Archive for the ‘creative officer’ tag
Jeff Kling CCO Fallon
(US) Fallon heeft Jeff Kling benoemd tot chief creative officer. Hij volgt Darren Spiller op die het bureau drie maanden geleden verliet.
Mike’s Hard Lemonade Welcomes Some Unexpected Visitors
I get a righteous buzz from Grey New York's latest ads for Mike's Hard Lemonade, designed to portray the beverage as "always different, always refreshing." Scruffy young dudes hang out in a house, swigging the product, and each of three spots—directed by Harold Einstein of Station Films—presents a different tipsy scenario based on who or what rings the doorbell. Visitors include a gnarly scarecrow who really loves his work; a 30-foot-tall woman in search of the giant red high-heeled shoe she left behind the night before; and best of all, a headless deer (its face and antlers are hanging on the wall). Note how the torso just stands there, its sides undulating as if it's drawing in breath. Not so tough now, eh, bucko! I enjoyed this batch of ads just as much as Mike's recent golf-course vignettes and its series about two guys fishing on a lake. Sweet stuff, Mike's—so far, not a lemon in the bunch! Two more spots plus credits after the jump.
CREDITS
Client: Mike's Hard Lemonade
Spots: House Deer, House 30 Ft Woman, House Scarecrow
Agency: Grey, New York
Chief Creative Officer: Tor Myhren
Executive Creative Directors: Eric Segal, Jeff Odiorne
Creative Director: Andy Currie
Art Directors: Liem Nguyen, Alex Kaplan
Copywriters: Duc Nguyen, Barry Katz
Agency Producer: Diana Gay
Production Company: Station Films
Director: Harold Einstein
Editing: Mackenzie Cutler
Editors: Gavin Cutler and Dave Koza
Music/Sound Design: Sam Shaffer; Mackenzie Cutler
Disruptive Patriots Are On The Job At Made Movement
BOULDER—If there is hope for advertising, it can be found in a non-descript retail bay on the east end of Pearl Street.
Ad people aren’t cynics, they’re “crest fallen idealists,” says Dave Schiff, partner and Chief Creative Officer of Made Movement, a new agency boldly dedicated to growing the American economy by promoting American-made goods.
The genesis of the idea for the agency came from discussions between partners John Kieselhorst, Scott Prindle and Alex Bogusky about the book Make It In America: The Case for Re-Inventing The Economy by Andrew Liveris, President, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Dow Chemical Company. In the book, the author explains how buying just 1% more made in America goods creates 200,000 American jobs. Plus, American manufacturing jobs generate another $1.40 per every dollar spent for the businesses that support these jobs.
“I’ve spent most of my life as a very unprincipled person,” says Schiff, who until recently led a creative group at Crispin Porter and Bogusky. He worked on The Truth anti-tobacco campaign at Crispin but says the campaign was the exception not the rule.
“Our passion and our drive came from making great work. We loved our jobs and we still love Crispin. But in the end I essentially felt that I was a gun for hire,” says Schiff. “There was nothing noble about it.”
“There’s a give-a-shit factor that’s built in with us now,” he says. “We’re not just trying to do great work and win at Cannes, we have something larger at stake now.”
Kieselhorst adds that there was also a discussion about the next revolution in advertising. “Increasingly PR firms are leading marketing efforts more so than ad agencies, because of cause marketing. People not only want to buy amazing products now, they want to buy awesome products that also make the world an awesome place.”
While Made launched with zero clients, the agency now has five. One foundational client is Eazl, a consumer product launch from Circle Graphics in Longmont, that will take any digital image and print it on canvas. “We like it because it connects both the physical manufacturing world with the digital world,” says Schiff.
Made is also partnering with Bixbi, a Boulder pet food company that sources its meat from the U.S.
In addition to marketing high quality American-made products, Made is also busy curating and selling high quality American-made products through its flash sales site, Made Collection. Every Wednesday, the shop offers a new collection of goods to members.
“Our flash sales site came about through discussions about having a community,” says Kieselhorst. “Buying cool stuff is a quintessentially American way of engaging a community.”
Schiff adds that the online store may prove an interesting avenue for new business, given that a relationship with a manufacturer could begin when placing their item in the store. Plus, “as a marketer it’s great to be involved directly in selling. You learn a lot about consumer behavior when you’re in the trenches.”
Learning from years in the ad biz trenches is also apparent in the Made mix. Describing the shop’s process, Schiff says, “We don’t have check-ins anymore, we’re talking about the work (with our clients) in real time. They’re making stuff better stuff with us.”
Speaking of better stuff, Schiff says the meaning in “Buy American” needs to be reworked too — it can no longer mean buy an inferior product for more money because it’s the right thing to do. “That’s too much to ask,” he says.
Schiff also points out that Made is not anti-global. “If Toyota came to us and said ‘would you do advertising for the Tundra?’ — and that thing’s made in Indiana — we absolutely would because that’s 7000 people that have jobs, plus the multiplier effect.”
“It’s a global economy, we just need more things made in America. What we would be great is if this agency wasn’t necessary,” Schiff says.
Cannes round-up
Via our very own Bridget Jung (Chief Creative Officer at Digitas) comes this nice snapshot of the best winners from Cannes 2012. Enjoy
#Canneslions 2012 Review – THE GENEROUS AGE OF ADVERTISING
View more presentations from Bridget Jung
Marketing Talent
There is a shortage of talent in the marketing pool.
Yes, the industry is filled with smart and talented people (some of them may even be out of work), but there is still a shortage. We need more people. Not just more people, but smarter and more informed people (think multi-disciplinary). As technology becomes the beachfront to the marketing industry along with great creative work, there is an ever-growing chasm of between digital, social, mobile, analytics and the professionals doing the work. It’s not something that I, alone, struggle with at Twist Image. It’s the same conversation I have with many of my peers… all of the time.
Blame it on Generation Flux?
The Fast Company cover story for January of this year was titled, This Is Generation Flux. The article defined Generation Flux like this: "This is less a demographic designation than a psychographic one: What defines GenFlux is a mind-set that embraces instability, that tolerates – and even enjoys – recalibrating careers, business models, and assumptions. Not everyone will join Generation Flux, but to be successful, businesses and individuals will have to work at it. This is no simple task. The vast bulk of our institutions – educational, corporate, political – are not built for flux. Few traditional career tactics train us for an era where the most important skill is the ability to acquire new skills."
Where does marketing fit into this?
There are few success stories in the digital marketing space like that of the agency R/GA. Bob Greenberg, the company’s Chairman, CEO and Global Chief Creative Officer sees the changing landscape with a very unique perspective. Here’s more about Generation Flux in relation to R/GA: "R/GA’s young GenFlux staffers are leaving at such a steady pace, sticking around for such short runs that Greenberg finds himself constantly replacing them, endlessly slotting one talented young person into another’s place. Many CEOs would react to this news with alarm: What are we doing wrong? Why can’t we keep our young talent? Greenberg talks about this intense transition with nonchalance. He’s not upset by it; he’s not fighting it; and he assumes this is the way life will be for the foreseeable future. But that doesn’t mean he’s standing still. Despite strong business momentum, he’s pushing R/GA into a radical reorganization – the fifth time he’s hauled the firm into a new business model. ‘If we don’t change our structure, we’ll get less relevant,’ Greenberg tells me. ‘We won’t be able to grow.’ This time, he’s integrating 12 new capabilities, from live events to data visualization to product development, into R/GA’s platforms. ‘People talk about change and adaptation, but they don’t see how fast the competition is coming,’ he says. ‘We have to move. We have no choice.’"
Things are moving faster than ever… and this includes the talent.
During this week’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Greenberg sat down with Digiday to discuss how they attract and retain marketing talent. It’s a quick eight minutes that is worthy of your time…
R/GA Chief Bob Greenberg on Attracting and Retaining Talent from Digiday on Vimeo.
What’s your take?
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We’re All Contractors, Some Of Us Just Have Longer/Better Contracts
Lance Jensen, Chief Creative Officer at Hill Holliday in Boston, seems like a guy I would get along with and enjoy working for. But his comments below about freelancing lead me to question both my present path and the validity of his argument.
Jensen says a creative needs to have “skin in the game.” That we need to care about our ideas making it into production, and actually helping to grow a client’s business. It’s a perfectly logical point of view, except for one small fact. Many people with skin in the game couldn’t give a shit about their clients. That may not be true on Jensen’s staff, but it is true to a large degree throughout the business. It’s one of the central problems the agency business must address to make itself more useful to clients and their customers/prospects.
Additionally, I would argue that a freelancer brings more than a fresh mind to the client problems at hand. A freelancer is not bogged down with the political bullshit that exists in every agency under the sun. Therefore, the freelancer is free to think good thoughts on the client’s behalf. When you have skin in the game, you also have prickly and/or cutthroat colleagues to dodge. Which is a huge distraction. Depending on the length of service at the agency, a creative staffer may also be worn out by the daily grind.
Yes, I know many leaders at agencies big and small won’t see themselves, or their agencies, in this. I just said that many creative staffers don’t care about their clients and that the toxicity of office politics is eating away at the foundation of the agency business. Agency leaders are human, and often good people. They don’t want to see their baby painted in such stark terms. I sympathize, but my sympathy doesn’t remove the criticism.
Jensen uses the analogy of a band, and that’s one I tend to favor, as well. But let’s admit that many bands suffer from internal strife, and that after a few great albums their creative powers begin to fade. Sure, they often hang on for another 20 years, but they’re rarely as prolific or “on fire” like they once were. My point is an agency, particularly a large one, is more like a label than a band and the label needs to keep things fresh.
Shanghai wordt creatieve centrum DDB
DDB verhuist zijn wereldwijde creatieve hoofdkwartier naar Shanghai, onder leiding van Chief Creative Officer Amir Kassaei.
Valent CCO SBS Broadcasting
Edwin Valent wordt Chief Creative Officer bij SBS Broadcasting en gaat zich richten op de ‘full media ambities’ van het mediabedrijf.
Valent CCO SBS Broadcasting
Edwin Valent wordt Chief Creative Officer bij SBS Broadcasting en gaat zich richten op de ‘full media ambities’ van het mediabedrijf.
De Goede cco Ideas For Brands|McCann
Michel de Goede is per 1 januari 2012 in dienst als Chief Creative Officer (CCO) bij Ideas For Brands|McCann.