes of the blackout. The agency was 360i, and the ad was the now famous “You can still dunk in the dark” image for Oreo. The ad proved that being extremely nimble — both on the agency and client sides — could trump a multimillion dollar media buy.

This of course, was just the latest in a series of successes for New Yorked baed 360i, successes that truly began with the May 2012 hiring of Swedish-born Adam Kerj as the agency’s first Chief Creative officer. Adam’s career has spanned nearly two decades and two continents, but it appears that he’s only getting started. IHAVEANIDEA sat down with Adam to discuss his past, from Stockholm to Tribeca, and to share insight on Swedish and American mindsets.

IHAVEANIDEA: How did this whole crazy world begin for you? I always say that no kid ever says “I want to be a creative director when I grow up.”

Adam: (laughs) Actually, my daughter said that a few months ago. “I want to be a creative director, Dad.” I think I’ll try to convince her to stay out of it.

But for me, it started when I was taking accounting in school. My teacher was nice enough to say “Adam, I don’t think you should be doing this. You got to do something like marketing.” That’s how I got into marketing, and I found myself really enjoying it. Then I went to the now famous Berghs School of Communication in Stockholm, and after that studied literature at Cambridge in England. After that I ended up getting my first break at Forsman & Bodenfors in Gothenburg. This was in the late 1980s, right when the agency had started winning national and regional awards.

That was a great experience, but I wasn’t there long before I got this very strange late night phone call from this writer all the way in Chicago. I don’t know if he was drunk at the time, but he sounded very energetic. He said, “Dude, you and I, we’re going to work together and you’re going to be in the intern program at Leo Burnett!”

IHAVEANIDEA: Out of the blue like that?

Adam: Pretty much! You see, my father, who doesn’t work in advertising, had a chance meeting with Jerry Reitman, who I believe was Leo Burnett’s VP of Integrated Marketing at the time. Jerry and his wife were at this party in Sweden, and they got to talking to my father. When the subject of jobs came up, my father said “Oh, my son is in advertising. I bet he would love to work in the States!” (laughs) He had no clue if I actually wanted to move to the States, but hey, he put it out there.

So Jerry told my father to have me send my portfolio to these creative directors. I did, and sure enough, a few months later I get that phone call. I packed my bag, and I quit the best agency in Sweden to work in Chicago.

IHAVEANIDEA: That must’ve been a major change. What was it like, coming from another country?

Adam: It was incredible. I don’t think I grasped just how big Leo Burnett was. I remember arriving at Leo Burnett that first day. I walked into the building and asked somebody to direct me to Leo Burnett. “It’s right here,” they said. I’m like, “yeah, yeah, but where?” And they said “no, this whole building is Leo Burnett.” The agency had 2700 people at the time, with over 400 creatives on four floors. I could barely comprehend an office that big.

Everybody at Leo Burnett was really super friendly, and because Jerry was executive management, I was placed in one of the best creative teams at the agency, the ones doing Altoids and Sony digital products. That team alone was as big as a large sized agency in Sweden.

IHAVEANIDEA: Did that make you feel small, going to a place where you are just one of hundreds of creatives?

Adam: On the contrary, the agency was very welcoming and made me a real part of the team. Two weeks after I got there I was already out at Kraft in Glenview, Illinois, presenting TV scripts alongside the CCO of Leo Burnett. They threw me into the water and really believed in me. Mind you I don’t think I sold a single ad, but it certainly was one of the most eye opening experiences in my career.

IHAVEANIDEA: After Leo Burnett you decided to go back home to Sweden. You must’ve been bringing back a totally different mindset than when you left.

Adam: Definitely. My time at Leo Burnett taught me that advertising is first and foremost a lot of hard work. In Sweden, at least back then, advertising was perceived to be a cool, funky field of business. Chicago stripped away a lot of the glamour, but it also made me feel very comfortable working with clients and seeing things and understanding things from their point of view.

When I returned to Sweden I worked for a number of years with Scott Goodson — this was some time before he founded StrawberryFrog. I had also kept in touch with a number of people from Leo Burnett. One day I received a call from Chicago. They asked me “would you be interested in taking over our Danish office in Copenhagen?” At the time I was only 26, and was a little bit intimidated by the offer, but I was foolish enough to not know better. After they made the offer, I asked what my salary would be. When they told me, I said “I’ll gladly take half of that, and for the other half I want to bring my partner that I worked with in Chicago.”

And so it was my turn to call this guy, Charlie Fisher, and bring him from Chicago to Europe, instead of the other way around. He arrived with just a nylon backpack with some CDs, jeans and underwear inside. We headed to Denmark and headed up Leo Burnett Copenhagen, alongside David Adams, this brilliant strategist. We were pretty much given carte blanche. We got lucky and we worked really hard. We won a couple of Lions and Clios, which was unheard of in Denmark at the time.

IHABEANIDEA: Not too shabby, and I guess ultimately a good move by Leo Burnett.

Adam: It definitely put us on the Leo Burnett international radar. And after some time, my girlfriend and now wife wanted to move back to Sweden. Her friends were having children, and she said it was time to have more of an easy way to meet her friends and hang out with them while they moved into that phase in their lives. And so I moved back and I became Executive Creative Director of Leo Burnett Sweden. That was… okay.

IHAVEANIDEA: That “okay” doesn’t sound too convincing.

Adam: (laughs) Well it was just at the first dot-com bubble burst, and they had a lot of dot-com clients. The world had gone crazy with the dot-com hysteria. There was so much venture capital, and a lot of grants that we worked on were inflated and built on borrowed money, so many things were just vaporware. We had McDonald’s and Scandinavian Airlines, but overall the culture was built on ‘don’t look in the rear view mirror. Whatever we’re doing now is going to go on forever.’ But it didn’t. It just came to an abrupt halt.

At the same time, some friends and I were approached by TBWA to launch TBWA Sweden. The four of us — okay, the three other guys at least — were what I still consider to be perhaps the most talented people ever to work in the industry in Sweden. We couldn’t turn that opportunity down, so we launched TBWA. We became one of the top three most awarded agencies in the TBWA network.

After a few years of TBWA, my friends at Leo Burnett called again to ask if I’d want to return to Copenhagen. I really wanted to work with Charlie Fisher again, and I felt that we hadn’t accomplished everything that we wanted to do there, and so I said yes. But this was only a short stay, as my family, which was growing then, really wanted to return to Sweden once more.

That was a great, great, great experience and then … We’re doing that and doing a lot of … Then, Leo Burnett, again Denmark, called me and asked me if I wanted to come back to them. I came back to Leo Burnett Denmark because I wanted to work with Charlie Fisher again, my partner. I felt that we had something going on there that we hadn’t really finished. I went back, but I only went back for a year-and-a-half. Then we realized that my family and I should really get back to Sweden.

IHAVEANIDEA: This is when you founded Saatchi & Saatchi Sweden, correct?

Adam: Yes. This was in 2002, when we were coming off of a really bad recession, as well as the dot-com burst. This was a perfect time to start something new because, well, the world and the clients will give you the benefit of the doubt when listening to what you have to say. Everybody was looking for new ways to do things in order to dig themselves out of the recession.

IHAVEANIDEA: You were at Saatchi & Saatchi for ten years, your longest stay in a single agency during your career so far. What kept you there for so long? What was special about what you built there?

Adam: Well first of all we were very lucky early on. In a very short time we landed some very big clients such as 3, the mobile operator owned by Hutchison Whampoa. We landed the biggest bank in Sweden, we landed an online premium subscription channel. With clients like these, our agency was profitable from nearly Day One. This meant that we could actually invest in people and hire young talent. We became Agency of the Year twice. We did a lot of great, great, great stuff, and the last four or five years, I think, we were fully, fully integrated. We had a much more media agnostic approach than any other place I had known, but this time from a more participatory, social, digital aspect.

But again, after some time I really wanted a new challenge. Saatchi had wanted to give me a new job which was 50% Nordic Executive Creative Director and a part European Creative Director with focus on the Swedish market. But it wasn’t the entrepreneurial aspect that I love about this business. I really love building ideas and culture. That’s what I’m really good at I think and that’s where my strengths are. I felt that this new opportunity didn’t really offer me that.

IHAVEANIDEA: You’d be less of a doer and more of a delegator.

Adam: Exactly. It was a great job if that’s your type, but I’m not ready to be that guy sitting in airport lounges and flying himself on airplanes all the time. I’m still too young to do that stuff! (laughs)

I was approached with a couple of really interesting job offers in Europe and here in the US, but they were a little bit traditional. ECD jobs and CCO jobs, the kinds of places where I knew how to do that job in my sleep, you know? They weren’t on what I’d call a future proof, innovative, digital centric platform. That’s what I wanted. I wanted a digital platform with a completely future proof capability offering.

IHAVEANIDEA: And that search for such a place is what lead you here to 360i?

Adam: Yes. When I first heard about this opportunity it sounded like such an entrepreneurial environment. I said to myself ”This could be a fantastic success. If I do it right, this could be awesome, it could be kick ass.” Then I started discussing it with Bryan Wiener and Sarah Hofstetter here, and they laid out the vision, the roadmap for what they wanted to do and why it could be successful, and how they felt that I could fit in into the plan of building the most curious agency on the planet.

It was almost like starting an agency based on ten, brilliant, huge, global clients with a fantastic platform; digital at the core, huge social capabilities, big insights departments, a great tech department, a great production department. What the true opportunity is that I get to elevate the strong platform they have and refine and create a data driven creative approach that includes all the agency capabilities which is much more than a traditional creative department.

IHAVEANIDEA: The tools were there, but not necessarily the mechanics to use them.

Adam: Exactly. That’s the reason why I felt nothing could be better than this opportunity for me. For me it felt like this is something of a cultural fit and the entrepreneur aspect of it, to have the opportunity with a lot of brilliant people, create a culture that it hadn’t had in the past. There’s no blueprint, there’s no “this is how we’ve done it in the past and you’re stepping into so-and-so’s shoes.” This was a white canvas. That’s what really attracted me.

IHAVEANIDEA: But were you ready to leave Sweden again? That seemed to be a sticking point for you and your family in the past. What made this time different?

Adam: I discussed the opportunity with my wife, and we flew out here a couple times. New York is always New York. New York is the most amazing city on the planet, if you like that kind of stuff. It’s intense. It’s intense and it’s always on and it’s brutal, I think, in a great way. And so together, the family and the kids, we said, “This is an adventure and an opportunity that might not come along again, who knows? Let’s do it. We packed up and we left and that was almost a year ago.

We’ve been very lucky. Things have gone better than I could anticipate. That’s because of a lot of factors, a lot of stars aligning. One is getting a lot of talent at joining here. We’ve had some big breakthroughs on very iconic brands, such as Oreo and Coca-Cola. We have been very lucky, and we work very hard because the harder you work, the luckier you get. And of course, having very passionate clients who truly believe in the power of social, curious ideas is crucial, and we have outstanding clients at 360i. And all our capabilities work together when we ideate, that’s when great ideas come to life. It is the best and by far the most efficient silo killer – a collaborative ideas process. And crucial today where the lines between online, experiential and off-line are totally blurred. It is and will always be about great storytelling. Then amplifying them. And have great talent for that here.

I also had an incredible experience here that sort of brings my entire career around full circle. I was here for about three months, and I had to present to a number of executives at Kraft. And so I found myself travelling to Chicago, to Glenview… and presenting while standing in the very same conference room that I presented in nearly 20 years ago when I started at Leo Burnett. Not only was unexpected and a major feeling of déjà vu, it made me reflect on my entire career. Had I not been given that break, had somebody not had the confidence to put me in front of clients all those years ago, I might not be where I am today.

IHAVEANIDEA: A few years back, you were participating in the Stockholm leg of our Portfolio Night, and you had mentioned something, a philosophy of sorts, that you seemed to regret being a part of Scandinavian culture.

Adam: Ah yes, Jantelagen, or Jante Law. Jante Law is Swedish and Norwegian. In essence Jante Law says that you shouldn’t think that you are someone important, that you’re better then someone else. There are good things and negative things about that. The negative thing about it is that people don’t really want to stand out, and they have a tendency to be overtly humble. This does not play well when it comes to working in an environment where you really have to find the best ideas.

Here in North America, people will stand up for their ideas, whether their ideas are brilliant or whether the ideas are really bad. Whoever presents it makes it sound like it’s the best thing that ever came out of that person’s mouth and brain. But people in the Nordics will have an idea and they will downplay it, they will almost excuse themselves that it’s not going to be so good.

Don’t get me wrong. Jante Law also leads to very good collaborative efforts, because everybody is thinking of the collective. That has led to brilliant Swedish creations such as IKEA, Skype and Spotify. But at the same time, I fear that the Jante Law mindset might’ve have held back a lot of great people. It’s OK to be good in Sweden, it’s better to be good then great.

IHAVEANIDEA: Jante Law aside, what do you miss most about Sweden?

Adam: (laughs) I miss that there are no traffic jams, that you can get home from work in a car in 15-20 minutes. I miss the long, long, long nights in the summer, when the sun never sets. It’s so beautiful.

IHAVEANIDEA: What do you think you would be doing if you didn’t catch that advertising bug? What if your teachers didn’t point you to Berghs?

Adam: I think I would probably be some sort of journalist. I like the curiosity of finding out what’s behind the stories or what’s behind behavior. It’s also a decent profession, you know? I’ve always respected and admired good journalists and good articles. I still read tons of paper magazines. The New York Times magazine is the best in the world.

Interview by:

Brett McKenzie
Content Producer
Art Directors Club

It’s like “Flight of the Conchords.” Except these two guys are Australians, not Kiwis. And they aren’t starving musicians, even if they have dipped their toe in the music video-making waters. Okay, it’s not like Flight of the Conchords at all. But Michael Canning and Kieran Antill are a creative couple of guys living in NYC. They just happen to be Executive Creative Directors at Leo Burnett New York, a new start-up-style branch of the network that was launched in the Big Apple in 2011. Natives of Sydney, Australia, Canning and Antill were ranked the #1 awarded creative team in the world at the Cannes Lion International Festival of Creativity in 2010, and were most recently awarded for their first piece out of Leo Burnett New York for The Village Voice, “NewYorkWritesItself.com,” which won a Gold Lion for Branded Content at Cannes 2012.

Canning and Antill’s work is diverse though, from advertising to fine arts, writing, documentary films, music videos, product innovation, photography and now, theatre. As their play “8 Million Protagonists” opens on November 1, this LBNY duo took a few minutes to talk to IHAVEANIDEA about how their worlds collided with each other, with millions of voices in NYC and now, with the world of theatre.

IHAVEANIDEA: How did you the two of you meet?

Michael: I was working at BMF Advertising in Sydney. Andy DiLallo and Jay Benjamin had just joined Leo Burnett Sydney as Co-Chief Creative Officers, and they asked me to join the agency. Kieran was already at Leo Burnett Sydney, and we started working together there. We had a lot of fun and were lucky enough to do a lot of great work at Leo Burnett in Sydney, and in 2010 we were asked to help launch a new start-up office for Leo Burnett in New York, which began in 2011.

IHAVEANIDEA: Kieran, how does your fine art background affect your approach to the work, and how does that fit into your collaboration with Michael?

Kieran: Having a fine art background has worked in my favor with the way the commercial industry is turning toward creativity as a way to attract and engage people, rather than relying on a media saturation approach. It’s not about ‘make my logo bigger’ anymore, it’s about spending time with people, and the only way to achieve that is to have people want to spend time with you.

It’s not about ‘make my logo bigger’ anymore, it’s about spending time with people, and the only way to achieve that is to have people want to spend time with you.

Michael approaches the work from a point of view of creating ideas that people will actually value and share. So all the projects we create for brands or for ourselves begin with us thinking of humanity, how people would experience it, interact with it and what it communicates to them. All the sales figures, research groups and pie charts take care of themselves from there. I guess if I didn’t walk that line between the commercial world and the arts, I could find myself too concerned with the graphs to realize the most effective approach is to focus on being human. That’s something fine art never concerns itself with – it’s all human expression. Michael and I talk a lot about “What is the human insight?”

IHAVEANIDEA: What or who are your biggest creative influences and why?

Michael: I have a lot of creative influences in entertainment, art and writing, but a big creative influence for me was actually spending my teenage years as an obsessed skateboarder. Skateboarding attracts a lot of creative people, and when I was immersed in that culture as a teenager in the 90ʼs, the brands weren’t quite as big business as they are today, because skateboarding wasn’t as mainstream a sport. So without big budgets, skateboard brands (often owned by pro skateboarders at the time) always focused on creating content ideas, events and entertainment that the community wanted, which would then take on a life of their own. All I cared about at the time was if I liked the particular content or not, but looking back it was a very grassroots approach to building community around brands that influenced me a lot by being part of it.

Kieran: My biggest influences have come from the photographers, directors, illustrators, animators, and builders we get to work with from job to job. The commercial budgets (regardless of which brand or which job) allow for the world’s best to work together and it’s in these moments that I learn the most. I am currently working on a letterpress series myself after being influenced by some of the letterpress houses we collaborated with in the last New York Writes Itself exhibition.

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IHAVEANIDEA: What made you want to produce a play? What are the challenges and surprises in that for you?

Michael: We started NewYorkWritesItself.com with the purpose being that the best stories would be turned into content inspired by New Yorkers that could be enjoyed by everyone. After creating the exhibition at the Art Directors Club in 2011 as the first piece of content from NYWI, an off-Broadway play (called ʻ8 Million Protagonistsʼ) felt like the perfect way to bring new stories to life, as a reflection on the theatre of the New York street – which is basically a source of reality entertainment all on its own. Creating a play was also something very different on both a creative and production level, where we’ve been able to collaborate with a lot of talented people, which was a good reason in itself.

Kieran: When you create an idea that brings others together it always tends to take on a life of its own and that’s usually the sign of a great idea. The idea of doing a play was influenced by those around us (with theatre experience) and we hadn’t done a play before so that was as good as any reason to do one. The challenge of doing a play is simply the number of moving parts – from the script, the cast, the music, to the choreography and unlike our experience in film, for example, there is no ‘cut’ and ‘edit,’ so we’ve learned a lot from the experience of others as this play has come together. Projects like these involve a lot of people, which makes having a single vision all the more important.

When you create an idea that brings others together it always tends to take on a life of its own and that’s usually the sign of a great idea.

IHAVEANIDEA: Have you noticed any similarities between the theater world and the agency world? Or by contrast, any big differences?

Michael: The theatre world and agency world are definitely different. The main difference is that in marketing we begin with a goal to solve a business problem for a brand. In theatre, shows generally begin from wanting to create entertainment and an artistic vision, for the purpose of entertainment. But what’s interesting is that while these are different starting motivations, the best brands today are ones that can embrace the world of entertainment and engage people to ultimately solve their business problem. So ultimately what we’re trying to do is create great stories, content and entertainment for our brands, because that’s what people actually want to see and engage with. So while industries like marketing and theatre start differently, the end product can be the same.

 The best brands today are ones that can embrace the world of entertainment and engage people to ultimately solve their business problem.

IHAVEANIDEA: Through the lens of advertising, could it be said that 8 Million Protagonists is like a campaign evolution of New York Writes Itself?

Michael and Kieran: New York Writes Itself is playing out the way it was designed to. We created the platform to continually re-create the stories that people submit as pieces of content and entertainment (in partnership with the Village Voice). The first piece of content we created was called “New York Types” in 2011, which was an exhibition of posters at the

Art Directors Club, where different quotes, or things people heard New Yorkers say on the street and wrote down, were brought to life by NY letterpress artists – and as a piece of content bringing the real, uncensored voice of New York to life as content from the Village Voice.

IHAVEANIDEA: What is your own personal favorite weird New York story?

Michael: When I arrived in New York it was winter 2010, and the city was hit by the biggest blizzard in 50 years. After being out that day I was walking home when the street quickly became deserted, and was completely covered by a few feet of snow. It was hard to see through the blizzard, but in the distance I saw a figure standing in the middle of an intersection on Broadway. The person was just standing in the middle of the road, not moving, at a red light. My first thought was that it was a crazy person impersonating a car or something. The light turned green, and after a couple of seconds, the figure pushed off on skis, and proceeded to ski off along Broadway. I thought that was the perfect reflection of New York – worst blizzard in 50 years? Let’s go skiing.

Kieran: It’s the textures and colors of New York that I love, it proves impossible to take a bad photograph on the streets – and with that as the backdrop even the most basic daily events seem theatric. When you add the eclectic mix of characters I find something of interest every day – and apparently so do a lot of other people.

IHAVEANIDEA: What’s your favorite play?

Michael: I like Sleep No More because of how it’s pushed the theatre experience. I’m still trying to get tickets to Book of Mormon.

Kieran: There are so many amazing performances on and off-Broadway all of which capture my imagination but a play from my childhood, Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead was the first performance that I saw that made me love theatre.

IHAVEANIDEA: What is the “next scene” for both of you?

Michael: My favorite thing about what we do is being able to create ideas like an off- Broadway play that is also solving a business problem and building a brand. There’s no boundary to what we can create today, and I feel lucky to keep going after work that is, above all, interesting and fun. I was inspired by the recent Red Bull Stratos “Space Jump” as great entertainment coming from a brand. Maybe it’s time to go to the center of the Earth next.

I was inspired by the recent Red Bull Stratos “Space Jump” as great entertainment coming from a brand. Maybe it’s time to go to the center of the Earth next.

Kieran: To steal from a great 80′s film, where we’re going, we don’t need roads. Where ever that is, it won’t be predictable. We like having more than one project on the boil at any one time and we hope to release some of these before the year’s end.

Brianna Graves
Director of IHAVEANIDEA
IHAVEANIDEA

I first met Damon at TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris in South Africa. Having just arrived in Johannesburg to launch The Saturn Return Project, unsure of my surroundings and jetlagged sideways, I did not have any guard up when a guy approached me and said, “Try this,” handing me a piece of ostrich biltong (akin to jerky). For some reason, I instantly trusted him and happily ate the biltong (and liked it!).

Little did I know the legend of the man that stood before me. Aside from being a hysterical jokester with a one-of-a-kind sense of humor, he’s one of the top executive creative directors in the world. He’s behind “The Trillion Dollar” campaign for The Zimbabwean (if you don’t know, you should know. Consult the Google or read on.) His roster of brands includes BMW, Nissan, Heineken, MTN, Standard Bank, Visa, Jameson, and the World Cup 2010 campaign for Adidas. And his extensive hardware collection includes a Cannes Grand Prix, 19 Cannes Lions, the first black Cube ever given by the Art Directors Club, six Gold One Show Pencils, two Grand Clios and a D&AD Black Pencil (the first ever received in Africa).

He took “Hunts” (TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris) to number one in South Africa, and number three in the world in terms of advertising. And then, of course, the phone began to ring. It was Saatchi & Saatchi Australia that lured Damon away from Johannesburg and back to the country where he was born.

Just about one year into his new gig as Executive Creative Director of Saatchi & Saatchi Australia, I caught back up with Damon, and he was kind enough to bestow some of his wisdom, experience and humor upon IHAVEANIDEA.

IHAVEANIDEA: Tell me about Damon as a boy; where did you grow up and what was it like?

Damon: I was born in Australia and grew up in Botswana, South Africa and England. My dad was a hotel manager so because of that I went to sixteen different schools and ate a lot of room service.

IHAVEANIDEA: Sixteen schools, wow. What was that like and what did you gain from that experience?

Damon: It definitely had its ups and downs. Always being the new boy at school could be tricky. On the plus side I learned how to deal with all sorts of people. You learn how to adapt and how to thrive.

IHAVEANIDEA: I’m sure. What were some early influences on your life as you traveled around the world?

Damon: Spaghetti westerns on the hotel video channel, bad lounge singers and the many stories that happen in hotel lobbies.

IHAVEANIDEA: (laughs) That explains so much, yet leaves so many questions. So, what did you want to be when you were 5 years old?

Damon: Taller.

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IHAVEANIDEA: When did the vortex of advertising first pull you in? Was there “a moment” when you knew it was for you?

Damon: I know it sounds simple, but that moment was probably when I had a half-decent idea and all of a sudden there were all these people trying to help me bring it to life. The rush you get from thinking something and then making it happen… that feeling never goes away.

“The rush you get from thinking something and then making it happen… that feeling never goes away.”

IHAVEANIDEA: Your time at Hunts was nothing short of extraordinary. You turned the creative around, led teams that adored you and made it rain with awards. If you had to pick one defining moment of your time in Jo’burg, what would it be?

Damon: It’s really difficult to pick one. But at a push it would be the moment that five of us sat in a room and backed the Zimbabwean work. We believed in it, but we didn’t know if anybody else would. It’s a very powerful thing to experience, that feeling of total belief.

In my career it’s only happened a few times, but when it does, it makes you understand how far you can go: way beyond your limits. I think it’s like being in the zone as a sportsman.

IHAVEANIDEA: The “Trillion Dollar Campaign” for The Zimbabwean is the winningest campaign of all time, including the first Black Cube ADC had ever given out at its Annual Awards. Can you give a little insight into that campaign?

Damon: It was essentially about doing something with nothing. The problem was the solution. It’s funny how that has often happened in my career; you find the answer by leaning into the problem. Beyond that, the more we got involved with this campaign the more we wanted to help the clients make a difference.

“The more we got involved with this campaign the more we wanted to help the clients make a difference.”

To put it into context, the editor of the newspaper was living in exile and was constantly getting death threats. One of my great advertising moments was when he appeared at the D&AD award ceremony in a tuxedo out of nowhere. Nobody could know his movements for safety reasons, so it was fantastic when he appeared like an African James Bond and went on stage with us to get the Black Pencil.

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IHAVEANIDEA: What did the recognition for that campaign mean to you and to Hunts? And for that matter, probably to the country of Zimbabwe?

Damon: I think it restored and increased our confidence as an agency. We had been through a rough time and this really repaid the faith and the late nights. Hunts is an agency that is meant to be the best, so it was a bit like coming home. There’s a saying that creativity isn’t a thing, it’s a way, and I think this campaign showed us that.

For Zimbabwe, I think this campaign managed to refocus the world’s attention. Horrible images and terrible stories are just part of an endless news cycle, and we managed to disrupt that.

“There’s a saying that creativity isn’t a thing, it’s a way, and I think this campaign showed us that.”

IHAVEANIDEA: There was quite a bidding war on who would win the talent of Damon Stapleton when you decided it was time to leave South Africa. How did Saatchi & Saatchi Australia win the prize and what drew you to Sydney?

Damon: Sometimes you just know. And 1,000 global phone calls can be very persuasive.

IHAVEANIDEA: After almost a year in Sydney, what is your favorite thing about the city so far?

Damon: The optimism.

IHAVEANIDEA: Do you have any reflections on the work and people at Saatchi Sydney from the past year?

Damon: It’s still the early days but I think we have a great bunch of people and I know the work is just around the corner. It’s funny, because it’s the exact same feeling I had at Hunts just before it all came together.

IHAVEANIDEA: Your number one goal in the next year for yourself and your teams?

Damon: To be proud and happy with the ideas we have made. To lose 5 kgs. To become a top hand model.

IHAVEANIDEA: I’ll be rooting for you. And finally, the one thing you cannot live without is…

Damon: Oxygen.
—

Keep up with Damon on Twitter at @D_Stapleton and learn a bit more from him here (reflections on his time in Africa filmed during his time as ECD of
TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris).

Brianna Graves
Director of IHAVEANIDEA
IHAVEANIDEA

The American automotive industry has seen some tremendous highs and harrowing lows. During the 1950s and 60s it bolstered the US economy, and its “capital” — Detroit, MI, was one of the busiest cities in the nation. In recent times both the auto industry and the city it calls home have fallen on hard, almost desperate times.

But today there is a glimmer of hope, and a spark of energy has returned to Motor City. The manufacturers are poised to make a great comeback, and their advertising agencies are joining them for the ride.

In 2010, San Fran super-shop Goodby, Silverstein & Partners opened up a Detroit office to better serve General Motors. As more work shifted to that office, they needed to find a creative director with the talent — and toughness — to help turn the fortunes of the car company around.

Last year, they chose Ralph Watson.

Watson, a Georgia native whose career has spanned from Boston to LA and many points in between, took some time to sit down with IHAVEANIDEA to chat about his many years in the ad biz, from his failed start as a pro golfer, to his future plans for Goodby Detroit.

————————————

IHAVEANIDEA: Was advertising a first love for you? Where did it all begin?

Ralph: I actually wanted to be a professional golfer.  I went to college on a golf scholarship, and I played for a couple of years but I never got better. I kinda peaked early and I realized that I wasn’t going to be a success, so I dropped out.

When you’re in golf in college, you typically aren’t taking fine art courses.  I was a management major and I was about a quarter from graduating. Truthfully, I was dreading going to business school.  The only D I’ve ever received in my life was in marketing because it didn’t make sense to me. The way it was taught, that’s not common sense, it’s not the way that people are. So when I dropped out I took an art class because I always had drawn and always really liked it.  I took it, and then I switched majors and then I was like “Okay, I’m hooked.” I switched to the fine arts department and basically graduated with a Fine Art degree.

I was an inch to going to graduate school in New York to become a Fine Art teacher.  Then there was a recession in 1992, and I got an offer to be a junior designer at this place. At first I was like “no, I want to go to grad school,” but then I looked at how much money I had to borrow. I was already in debt, and so I said “well, $18,000 sounds pretty good.”

IHAVEANIDEA: (laughs) Money can be a good driver sometimes! So how did you switch from design to advertising?

Ralph: I had this roommate in college who wanted to be in advertising.  I had never really considered it. I was like “No, that’s for losers.  That’s for people who aren’t real artists,” and blah, blah, blah.

So I started off as a designer, but then I soon realized that advertising art directors made more money and seemed to work less, so I was like “hmmm, maybe I should be an Art Director.”

And so I started doing what everyone else did back then, making a bunch of spec ads. There were no real ad schools in those days that I was aware of. Back then, your ad school was your first job.  I just did a bunch of spec ads. Even though I was an art director, I ended up writing a bunch of headlines that I thought were great, and I would show them to Gary Moore, this senior writer guy I knew. He was like “That’s great, but so-and-so already did that.” I had never heard of any award books or anything like that before, and I was feeling awesome thinking I was creating original ideas, only to learn somebody had already done something or won something with it.

I eventually ended up down in Atlanta, where a friend of mine from New York and I started teaching at what would soon be known as the Creative Circus.

IHAVEANIDEA: How did you land a teaching job before your own career started to flourish?

Ralph: (laughs) Well fortunately my friend knew Norm Grey, the founder of the Circus. But I guess to call what I was doing “teaching” is a bit of a stretch. That year that I was there, there were many, many really great creative people.  They knew more about advertising than I did.  You don’t teach those students, you just basically conduct the class so they can teach themselves. You do a little bit but they mostly teach themselves, but I enjoyed that.

IHAVEANIDEA: You say you were at the Circus for a year. What brought you back into the agency side of things?

Ralph: Well my next stop was at Leonard/Monahan up in Rhode Island. That place was quite a hot shop in the 90s. You had David Lubars, Kara Goodrich, Jeremy Postaer, Hal Curtis — just a bunch of phenomenal talent. David Baldwin was the Creative Director at the time, and he really took a chance on me as a young art director. I didn’t have much in my portfolio. In fact I was showing him examples of my fine art! But he gave me that break I needed.

Before long, I was working with Kara Goodrich, who is a phenomenal writer. All was right with the world… until the agency closed down.

IHAVEANIDEA: Don’t you hate when that happens?

“…“be prepared. One day you’ll show up and the doors will be locked.” It sounded crazy! I never thought it would actually happen!”

Ralph: (laughs) They came to us on a Wednesday, gave everyone boxes for their stuff and said that our last day was Friday. But by Thursday they had locked us out of the office because everyone was going “fuck this shit, I’m taking my computer!” People were walking out with tables and other stuff. And so we had to be escorted to get our belongings.

Gary Moore, the guy I used to show my ideas to, used to always warn me “be prepared. One day you’ll show up and the doors will be locked.” It sounded crazy! I never thought it would actually happen!

From there, I followed David Baldwin down to North Carolina and McKinney & Silver, where I freelanced for a while. It was where I got to work on Audi, my first car account. Then it was up to New York and Weiss, Whitten, Stagliano, and down to Austin and GSD&M, where I am happy to say I met my wife.

IHAVEANIDEA: I understand your time at Saatchi New York was pretty eventful…

Ralph: It was interesting. I was at Arnold in Boston and I got a call from Tony Granger, who was Chief Creative Officer at Saatchi New York at the time. Tony had really turned the agency around, making it Agency of the Year at Cannes.

Around this time, Jan Jacobs and Leo Premutico, the superstar team at Saatchi, had left to start Johannes Leonardo. Tony needed a new Head of Art, and I was like “wow, that sounds like a pretty good deal!”

I flew down to New York and met with Tony, and we had a great talk. I got a bit worried when I heard that I’d be working on Wendy’s, which word had it was on its way out the door. But I was excited to work for Tony, and so I came on board… and then Tony left a few weeks later to head up Y&R!

IHAVEANIDEA: Ah, so your hopes and dreams were dashed!

Ralph: (laughs) Not exactly! Well as predicted, we did lose Wendy’s, but that gave me an opportunity to work on Miller, which I really wanted to do. And then the rumors started buzzing about Gerry Graf coming in to take Tony’s place. The rumors ended up being true, and so I got to work for Gerry, and that was awesome.

IHAVEANIDEA: What was Gerry like?

Ralph: Gerry is a very interesting guy. He’s very intently focused, he’s an awesome scriptwriter, and he’s really great at just saying what you need to say, very strategic. I don’t think he gets enough credit for how great of a strategist he is.

“…when you bring me something like this it makes me question everything I see from you.”

Gerry really taught me a lot about not needing to fabricate things. “It’s too contrived, it’s too artificial, there’s nothing in there that is true, you’re just writing an ad.” He is superb at getting right to the truth of an idea. I learned a shitload from him, and I still bestow those lessons onto my own people today.

Gerry was also very tough. He wasn’t gentle when you brought him work that wasn’t good. He’d say something like “when you bring me something like this it makes me question everything I see from you.” Luckily I come from a broken home, so I thrive on negative reinforcement. (laughs)

IHAVEANIDEA: After a number of years at Saatchi, you moved onto BBDO New York. What was that like?

Ralph: BBDO was wonderful, as I got to work with Greg Hahn. He’s probably the best partner I’ve ever had, and possibly the smartest creative I’ve ever worked with.  He’s really smart, focused, a very talented writer.  He’s really great at just coming up with rich, big, thoughtful, sellable smart ideas. He’s also wickedly funny and sarcastic, a side many people don’t see.

Between Greg and Gerry, they were the two most influential people in my career.  That’s kind of funny, since you usually consider people from early in your career to be your biggest influences, but I’m a bit of late bloomer.

IHAVEANIDEA: So what brought you to Goodby and the city of Detroit?

Ralph: Well I had heard about this opportunity, but why wife was a little, shall we say apprehensive at first. and “No way we’re fucking moving to Detroit.” (laughs) But a few months went by and she began to change her tune. “Well, maybe you should just talk to them and see.”

I met with Jeff Goodby in New York, and I liked him right off the bat. We didn’t even talk about advertising for an hour, just had a couple of drinks and just hung out at the hotel.  Then I started thinking about it, you know, the thing I really wanted. At a certain point you just want to know if you can do it in your own. The tough thing about advertising is that it’s like the army.  It’s either up or out.  I don’t want to be a 55-year-old CD running one account.  I have four kids and these are my earning years, and I need to start putting myself as the next generation of leaders.

That said, I’m much more of a doer. I didn’t want to come into Goodby merely pontificating about doing great work. I wanted us to do the work.

I also think I took the job in a state of naivety. Coming to Detroit, to work on Chevrolet, I have visions of saving the American auto industry. I don’t like the over-financialization of our country. The obsession with making money without making products or anything, to me that’s the final stages of an empire. And so I saw the task of raising Chevrolet to global prominence as an interesting challenge.

IHAVEANIDEA: I guess we’ll know in time how noble or naïve that is. So you arrive at Goodby…

Ralph: I got here, and one of the first things I wanted to change was the impression that this was just an office where we did all the grunt retail work while San Fran did the fun stuff. I wanted us to have our hands on all of the work, the exciting stuff and the necessary retail stuff, and to elevate the latter so even that is great to work on.

Now it’s just a matter of getting people to want to work in Detroit in the winter. (laughs)

IHAVEANIDEA: What are your goals for Goodby Detroit over the next six months or so?

Ralph: I’m very focused on two or three projects that I know will do well.  There’s something in the hopper that has sold that I think would be a good format for digital and television for an ongoing series that I think is going to be very good.

I’m in the process of courting two or three people that I can have as good lieutenants, some real thoroughbreds. I’m also working on a model that will allow people to work from anywhere and still be a part of our agency. Sure, you’ll be expected to come to Detroit when necessary, but you can work from afar.

IHAVEANIDEA: And your people in Detroit?

Ralph: A lot of the people who work in advertising in Detroit are from here, and I spend time trying to educate people what advertising is like outside of this city. The community here tends to live and die by automotive accounts, and so the instinct is to do everything to make the client happy in order to keep their jobs. But you don’t keep your job by merely pleasing the client.  Your job is to create the funniest or the smartest or the most unexpected thing that you can imagine, and keeping it on brief. Let the top guys worry about keeping the client happy.

I want our team to do stuff that wows people, where people will say “That came from where?” That’s what I want.

IHAVEANIDEA: Who are your biggest inspirations outside of advertising?

Ralph: Hmm, well my first pick would be Stanley Kubrick. I could watch every movie of his ten times over.  He saw things for how they would be viewed twenty years from now.  That was rare vision and completely stubborn about “okay, this is the way it needs to be.” I really admired that.

I would also have to pick Founding Father Alexander Hamilton. I’ve read a number of biographies on him, and I feel I could relate to him. He was a bit of an outsider, he didn’t come from money.

IHAVEANIDEA: What is the one thing that you couldn’t live without?

Ralph: Easy, my wife and kids. I’m not super close with anyone else in my family, so they are my only family. I could live without working, I would probably be very happy doing that, but it probably would not be a very good life without my wife and children.

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

Brianna Graves
Director of IHAVEANIDEA
IHAVEANIDEA

“Whoa, whoa, whoa there, IHAVEANIDEA, what are ya tryin’ to pull here? McDonald’s isn’t an agency, it’s a client, and clients aren’t ‘creative’!”

Yes, we know, clients are evil, or at least that’s what we keep telling ourselves. But for those of us who don’t believe that, we know there are a number of brands and businesses with a creative vision that rival that of our favourite boutique agencies.

Such is the case with international fast food giant McDonald’s, as well as with the company’s Chief Creative Officer, Marlena Peleo-Lazar.

After a career as a copywriter and creative director at places like Leo Burnett and Ogilvy, Marlena was tapped to bring some of that creative department know-how to McDonald’s in 2000. Twelve years later, and Marlena’s still going strong under the Golden Arches, guiding one of the most recognizable brands on the face of the earth and picking up numerous creative and business accolades along the way.

IHAVEANIDEA had a chance to meet and chat with Marlena about her storied career, how she got to where she is today, and just how much she’s ‘lovin’ it’ on the client side of the table.

IHAVEANIDEA: As we often like to begin these interviews, take us back to the very beginning, to a young Marlena in Detroit. What made you want to get into the crazy advertising world?

Marlena: Well I was a child actress. I wanted to be Meryl Streep, and if that didn’t pan out, I thought maybe I’d take over Barbara Walters’ career. To be clear though, not the Barbara Walters from The View, but the one who interviewed the likes of Fidel Castro and Anwar Sadat.

I went to school in Detroit, and when I graduated, there weren’t a lot of options in the area in terms of becoming a TV journalist. It was frankly looking kind of hopeless, and someone asked my dad — who was in the restaurant business — if I had ever considered a career in advertising. Now I had no experience in that field. I had a degree in media, in film studies, in English, but no courses in advertising.

Still, I managed to land an internship at an agency in Detroit. I don’t think I was that great of a copywriter, but that agency entered a lot of award shows, and the law of averages said that I’d eventually win something, and that caught the attention of Leo Burnett in Chicago. Back then Leo Burnett hired a lot of young up-and-comers. I don’t think it was to cultivate the best and brightest talent, but more because we were very cheap (laughs).

So Leo Burnett called me up to come to Chicago for an interview. I looked in the old Red Book to find out about other agencies in Chicago, then set up a whole day of appointments and drove out there in my blue Mustang.

My first appointment ended up being the one at Leo, and the person who interviewed me went on to be the chairman of Leo Burnett sometime later. He looked at my book and asked if I could start work on Monday. I thought “Monday? I still live in Detroit!” I don’t know if it was me being young and naïve or if I had a big ego, still thinking about my future TV news career, but I told him, “you’re really nice, but I don’t think I’ll be working in advertising six months from now. I’m going to get a job on TV!”

” …I told him, ‘you’re really nice, but I don’t think I’ll be working in advertising six months from now.’ “

He looked at me and said “well, until that happens, come to Leo Burnett and we’ll make it worth your while.” He asked me where my other appointments were, and I told him I was going to some place called ‘Foote Cone something” and “McCann whatever.” He advised that I go to those appointments and come back after them. By that time it was very late in the afternoon, and the folks at Leo asked, “you’re not driving all the way back to Detroit now, are you?” They put me up at the Palmer Hotel, and that made me feel like such a movie star! That pretty much sealed the deal and I started my career in earnest at Leo Burnett.

IHAVEANIDEA: You were there for quite some time…

Marlena: I still thought I’d only be there for six months, but I ended up staying there, building, growing and going through the ranks for twenty years. I fell in love with advertising, and with Leo Burnett, and I never imagined myself ever leaving. Neither did the agency. When I eventually left to go to Ogilvy Chicago, Leo Burnett didn’t disconnect my phone line for almost six months, just in case I was under some evil spell that would wear off and have me coming back (laughs).

IHAVEANIDEA: How on earth did you wind up on the client side of things? You generally only hear about account people moving to “the dark side,” never creatives.

Marlena: (laughs) Well, the folks at McDonald’s said I came to “the light side.” I was speaking at some advertising luncheon, and the chairman of McDonald’s was in the audience. He came up to me after the event and said he loved the way I spoke about brands, and said he’d like to talk with me. I said sure, and really, you hear people say that all the time, so I really didn’t expect that we would speak again.

I was surprised when the chairman called me two days later. We met up, and at the end of the conversation he asked if I’d ever consider coming to the client side. I said “WHAT!?” I didn’t think that was a thing that could be done! We’re used to wearing clients out, not becoming one ourselves.

But it was a truly unique opportunity, as McDonald’s has always had a commitment to creativity and innovation throughout the company.

IHAVEANIDEA: What made you decide to take the offer?

Marlena: Well other than the craft behind making great ads, my favorite thing about advertising is branding, and here was a chance to work with one of the most iconic, most recognized brands on the planet. And I never got to work on McDonald’s when I was at Leo Burnett, so this was a way to impact a brand in a different way.

IHAVEANIDEA: What were your goals when you first arrived at McDonald’s?

Marlena: Well when I got there the company was in a bit of a downturn, and I really wanted to improve the advertising. They had just launched a new campaign shortly before my arrival, and it was a humbling experience to have to live under work that was created before I got there.

My goal — and this could just be ego talking — was to return McDonald’s to its legendary advertising, but that was easier said than done. Still, I was working with some extremely talented people and some of the best agencies around, so it was an exciting challenge to build award-winning, brand-building work. And I felt that with my creative, agency-side background, I knew how this could be achieved, I knew what drove both the art and commerce sides of things.

IHAVEANIDEA: What is it like to navigate the waters when you are an industry-leading company? How do you deal with a public that says, “Oh, Ronald McDonald should be scrapped” or “Selling fast food to kids is evil” or whatnot?

Marlena: Being the leader definitely has a price. I am betting some companies go to bed thinking, “Thank God for McDonald’s to take all the heat for us!” But we take our role as a food industry leader very seriously and responsibly. For instance, in the United States, all of our Happy Meals now include apple slices. It’s no longer an option that you have to ask for. We made a commitment to including nutritional information in any communications that are created for children.

One misconception I think people have about huge brands like McDonald’s and Coca-Cola is that our goal is to outspend everyone in our communications, as if money is no object. Money is an object, and we make every effort to spend our money wisely to best serve our customers. It sounds a little Pollyanna-ish, but the thing I respect most about McDonald’s is its values. For instance, there are the Ronald McDonald House charities. They are one of the biggest charities in the country, but it’s not a publicized one. We could be saying, “Oh don’t look at these things, look over here at this charity! But we’re not.”

IHAVEANIDEA: What has been the creative highlight of your time at McDonald’s so far?

Marlena: It would definitely be the launch of the ‘I’m Lovin’ It’ campaign. It was exhausting, it was nerve-wracking, but it was also truly wonderful. To have a campaign that runs in 118 countries around the world is amazing. And it’s the longest running campaign in McDonald’s history, almost ten years old. ‘You Deserve A Break Today’ was only 18 months old.

‘I’m Lovin’ It’ was a truly simple idea, as close to the proverbial doodle on a napkin as you’re going to get. It was conceived in June and by September it was on the air, in print, on billboards across the world, and the rest is history.

IHAVEANIDEA: What were some of the challenges you’ve faced in your role at McDonald’s?

Marlena: Well one of the biggest fears I had, and others around me had, was my attention span. As a creative on the agency side, you’re constantly working on new things, some big, some small, but always new. Here we were, afraid that I wouldn’t be able to handle focusing on one brand day in and day out. But that turned out to not be the case. Every day has been a new adventure, a new challenge to make the ‘I’m Lovin’ It’ campaign interesting and relevant.

“Well one of the biggest fears I had, and others around me had, was my attention span… Here we were, afraid that I wouldn’t be able to handle focusing on one brand day in and day out.”

IHAVEANIDEA: What exactly are your responsibilities as a global creative director on such a huge brand? I mean, there must be a lot of strings to pull, you must be a master puppeteer!

Marlena: Well I have direct responsibility for the work in the U.S., and a general overview for all of the other countries, and my job is the same: to uplift the level of creativity all over the world. Now I’m not like the Wizard of Oz, pulling levers behind a curtain. Each country has their own agencies, and we just set the guidelines for them. Freedom within a framework, so to speak.

IHAVEANIDEA: As someone with so many strong years of experience in this business, I’m sure you’ve seen the role of women in the industry evolve. How has it changed, and what things still need to change?

Marlena: (laughs) Well I don’t go as far back as Peggy Olson on Mad Men, but I was the first female creative at Leo Burnett to have a child. Back then, companies never even considered the idea of maternity leave, and now that’s not only common for women, but for new fathers as well.

I do wish we saw more women in leadership roles within agencies. We have a lot to bring to the table. I did have many brilliant male mentors, but it wasn’t until I got to Ogilvy that I saw and worked with women in and executive positions. Shelly Lazurus is a phenomenal one. But we need more.

That said, male or female, we need people who really love advertising, who have passion for this business coursing through their veins. You have to be in love, because why else would you put up with a job where you’re riding high in April, sinking low a week later, and back on top a week after that?

IHAVEANIDEA: You’re from Detroit. What’s your favorite Motown act?

Marlena: Easy, the Supremes. When I’m in the car, I become Diana Ross, and I can do ‘Stop In The Name of Love’ like nobody else.

Interview by:

Brett McKenzie
Chief Writer, SBN2
ihaveanidea

Not everyone was born with the kind of passion for the industry that TBWA\CHIAT\DAY Executive Creative Director Patrick O’Neill was born with. Obsessed with advertising since childhood, Patrick already had a job before he even graduated from the Art Center College of Design, and has kept the upward trajectory ever since. While he currently resides in Los Angeles, Patrick has held down the Executive Creative Director role on both coasts for TBWA\CHIAT\DAY. His time in New York resulted in award-winning work for ABSOLUT, Orbitz, Kenneth Cole, Embassy Suites and Joe Boxer, but moving to Los Angeles has not stopped the momentum. Now heading up the west coast creative product, Patrick oversees Gatorade, Visa, the Grammys (which saw record breaking ratings this year), and more. There is not an advertising award that has escaped him, from D&AD, to Cannes Lions, The One Show, the Clio Awards, the Effie Awards, the Webby Awards, and even an EMMY nomination. Not only an award winner, Patrick also served on juries for the One Show, the Andy Awards, the Clio Awards, Hive Award and The One Show Interactive. It is exhausting just typing that, but for Patrick, the work boils down to one thing: the people he works with and nurturing that talent to produce great ideas. Patrick paused for a few moments of his busy day to share with IHAVEANIDEA some of his priorities and goals, his favorite campaigns and his history in the business. Who is his greatest inspiration? Hint: his office is not far from Patrick’s own desk.

IHAVEANIDEA: What was your childhood dream?

Patrick: My first fully formed sentence was, “I have an Excedrin headache.” I used to act out the headache motions and mimic the commercial. I just loved advertising from the beginning.

IHAVEANIDEA: Did you follow a track that led to advertising from there?

Patrick: I was always creating comic book characters and doing creative things. I was influenced by advertising and products, and enjoyed being the first to try a new thing. New products were always something that captured my imagination when I was very young, whether it was on television or just shopping at the grocery store. I became fascinated with witty headlines that were surprising in ads when I was more of a teenager – I still remember how powerful and memorable some of those headlines were. In my early twenties I realized that I could have fun in advertising myself, so I went to Art Center and majored in advertising. I enjoyed the idea of coming up with something that other people would see and be influenced by, and it seemed like a lot of fun in addition to being challenging.

IHAVEANIDEA: Would you still say is a lot of fun?

Patrick: Absolutely, yeah. I think the thing that I didn’t know when I imagined doing this as a career, is what a team sport it is. I imagined it would be something done alone, or with a partner, yet it’s far from that.  It’s more people-driven and team-focused than ever. There are all of these different mediums, different levels of expertise and different talents that come together.

I just loved advertising from the beginning.

IHAVEANIDEA: … centered around collaboration…

Patrick: The collaborative part of it ends up being, I think, the most inspirational, most creatively challenging, and the most engaging part of the job.  Seeing something finished and out in the world is really rewarding, but the process of creating it is a lot of fun. The people that you surround yourself with on your teams couldn’t be more important than they are now. It becomes a collective creative force.

IHAVEANIDEA: How do you encourage collaboration and inspiration for your creative teams at TBWA?

Patrick: I think, that just like in any business, it’s constantly thinking about where people want to go in their careers, what kind of ideas they’re naturally inclined to come up with, what challenges will keep them growing in their craft and expanding their expertise, encouraging them to try new things, and being engaged and exhilarated about what they’re doing. It’s about mixing it up and keeping it fresh. That’s the difference, that’s where the ideas come from. I try really hard to be in tune with that, and think about what’s going to make my teams be the best that they can be.

It’s about mixing it up and keeping it fresh. That’s the difference, that’s where the ideas come from.

IHAVEANIDEA: The Los Angeles office of TBWA\CHIAT\DAY is a massive advertising compound. Does the tone of the culture feel more like a small agency, or the big agency that it is?

Patrick: It’s not about a vertical hierarchical structure. The agency has a very open and inviting feel. Though we’re a fairly large agency in Los Angeles, each team and each brand acts as it’s own agency within an agency. Each team is pretty independent and has a small agency attitude. It keeps the work vibrant and nimble, and allows the teams to be able to react to things easily instead of through a big, giant, bureaucratic system.

IHAVEANIDEA: How do you create that open environment?

Patrick: The agency is designed architecturally with the mentality of “open.”  It’s like a little advertising city. We have our own culture inside, plus there are different areas where you can work outside your office, like the “Central Park.” It’s really unlike most offices. That reflects in the work and shows that we’re open to new thinking. We’re delivering an ambition on creative excellence, and we’re focused on that, but it’s done in a way that fosters creativity.

IHAVEANIDEA: Let’s switch tracks and talk a bit about Los Angeles versus New York, since you’ve worked at agencies in both cities.

Patrick: I’ve actually worked at TBWA\CHIAT\DAY specifically both in New York and then now in Los Angeles. It’s a very different kind of creative culture in L.A. and I’m really enjoying it.

IHAVEANIDEA: How does it compare?

Patrick: Manhattan has a lot more agencies in a lot smaller of a space. In Los Angeles, the advertising culture of the city is very present, but the city itself is more spread out. Agencies don’t intermingle and you don’t walk down the street and run into someone from another agency very often.  L.A. is not as “industry.” I find it more about the work than about industry gossip, but then again, New York is a media town. New York is very inspiring and so spontaneous—that’s the thing I do miss about New York— and it’s a completely different way to work and live. Here in L.A., you drive home and you make plans, and you live your life in a little less spontaneous way. But I just love working here. It might just be the CHIAT\DAY Los Angeles culture, but it’s awesome.

I enjoyed the idea of coming up with something that other people would see and be influenced by

IHAVEANIDEA: What was the coolest thing you worked on pre-CHIAT\DAY Los Angeles?

Patrick: Well, there were a few things I really enjoyed working on. When I was at Deutsch, I had an opportunity to work on my first big TV ad with IKEA, which was a pretty groundbreaking campaign. I had some really big cultural things to work on there, and I felt really grateful for that luck, so it was great timing. I was in the right place at the right time.

At CHIAT\DAY New York, I worked with Absolut Vodka on the Sex in the City episode. That was really a great way to extend the brand into a new medium, and it was pretty cool. It was fun to be a part of that moment – the spirits advertising world, Absolut, Sex and the City and New York.  I really enjoyed being in the media culture of New York City.

IHAVEANIDEA: Out of everything you’ve ever worked on to date— to this very day—what is your absolute favorite campaign?

Patrick: (laughs)…that’s so hard. I’m really proud of the work that we’ve done with Visa for the Beijing Olympics. There’s nothing like the Olympics, and there’s no other time in the world where everyone comes together like that. From Morgan Freeman’s voice to all of the athlete’s stories, it was a real honor to work on. People really responded well and it captured the spirit of the games and the partnership with Visa. I was really proud of that work—those are some of my most favorite moments.

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IHAVEANIDEA: Who is your greatest inspiration?

Patrick: I’d have to say Lee (Clow). He always stays true to his vision, is always inspiring, and thinks of simplicity and beauty in nurturing ideas. That’s demonstrated by the way he lives, the way he thinks and how he speaks.  His point of view on the world is just a constant reminder of how powerful our medium – our business— is, and what we do. It’s a real honor to be able to have him so close and to see him, work with him and speak to him about ideas. There have been a lot of people over the years that have been a big inspiration to me, but the one that has had the most impact is Lee. A lot of people will say that, but he’s our spiritual leader, he’s our guru.

IHAVEANIDEA:  What are your goals for the next six months?

Patrick: The number one thing is making sure we’ve got the right people on the right brand thinking the right way. Right now it’s just the talent, the people, and the team; just making sure that everyone is doing the best they can, in a position to do the best work of their lives. And if they’re not, then I will change it so that they are. With great people comes the great work and that’s where my priority truly is; that’s what is on my radar for the next six months.

We’re delivering an ambition on creative excellence, and we’re focused on that

IHAVEANIDEA: What is the #1 gadget you can’t live without?

Patrick: It’s cliché, but that iPhone. It’s something that I never leave anywhere; it’s always with me. It’s almost as essential, if not more so, than my wallet or my identification. It’s just a part of everything I do and unimaginable to be without it.

IHAVEANIDEA: What is the #1 non-gadget you can’t live without?

Patrick: There’s a book I really love that’s called, “It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want To Be.“  It’s a book of inspiration and it’s like a mini-bible. I think it’s really important to think of the bigger picture and what you’re really doing in this job, not the day-to-day stuff, or the up and downs that are out of our control.

IHAVEANIDEA: Well, now I feel like I need to go pick it up immediately.

Patrick: You definitely do.

Chief Creative Officer
Ogilvy & Mather China

Graham Fink, Chief Creative Officer of Ogilvy & Mather China, has one of the most interesting careers in the business and he’s just getting started in Asia. Recruited to Ogilvy in early 2011, Graham has tackled the challenge of a new market with gusto, seeking and celebrating young local talent, adding a blend of expat talent into the mix and learning what works best for Chinese clients and consumers. Will his creative mission in China be successful? Well, his track record speaks for itself. While in London, Graham became London’s top Creative Director after cleverly breaking into Collett, Dickenson and Pearce (CDP) as a student, studying under and working for Paul Weiland, building M&C Saatchi’s creative team to acclaimed success and earning the position of the youngest President ever of D&AD. That doesn’t include what he does in his spare time or his long list of awards. Graham is also a film director, an award-winning photographer, and founder of thefinktank. He was the 2011 UK Creative Circle President’s Award winner and has won D&AD Pencils, Gold and Bronze Lions at Cannes, the Epica D’or and a myriad of awards at Campaign’s Big Awards. This work catapulted him to the top of the 2010 world creative rankings in The Gunn Report for Print. He is also famous for world-renowned work on Land Rover, Hamlet and British Airways’ ‘FACE’ commercial. In short, Graham is the man, and IHAVEANIDEA was grateful to catch a few moments with him — in between flights to Peru and his judging of D&AD this month– to hear more of the Graham Fink story straight from the source.

IHAVEANIDEA: Did you always know you wanted to be in advertising, or what were your childhood career aspirations?

Graham: I very nearly joined the Navy. My dad was in the Navy, before he became a butler, so it really appealed to me. I was also interested in Music and Art, so eventually I went to Art School and a few years later someone told me about this career called “Advertising.” It sounded amazing.

IHAVEANIDEA: Describe the moment you broke into the biz; did you fall in by happy coincidence or deliberately by choice?

Graham: Getting a job was almost impossible. After about 118 interviews, I went to the best agency in the world: Collett, Dickenson and Pearce. They were doing the most amazing work. My copywriter and I turned up to see the Creative Director, who liked our book but he said they didn’t take on students. They were looking for a more senior team with a lot more experience, he told us. The next day we returned, having dyed our hair white, painted wrinkles on our faces and clutching a couple of walking sticks. We said to the receptionist, “Tell the Creative Director that two old men have come to see him.” The story went round like wildfire, they all thought it was hilarious and the next day they hired us.

IHAVEANIDEA: Talk about your early years in the industry. What were your favorite projects or campaigns? Are there any anecdotes that stand out in memory?

Graham: The advertising world then was full of great characters and stories. There was a lot of fun going on. I remember Tony Kaye started his directing career. He didn’t have money to set up fancy offices, so he famously walked around Soho clutching a layout pad. He called his production company “Wandering Jew.”  He took out ads in every national newspaper saying that he was the most important British film director since Alfred Hitchcock. Later, he took a plastic blow up E.T. doll (the Spielberg variety) everywhere he went, and occasionally sent E.T. off to production meetings on his own in a cab. Someone at the other end used to take him out of the cab and prop him up on a seat in the meeting.

It was a fun time but we also worked very hard. Only the very best work was bought by our Creative Directors and in those days, once that happened, the clients nearly always approved it. Well, we did also have Frank Lowe — possibly the greatest ever account man in the world– who could sell any piece of work.

I was very proud to be voted in as President by my peers

IHAVEANIDEA: Who is or was your biggest mentor?

Graham: I had a few, from Paul Arden to Tim Mellors, Tony Kaye, Neil Godfrey, Peter Saville, and the list goes on…

IHAVEANIDEA: Tell me about your days at Paul Weiland. What coolest thing you worked on there?

Graham: Paul was a great ad man. He had written some of the best and funniest ads in British advertising and had directed half of them, too, following very much in the path of Alan Parker (Midnight Express, Bugsy Malone, The Commitments). Paul made some of the best and funniest commercials in the UK in the 80’s and 90’s, and gave me a lot of help in my early days directing.

I remember doing one spot for PPP, a private health insurance company. I wanted to shoot the whole commercial in X-ray, which was then impossible to do as a moving image. So I went to Heathrow airport and we put all these objects through the X-ray machine hundreds of times at every possible angle to create a database of images… the most unusual one being the skeleton of a man! Jon Hollis at Smoke and Mirrors (post house) then spent weeks putting the whole thing together to make it look as though it was all moving. We even created the effect of focus pulls. It was pretty incredible at the time and won a lot of awards.

IHAVEANIDEA: Being the youngest ever President of D&AD is an incredible honor. What did this mean to you?

Graham: I was very proud to be voted in as President by my peers. I worked so hard not to let everyone down. One thing I introduced was the Art Direction category at D&AD, which is still going today. Another thing I did was to get a few famous names of people outside of advertising to sit on the juries. People like Damian Hirst on music videos (he had directed a few that year), Gilbert and George to judge illustration, and Will Self to sit on the copy jury. Some of the more conservative members of D&AD were outraged, but I didn’t really care. My point was that we all look to some of these people and their work for inspiration for our ideas. So why not include them?

The story became famous and made people outside the business aware of D&AD, and as a result, it raised all the sponsorship money we needed to keep going. In the end, Damian and the others decided not to do it, but I still think it was a good idea.

I wanted to shoot the whole commercial in X-ray, which was then impossible to do as a moving image

IHAVEANIDEA: What inspired thefinktank? How does it live on today?

Graham: Thefinktank was, of course, based on my name as no one else could use it. I thought it was funny, especially as everyone used to take the piss out of my name when I was a kid. So it was kind of getting my own back. It was memorable though. It really only exists today as theartschool, which I am trying to do in China. This was an event we used to run every few months, where I invited anyone who wanted to come along for an afternoon of fun, talks, give out briefs and do book crits. We had some amazing speakers; I once got Gary Oldman to talk for three hours about his life and films, and also worked with Francis Ford Coppola. It was fantastic.

IHAVEANIDEA: What are the highlights of your years at M&C Saatchi?

Graham: Building a great creative department and eventually becoming one of the most awarded agencies in London. To top it all off, the press ads I did for Dixons with Simon Dicketts topped the Gunn report in 2010 for most award print campaign in the world. Funny thing was that when I arrived at M&C, no one wanted to work on it!

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IHAVEANIDEA: What brought you to Ogilvy in China? What interested you about the market and opportunity there, and ultimately enticed you to leave London?

Graham: I was very happy at M&C Saatchi, but the phone rang one day and a headhunter told me about this job in Shanghai, overseeing 17 offices in China. It seemed a crazy idea at the time, and the fact I knew very little about place all appealed to me. I’m always telling people to get out of their comfort zone, so I decided to get out of mine. To date, I have no regrets.

IHAVEANIDEA: Now that you are there, what are the most surprising things about the industry in China? What is the best thing about it?

Graham: I am surprised by how much the Chinese look up to Western brands. They have a big appeal. There are luxury brands stores in all the big cities, and Chinese people are prepared to pay extra money for them. This is interesting as local wages are not that high. A lot of shopping is done online, however, and people spend twice as much time there as they do in the USA.

I’m also surprised how rational most of the advertising is. Chinese consumers want to know what everything does and how it works, what’s in it for them and what not. But this is at the expense of perhaps more interesting, witty advertising with more emotional messages (although there recently seems to be a swing in that general direction).

But I believe that advertising is a means of educating people, too. Ogilvy has a very big reputation here, so I think we have a duty to put work out there that challenges people and makes them sit up and take notice. I’m always very aware that what we do has the power to change people’s behaviors, and thus change culture.

Advertising here is pretty new compared to the rest of the world. There is a different set of problems here.

IHAVEANIDEA: What are your goals for Ogilvy China in the next six months to a year?

Graham: I look after a number of offices here, but Shanghai and Beijing are the main focus right now. I’m making a lot of changes, especially in Shanghai, both to the restructuring of the agency and also around hiring new people. It’s about getting the right balance of expats and local talent. I want us to produce great work on famous brands, and work that will get people in China talking. Work like the #CokeHands poster, which took a lot of seeking on my part, as I had to call every school in Hong Kong to find the young designer, Jonathan Mak, who designed CokeHands (he also created the Steve Jobs tribute design last fall).

IHAVEANIDEA: Tell me a bit about the work and clients in China and your goals for both.

Graham: We have a great range of clients. Some are international, some are local. There are a lot of opportunities here to produce great work if we earn the trust from our clients. Local clients want highly creative work, but sometimes it’s a matter of helping them understand how to get it.

Advertising here is pretty new compared to the rest of the world. There is a different set of problems here. China being so vast is one of them. What works in the North of the country may not work in the South, East or West. The audience is less sophisticated. They tell me local clients are very tough, but I’ve seen equally tough clients in London. It’s a case of being patient and earning great working relationships with them. I’m optimistic that we can produce work that will trouble juries in Cannes in the next few years.

IHAVEANIDEA: Across all disciplines, careers and specific jobs, what is the coolest project or campaign you ever worked on?

Graham: Sony Playstation. I produced a poster that was basically a microscopic shot of blood. If you looked closely at the image, you could see that the blood cells were in the shapes of circles, crosses, triangles and squares. It won a lot of awards. The best thing about it though was it was MY BLOOD. I went to the hospital and they took an armful of the red stuff, and I then retouched in the symbols. I always say I give blood for my work. In this case it was literally true.

IHAVEANIDEA: What is the gadget you cannot live without?

Graham: My Lego watch.

Brianna Graves
Director of IHAVEANIDEA
IHAVEANIDEA

Chief Creative Officer
Wing

Renata Florio is breaking multiple molds: the first being a departure from the Brazilian advertising industry for America and the second, joining U.S. Hispanic shop Wing as a its first female CCO. Renata is a successful Brazilian creative superstar, having won not one, but eight Gold Lions, as well as One Show awards over her 20-year career that has spanned top shops such as AlmapBBDO, F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi, DM9DDB, Publicis and Peralta StrawberryFrog. Her experience crosses categories from fast food, beverage and financial services to packaged goods, automotive and household appliances, with brands like Unilever, Nestle, General Motors, Volkswagen, Toyota, Citibank and Whirlpool. Her next step is to conquer the U.S. market, bringing a unique and informed Latin American and Brazilian point of view and global experience. After spending some time chatting with her, just one month after she arrived in the U.S., the best thing about Renata is her friendly, down-to-earth joie de vivre. She is humble, appreciating the opportunities that she has earned, yet acknowledging that without dedicated hard work on her part and the part of her new team at Wing, the experience will be for nothing.

IHAVEANIDEA:  Since you’ve very recently relocated to New York to lead the creative team at Wing, what motivated you to leave Brazil?

Renata: There are three very important things. The first one is the challenge of working with the U.S.-Hispanic market. I’ve been working in this business for twenty years and I’ve been through many challenges, but this mixing of cultural and economical facts in the new America attracted my attention. It feels like I’m a part of the new period of history. It’s not only about advertising itself, but also about how the world is changing and how we are all becoming more global, even if we are fond of the good old Madison Ave. times.  The Grey Group was beckoning, so it’s not only being a part of the new U.S. age, but it’s being also part of a bigger structure.

The second thing is that Brazil has very good advertising products, but I don’t think we are always as exposed to what’s going on in the business around the world. It feels like I’m getting more knowledge and in touch with more things in the industry here in New York than I would have if I had stayed in Brazil.
The third reason is that I’ve worked a lot with Latin America and this is a chance to mix the culture again. So it’s about culture, including the culture of the business, and I am going to be able to bring my experience as a Brazilian and Latin American and bring something fresh to the business.

It’s about culture, including the culture of the business, and I am going to be able to bring my experience as a Brazilian and Latin American and bring something fresh to the business.

IHAVEANIDEA: What lured you into the business in the first place?

Renata: Well, I used to be a language teacher, a Portuguese teacher.  I used to teach in high school and then I started teaching writing for advertising agencies and also for advertising universities. I got very interested in the subject myself so I started studying how it would work. Since it was so new and interesting to me, I started as an intern although I was already 25 years old.  I kept two jobs, teaching some days and working part-time as a copywriter. Eventually I just gave up teaching and kept on the route of being a copywriter.

IHAVEANIDEA: Can you tell me some highlights of your experience in Brazil?

Renata: I started my career at AlmapBBDO and also worked for F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi in Sao Paolo. In fact, I usually say that though I didn’t study advertising, I graduated in the advertising business through my experience at Saatchi & Saatchi, which is one of the most creative agencies in Brazil and in the world. I learned a lot there. I was Head of Creative for Latin America and Brazil at DM9DDB and had a great experience there, as well. I was at Peralta StrawberryFrog before I came to Wing, where they have this very interesting cultural movement perspective and I learned a lot there about the way you think. Instead of thinking of advertising as a single idea, they create a cultural movement. It’s more about the people and less about the product, more about what they expect and want to do with your brand than about the brand. Of course for this cultural movement and all of this challenging positioning, it requires a strong client and a strong brand.  You cannot do that with a product that won’t work.

IHAVEANIDEA: What is your number one goal for this transition and what you want to bring to Wing?

Renata: It’s definitely to improve the creative work, to provide clients and the market with better creative work. At the moment, the very first goal is to sit down, take a look at the work, see how we can make it better, then see how we can make it much better.  I think it’s very exciting (laughs).

At the moment, the very first goal is to sit down, take a look at the work, see how we can make it better, then see how we can make it much better.

IHAVEANIDEA: You’ve won many, many, many awards throughout your career. Is that something that you also intend to bring to Wing?

Renata: Yes, yes. Brazil has a good culture of winning awards and I think this is very important and I do care about it. Whereas people say awards are not important, I think that they are. It is about self-esteem and saying that you’re proud of the work you do. It’s nice when you’re recognized and we need people to evaluate our work, because otherwise—well, we are already a very self-centered, egomaniac culture—so if you don’t have someone else to weigh in, you’re going to go crazy. You’re going to believe you’re either the very best one, or the worst and you’ll feel depressed. Of course people sometimes tend to overvalue these prizes, but I think that if you do it in the right dose it’s very good for your self-esteem and for the agency’s self-esteem.

What am I bringing from an award culture? I know that I have to work hard, concentrate and build those relationships. Of course I’ll always have the team to help me, and I’ve already met people on my team that are very talented and I can just boost them and their great ideas, because they have many of them. I’m not promising anything because it’s very hard, but it’s a goal, it’s a serious goal, its part of our business plan to at least be there with very good work worth judging.

IHAVEANIDEA: What inspires you and how do you let that trickle down and inspire the creative teams that you’re leading?

Renata: The inspiration for me is that there’s always another chance, or a good chance, to get a good idea.  So every brief, every job, is a door that opens to a possible chance that maybe this is the one you’ve been waiting for.  And I tell the team the same thing: if you are in this business, it’s because you like creative work. It’s always about that, a chance to be creative, a chance to do something new and fresh.  It’s not complicated.

The inspiration for me is that there’s always another chance, or a good chance, to get a good idea.  So every brief, every job, is a door that opens to a possible chance that maybe this is the one you’ve been waiting for.

IHAVEANIDEA: What is the most rewarding part of your job?

Renata: When you see people talking about your work and they have nothing to do with advertising. When you’re in the subway and you overhear a teenager saying to another teenager, “Have you seen that thing on Facebook that they’re doing right now?” Or even if your kids come to you and say “Did you do that?”

IHAVEANIDEA: What is your take on the U.S. Hispanic market?

Renata: So far I’ve been getting acquainted with the target, but my research to date has brought me to the conclusion that it’s much like the market in Brazil that we call “Class C.” In Brazil, the “Class C” has grown hugely because of our extraordinary economical development. As advertisers, we had to learn how to talk to people who were not used to having money, but all of a sudden thanks to God or economic policies, they are more able to spend.

I see the Hispanic market here more or less like that. The Hispanic population is now moving in to the second or third generation of people living in the U.S. Their ancestors may have been striving to buy food and pay rent, but now they are going to school, buying cars, televisions and apartments. They’re spending money but they want to be connected with something that makes sense to them. They don’t want to be addressed as “normal American people.” They want to be seen as part of the American culture and they want to belong because they’ve done it, their parents and grandparents have strived for that, but it’s different. I think it will take more time and it requires more research and knowledge to talk to them properly, but to me it’s pretty much about being honest.

IHAVEANIDEA: What will you miss most about Brazil?  And what are you most excited about experiencing in the U.S.?

Renata: I’m not missing anything so far because now with the global ability to connect with people wherever they are. I’ve been talking to my old colleagues and checking the advertising sites of Brazil, so I haven’t had time to miss anything. The obvious thing that most excites me about New York?  Well wow, it’s New York, New York!  I still work as much as I used to work in Brazil, I have as many responsibilities as I used to have, but then when I open the office door it’s New York outside! My God, there is so much to learn, so much to do, all of the industries are here. It’s really overwhelming, it’s great.

IHAVEANIDEA: What is the one thing in the world that you cannot live without?

Renata: My family. I’ve proved it, I have tried. I lived here for 40 days before my family joined me here. I can tell you that if they didn’t join me, although there are all of these beautiful things and all of this excitement, I wouldn’t be as happy as I am. So they’re the ones.

IHAVEANIDEA: They’re your core.

Renata: Yes (laughs).

Brianna Graves
Operations Manager, Writer
IHAVEANIDEA

David&Goliath

Shuffling Party Rock hamsters? Yeah, Colin Jeffery is behind that. But both Colin and David&Goliath, where he is Executive Creative Director and Managing Partner, are much bigger than just the hamsters. Bigger than the cultural movement they instigated, and the turbo-jet speed at which they’ve propelled Kia into the forefront of the car market. Colin Jeffery is a worldly creative leader. His journey began in his native South Africa, where he learned from the some of the greats at TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris and helped build King James in Cape Town. Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore was next before heading for the States. Colin produced a long list of award-winning work for Volkswagen at Arnold Boston, and then began nurturing brave creatives and even braver work at David&Goliath. He has done more cool things than can fit in one interview, including writing The Check Up, a film that premiered at Sundance and was selected for the LA Film Festival, and he has also won the full gamut of accolades, including Cannes Lions, D&AD, Clios, One Show and Effies, to name a few.  He was cranking on 2012 Super Bowl work when IHAVEANIDEA caught up with him, and we’re thankful he paused to share some of his time and bring you some of his wisdom.

IHAVEANIDEA: Tell me about growing up in South Africa and Cape Town. It’s such an inspiring, creative place.

Colin: Yeah, absolutely, I think it is inspiring. South Africa is a giant mixing pot of color, culture, art, music and beliefs. While it has an incredibly complicated history, there’s something very simple, optimistic and soulful about it. Growing up I spent a lot of time outdoors, in the mountains, on boats and in the bush, it’s hard to describe, just vast and beautiful, really. I’ve always had a love and respect for the local art and music scene. As a student I was fascinated by township art and music, that’s truly inspired creativity. Sam Nhlengethwa is still my favorite artist; we have some of his work hanging in our home here in LA.

As a young kid I was fascinated by brands and marketing, largely due to the fact that we had limited exposure to international brands and the latest “cool” products. I still remember the first ad that really resonated with me; it was a Nike print ad that must have been in an overseas publication. It was just a young boy sitting on a basketball looking into camera, and underneath it simply read, “Someday.” It was such a powerful message, it made we want to be a famous athlete, wear Nike and be creative. Not sure who produced it, but “thank you.” I actually tore it out of the magazine and put it in one of my boxes of childhood memorabilia, and I still have it somewhere in my folk’s house in South Africa.

Even though art was something that I loved, I wasn’t entirely sure how to make a career out of it. Art Direction and Graphic design were not career choices that our teachers discussed at high school. Creative was still this kind of weird uncharted territory. Luckily for me, Brian Searle-Tripp and Allan Raaff (South African ad industry veterans and all-round great guys) had recently opened the Red and Yellow School and the program focused purely on advertising creative. I signed up and got to work.

IHAVEANIDEA: How did that go?

Colin: I struggled for the first year trying to get my head around concepts and problem solving. After the first year, Brian, called me in and said “I’m not sure if advertising is for you.” That kind of pissed me off and motivated me at the same time. So I spent the next year basically working day and night trying to improve my skills. At the end of my second year I actually won the top student award in South Africa at the Loeries (the South African advertising awards). At the time, there was only one student award, the student gold for best campaign in the country.

IHAVEANIDEA: What were some highlights of those early years in the industry in South Africa?

Colin: Well, that challenge taught me a lot, it pushed me to dig deeper and try harder, and it allowed me to get into TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris in Johannesburg. I packed up my old Toyota Corolla and headed across the country armed with a bag of clothes and my Power Mac 5200. Hunts is a legendary shop, I was lucky enough to work with some of the greats like John Hunt and Tony Granger, who were leading the charge creatively. That place is built on pure passion and takes craft very seriously. It was exciting to be a part of the magic. I worked around the clock on any brief I could get my hands on, just trying to get noticed and make it happen. I touched a wide range of clients including BMW, Land Rover, Nando’s Chicken, Mica Hardware and South African Airways.

Then I joined King James in Cape Town, a new creative shop at the time. Alistair King was really focused on building something special. I’ve always liked the idea of being part of building something, much like we’re doing at David&Goliath. So I jumped in and spent the next 2 years there. I got a lot of great work out of it, and it’s been wonderful watching them expand. They’ve become a major player back home.

Even though art was something that I loved, I wasn’t entirely sure how to make a career out of it.

IHAVEANIDEA: And from South Africa, where did you go?

Colin: Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore. My partner and I got an offer to go across as a senior team. Saatchi Singapore was one of the top creative shops, so it was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up. I was ready for an adventure and new challenges. I worked on Lexus, Toyota, Singapore Navy, Burger King and Hewlett Packard. I produced a bunch of award-winning work and managed a number of significant car campaigns in various countries across Asia. I was also head of art on the Hewlett Packard account, helping oversee creative from 16 countries in the region. That was my first taste of what it’s like to manage pieces of business, which I liked and I wanted more of.

IHAVEANIDEA: But the U.S. came calling?

Colin: I got a call from Arnold in Boston to come over and help manage the VW account in America. I was a big fan of the “Drivers Wanted” campaign and jumped at the opportunity to be a part of it. The VW group at Arnold was very close-knit, everybody understood the voice and personality of the brand. There was this humanity and soul at the heart of it that resulted in consistently great work. It really felt like we were build a movement rather than a brand or campaign. Those days were definitely a career highlight.

I spent the next year basically working day and night trying to improve my skills. At the end of my second year I actually won the top student award in South Africa at the Loeries.

IHAVEANIDEA: What are you most proud of from that time?

Colin: The launch of the new Passat in 2006. We created the “Feature Films” campaign. It was hugely ambitious and ended up being one of the most awarded campaigns in the world at the time. We basically developed 120 films for the web each one inspired by a specific car feature, and it all lived on one big site. We worked with production companies, directors, designers and VFX artists from all over the world, US, Europe, Asia and South America. No one had ever done anything remotely like this and it was kind of a nightmare. (laughs) A lot of it was discovery, trying new things, working with eight or nine different production companies all at the same time, maybe more. That was just the web component, we also created a bunch of TV spots, print and outdoor that made up the campaign.

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IHAVEANIDEA:  What inspired the leap from Boston to the West Coast?

Colin: At that point in my career I’d worked in large and small agencies around the world. There were pros and cons to both structures, and some markets made it easier to produce great work. For the most part big shops have big clients with healthy budgets, but also complicated approval processes and plenty of politics. Smaller shops, on the other hand, typically have smaller clients with limited budgets, but are able to move quicker and are more inclined to do breakthrough work.

I was in search of a creative shop that was the perfect blend of both.

I flew to LA and met with David Angelo. We sat down and talked about David&Goliath and where he wanted to take it. It very quickly occurred to me that this was what I’d been looking for; an independent agency with a great creative track record, a solid client list, but plenty of room for growth. David is a creative himself and passionate about producing innovative work. He was focused on building a different kind of shop, so I decided I would help him do it.

It very quickly occurred to me that this was what I’d been looking for; an independent agency with a great creative track record, a solid client list, but plenty of room for growth.

IHAVEANIDEA: So you decided to be Brave. Tell me about this philosophy.

Colin: Brave is our company mantra. It comes out of our name David&Goliath, but also our work ethic and approach to creativity. We are a challenger brand with challenger clients. We also have ambitious goals. Brave is a constant reminder to do things differently, to step out of our comfort zone, to innovate and evolve. It requires us to work a little harder, be a little smarter, quicker, and more ambitious than the big guys. It’s not some PR bullshit we threw out once and forgot about. It’s at the heart of our company and used on a daily basis.

IHAVEANIDEA: Do you think that inspires your staff in a unique way, because they can subscribe to Brave inside and the outside of the agency?

Colin: Absolutely, it was designed to be inspirational. “Brave” is a simple filter for us, it requires everyone to be open minded and willing to push the boundaries. We even have a “Wall of Goliaths,” which is an entire wall covered in framed images of our staff’s personal fears. Having them hang in the hallway is a constant reminder to be Brave.

IHAVEANIDEA: Do your junior teams have a chance to attack the bigger, braver work?

Colin: Awesome question. One of our junior art directors just sold a 60-second Super Bowl commercial. It’s his first commercial ever. I’m pretty sure that’s never happened in the history of the Super Bowl. Most people spend their career hoping to get a crack at the big time, and this kid nailed it straight out of school.

IHAVEANIDEA: What work are you most proud of at David&Goliath?

Colin: A few things come to mind. Firstly I’m really proud of the work we’ve done on the David&Goliath brand. Very few agencies seem to take the time to work on their own brand. Creating a distinct look, voice and clear goals for the agency has help us be more successful. This year we were named Ad Age “Small Agency of the Year,” won a bunch of new business including Carl’s Jr. and the California State Lottery, won Nielson “Automotive Ad of the Year” for the second year in a row, a Gold Effie, as well as a bunch of creative awards. Momentum is a good thing.

Here are a few of my favorite recent creative pieces.

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

IHAVEANIDEA: What is the one thing you are not brave enough to live without?

Colin: On a serious note, it’s my family. My wife and my kids. They give me balance. I love working, I love creativity and I find it almost impossible to step away.  Without them I think I’d run myself into the ground. They remind me that there’s more to life than just working. To continually be creative, you need to get out there, enjoy the world, be inspired and see stuff.

On a lighter note, I really miss is biltong, South African dried meat. Kind of like jerky, but way better.

IHAVEANIDEA: I’ve had biltong, so I can say that I understand that one.

Brianna Graves
Operations Manager, Writer
IHAVEANIDEA

Venables Bell & Partners

Never underestimate the potential of the up-and-comer answering the telephones at a small agency in New York City. Who knows, they may go on to become a talented copywriter or to co-lead the creative department at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. They might even have the entrepreneurial drive to launch their own agency in San Francisco, one that is motivated by the intention to do right by its staff and its clients. Clients like Microsoft and Audi, Intel and Barclays, HBO and PG&E. They might also find themselves recognized ten years later by their peers at the Greater San Francisco Ad Club with the honor of “Ad Person of the Year.”

They might be Paul Venables. IHAVEANIDEA caught up with Paul just after Venables Bell & Partners celebrated its tenth anniversary, to learn more about the highlights and challenges of the past ten years and the top priority for the next ten.

IHAVEANIDEA: What were the early motivations for you to jump into this business and how did those early days shape your career?

Paul: Well, it’s funny. I was at the University of Connecticut in the School of Business program and I wasn’t really inspired. I was taking a lot of classes like journalism on the side, and then I stumbled into an advertising class, and the professor described advertising as the Rock ‘n’ Roll of the corporate world. So I got a “B.S.” (I love that) in marketing. I got very interested in the creative side of advertising and knew I wanted to be a writer, so I made this makeshift book and headed down to New York, where I was completely and utterly rejected by every agency in town.

Finally there was an opening at a small agency, but it was just a pure reception job, not some sort of training program or anything. I took it and it was actually an excellent experience. I was there for a full two years and I got to see all aspects of the business, interact with all departments and get a much better understanding of how an agency works. I worked very closely with the President of the agency and got to see firsthand how they ran things. It was a really valuable experience.

One day they came to me and said, “We know you want to be a writer, but we don’t have a writer job. But we also know you want to get off the phones and we have an account coordinator job. Do you want it?” I took it. So I started on the account side, but by the time I left that first job I had been doing media work, a bunch of new business, as well as overseeing creative and working as a writer, writing marketing plans and competitive reviews … I was wearing all of the hats at the agency.

IHAVEANIDEA: From there it seems like you had a path in mind and materialized that path. Can you tell me about the years post-account coordinator until you started your own agency?

Paul: My dad offered me some wisdom as I pursued my career. He was a machinist — he worked in factories that worked with metal — but in every job he ever had, he was always thinking about his boss’ job … how was he going to get the next job? No matter where or when I was hired, I’ve always had the same mentality of how do I get the next job? My perspective was that everything was a means to an end, in a healthy way. When you realize you’re going somewhere, or you want to go somewhere, you become really good at taking something from the bad parts of it. You take solace in the fact that you’re collecting skills along the way that you need, even if it’s not the perfect job, because it’s not going to be your last job. I don’t know why I always knew I wanted my own agency, but I did in fact start out thinking, “Someday I want my own agency.” Knowing that the experiences that I was exposed to and the skills that I collected along the way, even in difficult or less-than-ideal situations, were all going to come along together and help me someday. I think it’s really positive when you have that kind of perspective.

IHAVEANIDEA: Was it San Francisco, the city, that lured you west or was it Goodby?

Paul: That’s an interesting story because it’s a little bit of both. I was in New York doing some real nice work at a place called Korey Kay & Partners. I was associate creative director but it was time to move, and I remember my wife and I specifically talked about all the agencies in the country, all of the places we could possibly live in, and we narrowed it down. We ruled out places like Minneapolis, Portland and Boston, and we said either we stay in New York or give San Francisco a shot. She said, “If you don’t send your book to Goodby, you’ll never know. Why don’t you just send it to them and see what happens? If you don’t get in there, we’ll stay in New York and make a great life and career here.”

No matter where or when I was hired, I’ve always had the same mentality of how do I get the next job?

I had my book gathered, with the big old FedEx stickers slapped on the side of it, sitting in my living room, when Jeff Goodby called me. Completely separate and unrelated. He called and had seen some TV spots that I had done for Comedy Central and really loved them. He thought that we should talk and meet; and next thing you know they flew me out; then they flew out both my wife and me for a long weekend to make sure that we were digging the city; and shortly thereafter I was working there.

IHAVEANIDEA: Wow, if that’s not a sign… that’s too funny.  Did you tell him “Well, actually…”

Paul: Yeah, it definitely came out. It was pretty wild.

IHAVEANIDEA: Did your time with Goodby solidify your final path toward starting your agency?

Paul: I had bounced around in New York a little bit, and New York’s a very different place to work, so when I came to the West Coast, California, San Francisco— Goodby specifically— it was like scales fell from my eyes. I could see the way it’s supposed to be done. Coming to San Francisco to a purely creative agency with a fantastic strategic take on things, and learning firsthand how they did what they did was a complete education. Everything from crafting (they value so highly the craft of what we do), how they talk to clients, how they’re unafraid to say “I don’t know” or “we’ll get back to you” and how they pitch business, how they recruited and hired people from all over with all different kinds of personalities, skill sets, backgrounds, and how they valued the eclectic mix of people and the culture they established. I just learned so much and I may have stayed there forever (laughs).

IHAVEANIDEA: (laughs) It was that good, eh?

Paul: There were a couple of little factors that kept the idea of having my own agency alive, but I think that window started to slowly close because I was so darned content and happy at Goodby. I had full autonomy and the agency was on an absolute roll. We were Agency of the Year doing award-winning work, working with wonderful people that I respected and liked in the wonderful, beautiful city of San Francisco. It was pretty heavenly at the time. But then I had an opportunity with a longstanding client who approached me and was dissatisfied with the agencies she was working with. The conversation got started, those entrepreneurial fires were rekindled and off I went to conquer the world with my own agency.

IHAVEANIDEA: Why did you decide to stay and launch Venables Bell & Partners in San Francisco?

Paul: I can’t imagine anyone ever coming to San Francisco, establishing a life—both professionally and personally—and then choosing to leave San Francisco and the surrounding area. It’s hard to imagine and I am an East Coaster, I was in New York for about eight years living in Manhattan, but I can’t imagine people that turn and leave San Francisco. There are just too many things; the lifestyle, the culture, the kind of city, the kind of progressive thinking that goes on here, the kind of art and design and photography and film, a more generally sophisticated California with wine country here, and Tahoe there, the beaches here, everything is reasonably close, the beautiful architecture of the city and the rolling hills, the weather. It’s an amazing place and it’s a creative place, and that’s a big part of it. It’s not just a beautiful place to live, it’s a hotbed of creativity, it’s a crucible of interesting thinking, of people, we have Silicon Valley on our doorstep, and all of the technology in the world coming right from this part of the country, you’ve got the movie industry just down the way, down the coast. It’s a pretty unique place and I’m a believer in San Francisco and the creative culture here.

IHAVEANIDEA: So tell me a bit about the type of shop that you set out to set up at Venables Bell & Partners. What was your vision?

Paul: In complete candor, you don’t set up the agency initially going “What kind of agency do we want?” You kind of know the environment you like working in. You know you want it to be creatively driven. You know you wanted it to be founded on strong strategy and smart insights, but you haven’t really painted the whole picture, because you have a responsibility to this new account. It was a sizeable piece of Microsoft business, somewhere in the neighborhood of $40-50 million that I had to take care of. So you immediately shift gears from “What’s the agency like?” to “How are we going to launch this thing, get it off the ground, keep this client happy, be successful and do great work?”
We immediately had to recruit people and ask the right questions about the kind of person that we hire. Do they have passion and energy? Are they honest and decent people? Are they good human beings? You take all of these decisions, from the receptionist, to creative departments, to strategy and account groups, and you shape the way you want it to work. I had worked at enough agencies to know what I liked and what I did not like. You get a chance to right all the wrongs that you’ve seen along the way, and adapt and employ all of the good, neat things you’ve seen along the way.

We try to do right by people, we try to do right by clients, and doing right by clients absolutely means not trying to sell them the wackiest creative idea…

IHAVEANIDEA: Can you tell me a bit about your mantra “Our Intentions Are Good?”

Paul: It’s funny because you look around the agency landscape and see agencies trying to sell themselves through their mantras, philosophies and all of these promises to their clients. We really took a long hard look at our business, at who we were as a people, when we were successful and when we were not successful, and what kind of culture we wanted to cultivate here. We realized that it completely comes down to doing right. Doing right by our clients and doing right by our employees. And I like the idea that we have this philosophy, “Our Intentions Are Good,” and it doesn’t promise a damn thing. It doesn’t even promise that we’re going to be successful. It’s about intentions, those aren’t even actions, those aren’t even results … that’s two steps removed from results.

I think this place is really human, we try to do right by people, we try to do right by clients, and doing right by clients absolutely means not trying to sell them the wackiest creative idea because you want it in your book or you want to get an award. It’s doing something responsible —I t still has to be creative — but it has to be appropriate for the business. It’s telling clients you don’t know the answer when you don’t know the answer; or “You know what? A different company can do that better or cheaper than we can;” or “Maybe we should take the money out of the big ad budget and put it in over here in customer service because that will better serve your brand in the long run.” It’s trying to make sure you’re just doing right by that company, by that brand, as it tries to operate in the marketplace.

IHAVEANIDEA:  What is the most rewarding part of your work?

Paul: I enjoy the most rewarding moment you could possibly enjoy every morning when I step off the elevator, to walk into the halls of my agency where people are engaged and motivated and happy and doing great work. It is an amazing feeling, this culture that you shape and influence and nurture, and then also let other people add to it and contribute to it in ways you couldn’t even imagine. It’s so damn rewarding. I’m not extrinsically motivated, I think hardware and prizes and industry awards are nice, but they are by-products. The first and most important thing is that we need to do work that pleases us (meaning the people that work here and our clients) and once we do that, and when that group is satisfied, great. If the rest of the world stands up and recognizes and applauds our work, fantastic. If they don’t, I’m not going to worry about it too much.

I still get excited by doing it, I still get excited by seeing it, work that we’re doing that I had nothing to do with excites the hell out of me, knowing that people are out there doing great things on our behalf. Watching people grow, watching people develop, and watching the junior team hit it out of the park on a big assignment. There are a lot of places for gratification in the halls here for me, and I am a very, very, very lucky blessed man, and I realize that.

I’m obsessed with that, that’s my challenge…

IHAVEANIDEA: You very recently celebrated the tenth birthday of VB&P.  That’s very exciting!  Are you able to identify a pinnacle moment over the past ten years?

Paul: A pinnacle moment, I don’t think we’ve reached our pinnacle moment yet. Our best days are still ahead of us; I believe that whole-heartedly, 100%. There have been some critical moments, a lot of pretty important client and staff moments along the way, and it’s hard to ignore any of them. Now, all of these many individual little moments add up to a successful agency.

IHAVEANIDEA: Conversely, what would you say has been your biggest challenge over the past ten years?

Paul: The biggest challenge has changed. When we started out, it was all about the ads, every single ad; I don’t care if it was the size of a postage stamp. Every single ad was our calling card into the world and whether it was good or bad said what kind of agency we were. We absolutely obsessed over every piece of creative—as well as we should—but as we got along, we realized we needed to add some key people that could do amazing work. We shifted our focus a little bit, obviously still focusing on the quality of the work, but also on recruitment, and attracting and retaining the right people.

Even further along I gained more of a perspective on managing and cultivating our culture to reach its full potential. Right now, I’m obsessed with that, that’s my challenge, that’s the thing I want to make sure that we deliver. Through that, we’re going to keep clients happy, retain the right creatives and the right talent in the building, and we’re going to have the right people doing the work. I think that they all evolve as you evolve, whatever those challenges might be.

IHAVEANIDEA: Looking ahead as you strive to grow to the next level, what is your priority?

Paul: You know, it’s an exciting thing because here we are, a West Coast creatively driven agency that is absolutely grounded in intelligent strategy, completely independent and can do whatever it wants. So that’s exciting to me. We have critical mass with ten years of success under our belt. We can move into other regions if we want, we can move in other capabilities, we can start things and experiment, we can bring people in for the sole purpose of exploring an idea, an option or a place to play that we currently don’t. I get real excited by that because when you do those kinds of things, it brings in new opportunities for people, it brings in new challenges, it excites and energizes people and people can grow. Ultimately, retaining talent means giving people a place and a chance to grow. We have the world at our feet in terms of what we can do next and we’re figuring that out. There are fun conversations yet to be had.

IHAVEANIDEA: So the last question I have for you is what is the one thing on the planet that you cannot live without?

Paul: That’s a toss-up between my family and cheeseburgers (laughs).

Brianna Graves
Operations Manager, Writer
IHAVEANIDEA