Ideas worth talking about.

Benjamin Palmer talks at Cannes

I found this interview with Benjamin Palmer, Co-founder and president of The Barbarian Group hidden away in episode 3 of Arnold’s behind-the-scenes Cannes video, something they call Cannes’t. Here’s the essence of what Benjamin had to say or you can watch the video here.

Do you like advertising or hate or despise it?

I don’t like bad advertising. I don’t think anyone likes bad advertising. You use to be able to sell a lot of products and be a successful agency and be a successful brand without actually doing anything interesting.

You could buy your way in?

Yeah. The media was fixed and controlled. You could do something terrible with a logo and inundate people and you would succeed.

I love brands. It’s what gives our capitalistic world some personality. I don’t particularly care for advertising when it’s not any good.

Now, the competition is not another ad, it’s everything. You’re five minute experience has to be better than anything else someone could be doing with their life.

I’m interested in taking what you would normally use for a marketing budget and turning it into something that functionally improves the product. The worst part about advertising is when there is a shitty product and you have to sell it. When probably they should just change it so that it’s good. The product or experience should draw people in on its own merits.

talking with goodby

 
Zach Slow Canfield (left) and Derek Robson of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners met for a Q&A session last Friday after Derek talked about the agency's vision. On the previous day, Zach talked to students about what he looks for in a creative intern. Zach said 64 out of the 97 creatives at the agency are working on interactive. So, an intern's book should show their interactive skills. Of course, he's also looking for an understanding of typography, use of photography and raw talent.

Zach showed an example of a project he worked on. It took him about three days and $100 to create. He made a site where he attempted to ask out UK emcee Lady Sovereign. He wanted to raise $10,000 for his date. One month and 1,300,000 hits later, he met his goal (with only a couple of hours to spare before her show). Zach would love to see something like this in a creative's book. See his site here.

Two things came up during my conversation with Derek that I've been meaning to share here too. First, is dutchtub (a brand I like). It's a portable wood fired hot tub. The tub is made from a light weight polyester and uses a coiled stainless steel heating system. Here's a brand promise: you can have a nice warm soak anywhere there's wood and water.

Second, is The Brand Gap by Marty Neumeier. It's everything I've been thinking and learning about for the past year—all condensed into a small book. "Not since McLuhan's The Medium is the Message has a book compressed so many ideas into so few pages."  Download the pdf presentation of the book here. I'm sure you'll love it too.

Thanks, Zach, Jill and Derek. Great to meet you all!

72 & sunny in eugene

John Boiler and Glenn Cole, co-founders and co-creative directors of 72andSunny, presented their work at Ad Night last week at the UO campus. They did a great job of telling the story about how they solved their clients’ business problem by developing sound communication strategy. Two examples are Zune and DC shoes (These link to YouTube, go to the 72andSunny site to see all of their work).

The next day, John (left, white shirt, hand on chin) and Glenn (right, green shirt, hand on chin) met with students and reviewed their work.

John said, “Know what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. Then, get really good at it.”

(Glenn was talking about non-profits and causes here)

Glenn said, “You’re job is to help people make more money. You’re job is to be great at interviewing the client.” You need to make sure you're solving the right problem for them.

Some good questions: What keeps you up at night? How do you make money? What do you do with that money? Are people feeling loyal to your cause? What is it about your cause that is different?

Shocking people or using sensational language is one mistake people make when trying to generate awareness for a cause, they said. The message needs to be optimistic. It needs to connect with people in a positive way and it needs to make them feel good about supporting the cause.

“We want to see how you think. If you can make us think about it (a product or a cause) or care about it, then you’re job is done.”

John and Glenn, thanks again for taking the time to visit. Great job guys!

ten questions with Bryan Chackel

Bryan graduated from the UO J-School in 2004 and currently works as art director at Wexley School for Girls.

1. How did you become interested in advertising?

I've always been interested in art and journalism, or the combination of the two. I started out in the fine arts program at UO, then architecture. I knew I was interested in art and the function of art, but wasn't terribly sold on either of those programs. I ended up in the journalism school and taking some of the basic advertising intro classes and seeing an opportunity to try and create a type of art that really, truly influences people.

It's really a struggle to try and make something that functions on a business strategy level as well as an artful level. I can't say that I have even come close to accomplishing that yet, but it is something I like to strive for in work. It also means staying atop new trends and techniques, not just in advertising and media, but art, culture and this crazy little game we all play, called...life.

2. How do you describe your job to people who are unfamiliar with the advertising industry? What misconceptions do they have?

The hardest part of describing my job is getting past the name of the company I work for. Once they understand that it is an advertising agency, then I have to describe that we are the farthest thing from an advertising agency. Typically the conversation rarely makes it to branded content and events, which are whole conversations of explanations in themselves.

As for describing the particulars of my individual job, I usual explain it as working with a writer to come up with the ideas/strategy of an advertising campaign. Once the idea is set, I direct the design/function of the campaign, either doing it myself or working with an outside talent (director, illustrator, developer, etc.)

3. I’m curious, tell me about the story behind how you got your job at Wexley?

After I graduated I moved back home to beautiful Sacramento-ish. Actually, I first went on a week-long cruise to the Caribbean. This was an imperative step into my professional career because it really quite literally launched my passion for debauchery that would ultimately lead me right to the front door of the Wexley School for Girls.

After the cruise I moved back into my parent’s house and over the course of the next year, proceeded to "network" myself throughout the entire bar scene of El Dorado County. It was quite a task, I know, but well worth the effort. Periodically, between the drinking, going to shows, reconnecting with friends, drinking, and eating McGriddles, I would work on my book.

Actually, moving home provided a whole new inspiration for me and my work. In school, I was always focused on doing "HUGE" meaning that I always wanted to try and make the next deep meaningful advertising geniusness....like Apple's 1984, but for 2004.

After I moved home, I discovered that it was more about doing things that I enjoy that make ME laugh. I didn't care a whole lot about what others though...of course, keeping a strategy and a concept, but all and all, not giving a fuck. I mean, this was my book, not real work. I just had to let the "advertising" part of me go and it was all really clear, and fun.

So I sporadically worked on an entirely new book, one that clearly represented me and my train of though and life. I also worked at Starbucks too. That sucked. So after a year passed and I was a little wiser and a lotta fatter, I started shopping myself around.

I hit up a couple interviews at agencies in San Francisco, but nothing really impressive, and obviously they felt the same way since I'm not working at AKQA right now. I happened to be perusing an old issue of CMYK, looking for some other people I might be able to contact and remembered that this particular issue was judged by Cal McAllister and Ian Cohen, founders of Wexley.

The reason I remembered them, was that in every issue of CMYK, they provide a short bio of all the judges, accompanied by a typical "serious creative" headshot. Something usually a little egocentric and less creative. Well, these guys drew themselves instead. And I use the term "drew" very loosely. Chicken scratch comes to mind.

From there, I knew that I wanted to work with them because I felt like I would share the same mindset as them on advertising. So I emailed up, got in touch with a writer here. And really it was a combination of timing, luck and good looks, because their art director at the time had just left and they were in need.

I sent my book up, came up for an info interview and offered to work for free. So I started a three month, unpaid internship, while holding a second job at Starbucks, before finally being hired on fulltime. Simply amazing.

4. What is your role as an art director at Wexley?

My role as an art director at Wexley consists of many things and it fluctuates daily. Technically, I work with a writer or sometimes another art director to come up with the concepts/strategy of a campaign. Pretty straight forward.

I also do a lot of design work here (ugggh) self-promotional things, sites to get us more work. Lately I've been recording a lot of songs for self-promotional stuff. I probably enjoy that the most. I also sometimes have to play office assistant and make business cards and letterheads, as well as be the IT guy occasionally.

Also, I've been janitor as well. Probably janitor the most of all. We all were many many hats here. That's just the nature of being at a small, dysfunctional shop. It's totally polar. When it's good, it's great and when it's bad, it's shitty. It tests you for sure.

5. Whose work do you admire?

Anomaly, StrawberryFrog, Mother are all amazing places that we admire here at Wexley. I personally like Fallon, 72 and Sunny and KesselsKramer. It's all progressive and mostly non-advertising, branded content...the future of advertising.

I admire Delilah, of the Delilah radio program. I admire pretty much anything on pinktentacle.com. I admire the gents at koernerunion.com. I admire anything by Islands, as well as music in general. I admire Chiat\Day New York's Skittles spots tremendously. I admire the Boys & Girls Club. I admire a lot of things.

6. What qualities do you feel a successful art director should have?

The biggest quality an art director can have...in my opinion...is the ability to write. Seriously. As well as to have an appetite, figuratively and literally.

7. What is the best book about advertising you have ever read?

Hey Whipple, Squeeze This by Luke Sullivan. You may have read this one. This book is the best "advertising" I've read. Especially for the time that it was introduced to me (in school) It is written so well and is really, really funny. It opened the door to me as to what advertising is and what it could be with the right thought process.

I've also found a ton of inspiration and insight in non-advertising books...probably more than advertising books. Runs the gamut, but lately I've been into some heavy science and theory readings. Here's a short list:

• In Me Own Words: The Autobiography of Bigfoot
• Siddhartha (when I’m feeling beside myself)
• Seed: Science is Culture (a quarterly magazine)
• A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines
• Andy Kaufman Revealed!(all about pushing limits, personal and social)
• The Drama (a quarterly design/art mag)
• Bad Robot (an Asian culture and art mag)

8. What advice would you give to someone seeking a job as an art director?

It is very hard. You are entering one of the most competitive career paths that I can think of. You have to want it and you have to really be willing to make yourself available and able because there's always another person with your skills that will do it for less.

Keeping the right positive attitude is also key. If you lose that willingness and eagerness to work, it will not only kill your spirit, but it will also be apparent. I've seen it with some contacts I've made recently that are slowly giving up on what they want for what they can settle with, which is hard for me to see.

Above all, make sure that you have fun with your portfolio, as well as your interviews, because these are the people you might be working with and in the end, they want to know that you are someone that they will enjoy being around. If you can check that box, it will compensate for a lot of shortcomings you might have elsewhere. Be you and rock yourself.

9. What are some of those things you know now, that you wished you knew before you graduated from the UO?

    a. You really do start getting fatter as you get older. It sucks.
    b. Gators would win two back-to-back NCAA championships. (I would've sliced my own face off back then so I wouldn't have to watch it)
    c. School is the ideal ad world. It is not much like that outside of the classroom. For example, there is this old school tendency thought with art direction and copy writing. For some reason, I've seen that sometimes copywriters are labeled as the idea maker and the art director as the designer of that idea, which doesn't illustrate the team effort in concepting and is very frustrating as a creative and hinders the creative process.

10. What was the best advice anyone has ever given you?

The best advice someone has ever given me was about a girl. He said, "Be like Apollo 11, not Apollo 13. Land it, and take 'em home." It works on so many levels.

Thanks Bryan!

Q&A with Heather LeFevre

For the person asking all the questions, Heather was nice enough to answer some of mine. Here’s your opportunity to get to know the person behind the planner survey. Thank you Heather!

Q: Tell me about your annual survey for account planners. What motivated you to start this survey? And what have you learned during the past two years of the survey?

A: I started the survey because it was time for my annual review and I had no idea if I was being compensated fairly. There are so many articles about women being paid 72 cents on the dollar compared to men and that women tend to take the raises and salary offers for new jobs that they are given rather
than negotiating for more. But there isn't a good source of information on planners - TalentZoo and AdAge don't go into the detail that I wanted. I also wanted to know how consistent title levels (junior vs planner vs senior etc) were with years of experience. I was pleased to find that women seem to be making the same as men, though a larger sample will confirm this as time goes on. I was most surprised to find that geography doesn't seem to have a big impact on salary - i.e. It's at least twice as expensive to live in NY as smaller markets, but New York planners are not making twice as much smaller market planners. They are all basically making the same, so in essence you as an employee "pay" a premium to work in NY.

Q: How did you become interested in advertising?

A: I was finishing up my undergrad at 20 and wasn't ready for the "real world." I had taken an intro to advertising class and enjoyed it so as I was about to start a double major, my roommate's dad convinced me that I'd be better off going to grad school. I thought at first that I wanted to be a copywriter having majored in English, but a few internships and a creative critique where a CD told me I sound like a planner convinced me maybe I should go that route.

Q: How do you describe your job to people who are unfamiliar with the advertising industry?

A: I say that I don't actually write or draw the ads but I help understand people so we know what to say that will be persuasive. I make a lot of powerpoint, I moderate focus groups, I get to go to Aspen for the X Games. They usually are envious of some of the places I've gone and the fact that there is a lot of novelty and fun in advertising that's absent from typical corporate America.

Q: Tell me about the story behind how you got your job at The Martin Agency?

A: I met Earl Cox, head of planning here, at a planning conference several years before. I was always impressed with the work coming from the agency and Earl's fun, spirited personality. When it was time to leave Boston and a recruiter told me they were looking, I wanted to talk to them. A few phone
interviews and a trip to Richmond later I was made an offer and I decided Richmond was where I wanted to go.

Q: What is your role as a planner at The Martin Agency?

A: My role depends on the account. I work on Discover Card, GEICO and X Games. Discover and GEICO are much bigger accounts, so I work with other planners collaboratively. With X Games, I'm the only planner. What I love about planning is that your job is constantly changing. So most recently, I've been working on a segmentation study for GEICO to help us get smarter about who we are targeting with each story line and what story line will be next. With Discover, we've been having a beast of a time getting to work
that meets all the criteria the client thinks they need to meet. So we recently convinced them to let us work without worrying about all the filters and seem to be at a great place so we can start making new work that will replace the "scissors" which were intended to be a teaser, not a long-term campaign. On X, we are shooting our first work for X Games Gear for kids this week and building a brand book that they can use to rally all of their constituents and let them know we are building X beyond just two games per year. Plus I work on new business when the need arises.

Q: What qualities do you feel a successful planner should have?

A: I think there are many skills and personalities that can make a good planner, but most share a sharp mind, a natural interest in all kinds of topics, good presentation skills, and an ability to work well with others.

Q: What is the best book about advertising you have ever read?

A: Perhaps this is lame, but Advertising by O'Guinn was the textbook we used in intro to advertising at UT. I took the class and then was a TA for two semesters so I got to know it pretty well and I think you have the most to learn when you first get in the business so the breadth and depth were really helpful for me at the time.

Q: What advice would you give to someone seeking a job as an account planner?

A: I'm assuming you mean first job. You can never give up and take a temporary job or an account exec job and hope to transfer to planning. I think that master's programs like UT and the Ad Center give you an advantage to get into the first job. I think that the books that the Ad Center has planners put together is really smart.

Q: What are some of those things you know now, that you wished you knew before you graduated from UT?

A: Hmmm. That getting married at 22 is probably not a smart idea? Ok, career related... I got lucky and was able to work briefly in Houston and then escape to Boston, but staying in Houston would have been really bad for my career. I think it's important to get the highest caliber experience early on that you can because it sets you up for success later on, so perhaps I should have just jumped right in and gone to a bigger market right after school and who knows where I would be now.

Q: What was the best advice anyone has ever given you?

A: Don't say uh-huh when you're interviewing someone - it ruins the quotes on the tape. Just nod your head so the person knows you're tracking.

telling stories

I’ve seen the Ira Glass interview making its way around the blogosphere via (Presentation Zen, Russell Davies and Stephen Landau). If you haven’t seen it yet, now is your chance. Here’s parts 2, 3 and 4.

However, if you’re not ready to watch it, David Nottoli did a great job of distilling Ira’s interview into six points:

1. Have a good anecdote (sequence of events) and a good meaningful moment of reflection (what the story means)
2. Generate enough stuff/stories to get lucky and find the one good really great one.
3. Enjoy the killing.  It's important to kill lots of crap so you can get to the good stuff.
4. Be yourself.  Don't try to talk like people on TV.
5. Be interested in the other person’s story.  Don't try to make the story about you. The drama comes from the interaction between the characters in the story.
6. Allow your storytelling ability time to catch up with your taste.  It takes a long time to get good at it basically.

interview with Ian Cohen

I had the pleasure of talking with Ian Cohen, co-founder of Wexley School for Girls yesterday. This is my first experiment conducting an interview for this site. Here's what I used: an M-Audio MicroTrack recorder and edited the file with Audacity. I discovered that a quiet room with no interruptions is essential for good audio.

Ian talks about how the agency started, how they work with clients and what he looks for when hiring creatives. Plus he gives his opinion on whether young creatives should attend a portfolio school. Thanks again for the interview Ian. Listen to it here.