Breaking In

In case you missed it, check out some great work from Bob Greenberg and R/GA.

BG: …Our business is no longer about a copywriter and an art director who go off to figure things out, come back with a TV spot and a print ad, and believe they’re doing what the client or consumer needs. People who come out of university now and go down the path of a traditional agency are, to me, making a huge mistake. Titles are not important, and their books are perhaps not exactly what we need, but if they’re good, then it would take between six months and a year to train them before they come up to speed.

At the end of the day, it’s not really about what we need; it’s what the consumer wants. So, I think the problem with some agencies is that they’re looking at managing the client and not really looking at what the consumer wants. Our approach is different: we look at what the consumer wants and then we get measurable results back to the client. We have some clients that are 90 percent marketing based and 10 percent digital platform, and certain clients who are just the opposite: 10 percent marketing and 90 percent systematic applications and platforms. It shifts. We’re probably almost a flip of Crispin Porter + Bogusky, where that agency might be, on one account, 30 percent platform and 70 percent marketing.

WS: What do you mean by “platform”?

BG: Platform would be like a Nike+, Nokia viNe, HP.com, or something like that. It’s systematic, digital applications for websites, digital marketing, and advertising, or it could be an application that ties into community—that kind of thing. On the other side of that, it may be very campaign led and marketing focused. We don’t advertise it, but we’re taking a lot of the budget from the traditional agencies. I was asked recently to judge television commercials for an organization, and I said I didn’t think I should be the person to do that because I don’t really believe in them. But we have done 4,000 commercials here, so it’s not like we or I don’t understand them. I’m very much for storytelling, which we do a lot of, and we have many people from traditional agencies—probably 100—who could be an agency on their own. I get very passionate about what we should be developing in terms of university curriculum so that graduates can actually get a job, not just at an agency like R/GA but at a company or traditional agency that has to make the transition. I don’t see the business being the same a few years from now.

Continue reading →

Before we get to Bob Greenberg’s interview, check out some great work from his agency, R/GA.

Nike Plus

Ad Council – That’s Not Cool

Continue reading →

If you missed it, take a look at some great TV spots from Jose Mollá and La Comunidad.

WS: What do you look for in a student book? And what impresses you?

JM: First of all, students have to keep in mind that the main thing creative directors don’t have is time. To me a book should show where your standard and criteria is. I don’t care about quantity that much. I’d rather see seven or eight ads that are really good than 20 that are okay, because with your portfolio you are saying, “Okay, this is what I think is really good.” Of course it’s great if you have 20 great ads but I think it’s also good to leave someone wanting to see more.

The first page of the book makes a big statement, and it can change the way you see the rest of the book so it should be really strong. The end is also important because it will drive the desire to want to know more about you and your work. So, choose your best ads for the beginning and the end, but make sure what’s in between doesn’t kill the thrill.

It’s also important to try and show good ideas on different platforms. Something that worked for me when I was starting out was to describe TV ideas, for example, with just brief paragraphs, telling the core of the story, using as few words as possible. Keep your audience in mind—you are talking to people who are accustomed to imagining things, that’s what they do for a living. Never ever have long scripts; believe me, nobody will ever read them. Make sure you have a healthy mix of print, out of home, TV, interactive, some guerrilla, even some radio is nice, only if it’s good, though. But don’t overdo it. Less is more.

WS: Do you think it’s important to have TV in a student book?

Continue reading →

To whet your appetite for his interview tomorrow, here is some fantastic work from Jose Mollá and his agency La Comunidad.

MTV – “Baby”

MTV – “Smells Like Britney”

Continue reading →

In case you missed it, check out some of David Lubars’s work here.

WS: What do you look for in a student book? And what impresses you?

DL: I look to be jealous—I want to see stuff that I wish we were doing.

WS: Can a book of sketches be enough, or do ideas need to be comped up nicely?

DL: You need to show big ideas and how they can be delivered across several channels. The more finished, the better.

WS: Is it important to have long copy in a book?

DL: It’s nice to have any copy, writing seems to be a lost art. But, no, you don’t need long copy—the best ideas can be summed up in a text message.

WS: What do you think about including “non-ads” in a book?

DL: It’s good to show a range, especially today where content can take on many forms, from art installations to TV shows to whatever.

WS: Do you have any tips for someone who wants to get into the business?

DL: You have to want to work long, hard hours, and you need to possess a healthy degree of paranoia.

In preparation for tomorrow’s interview with David Lubars, here is some of his work from BBDO.

Snickers

AT&T

Continue reading →

In case you missed it, take a look at some of Crystal’s work here.

WS: What do you look for in a student book? And what impresses you?

CE: Unexpected ways of solving an expected brief.

WS: How important is finish? If ideas are the most important thing, can sketches be enough?

CE: Anyone can have a good idea, but not everyone can follow through on execution to make it great. Craft is important. Especially for art directors, but almost as important for writers too. Writers should have well-executed, finished campaigns in their book to demonstrate their level of taste and how they can collaborate with art directors. That being said, it doesn’t hurt to have a few cocktail napkins.

WS: How important is writing? Do you need to see long copy?

CE: We’re in the business of communication, so writing is über-important, even for art directors. Long copy never hurt and is a fun design challenge for an art director. Although, as an art director, I probably won’t read your long copy to the end.

WS: What do you think of showing work that is not advertising? Things like art, journal writing, photography, hobbies, etc.

CE: It can show depth. And personality. Since student books all start to look the same, it’s kind of nice to see someone’s talents beyond making ads. But only if it’s good.

WS: Do you have any other advice for a student or junior trying to get 
into the business, either in putting together a book or how to actually start looking for jobs?

CE: Don’t forget to go surfing.

Tomorrow’s interview will be with Crystal English, a freelance art director in San Francisco. Check out her great work, below, and get excited for tomorrow.

Intel – “Rockstar”

Embassy Suites – “Sentences”

Continue reading →

If you missed it, check out some great work from Michael Lebowitz and Big Spaceship.

WS: You mentioned finish. Are ideas more important or is finish more important or does it depend on the job?

ML: Ideas are really important, but the way that the traditional side of the business values “the big idea” is completely out of balance with the way that you actually produce work in the digital space. I say all the time, “The greatest idea in the world, unproduced, has no value whatsoever. A mediocre idea, produced, has some incremental value.” So why is the value always placed on the big idea when getting things into the world is so important? The difference in thinking makes a ton of sense because, when you have to spend a tremendous amount of money to put it out into the world, because there are limited places to put it, you would have to have a huge idea, polish it for however long, and make sure it’s absolutely perfect for one big blockbuster release. But in digital, we publish whenever we want, we republish and iterate whenever we want, and it doesn’t cost much, or anything, to do the actual iteration in publishing. So the mindsets are so, so different.

WS: Do you hire some more “idea people” or does everyone have to have ideas and skill to make it?

ML: Well, I think everybody contributes in our brainstorming sessions, whether for a pitch or a new challenge from an existing client, across all of our disciplines. It’s not like strategy comes in and defines everything up front. Everybody is involved end to end. We’ve had amazing ideas that have been sold to clients that have come from developers, designers, from interns across all of our different disciplines. Great ideas come from everywhere, and a lot of times, if you’re open to it, a lot of great ideas come from terrible ideas. Somebody says something just because they feel safe enough in their environment to throw something out that they know is crap. And somebody else grabs it, and levels it up somehow, or turns it into something really interesting, or attaches an insight to it that actually makes it relevant. So I think basically, everybody is an idea person and, again, I know that there is sort of this Hollywood-style auteur thing going on on the other side of the fence [traditional agencies]. Maybe I’m naïve but we don’t believe in rock stars. It’s about the team. Everybody here makes each other better and it’s that way of working that makes our work good. And it’s all the same people who are executing that are also coming up with the ideas for it. With traditional agencies the process is always pretty linear: “We’re going to come up with the big idea and polish that idea, then we’ll bring it to the production company and they’ll level it up as well, but only focus on craft and final execution.” And we’re letting that happen in a much more cyclical, iterative way, all the way through. Even before we’ve actually produced anything tangible, anything crafted I should say, the people who are traditionally considered “executional” are in the process of crafting ideas and it works really well for us.

Continue reading →

Take a looks at some great work from Michael Lebowitz and Big Spaceship. Then check back on Monday for his interview.

The Most Awesome Thing Ever:

An online game that asks users to pick the most awesome of two things in order to eventually find out, once and for all, what the most awesome thing ever is. Three weeks after launching, over 40,000 hours had been logged on the site.

Michael Lebowitz speaks about HBO Voyeur:

Continue reading →