For Steve Humble, VP/senior producer, there are no two ways about it: Creative is king. And for the past year, he’s been in the perfect environment for his unequivocal philosophy: The Martin Agency, Richmond, Va.
Humble came to The Martin Agency by way of FCB Chicago, where he was a senior producer working on such high-profile accounts as Gatorade and Coor’s Light. While Humble’s new roost does handle national accounts like Seiko and Timberland, a good percentage of the shop’s work is regional. Humble is happy knowing that The Martin Agency’s work is solid.
"The reason I moved, switched agencies and came here," Humble explains, "is I wanted to go to a place where creative … is the most important thing. Maybe the budget wouldn’t be as big because clients weren’t as big, but creative was the thing that mattered to everyone. I’ve really found that here. …"
Take Humble’s work on the recent campaign for the American Association of Blood Banks, an account practically created out of nothing. The two-spot package, which consists of "Barber Shop" and "Construction," broke in December 2000, and was directed by Martin Canellakis of bicoastal/ international hungry man. In "Barber Shop," a man is being shaved with a straight razor. The camera comes in for an extreme close-up; the sound of the razor raking across his whiskers is magnified. Cut to a trio of nurses standing close to the man being shaved. The barber, apparently unaware that one of the women holds a pair of cymbals, continues shaving. As the nurse brings the cymbals together, a loud crash is heard, and the ad cuts to an insert: "We’re tired of asking nicely." The spot ends with the three nurses walking in slow motion, to a soundtrack of surf music.
Humble explains that the concept originally came from posters that were done internally to get people at the agency to give blood. He thought the concept was great and just needed one thing: a client. "So I got on the Internet and found a client in Bethesda, Md.—the American Association of Blood Banks," recounts Humble. "I started calling them—we didn’t have an account person, so I was it for a while—I set up a meeting and showed them the work, and they loved it."
There was only one problem: The client had no money. "So then it was a matter of calling production companies and seeing who could do this for us for little or no money," Humble says. " One of my first calls was Steve Orent [partner/executive producer at hungry man]. He loved the work … It was incredible: The Santa Monica office of [bicoastal editing house] Crew Cuts donated everything; everyone donated stuff."
For his part, Orent admires that Humble "stresses" the creative side. "He’s part of a new breed of producers," Orent observes. "He’s aggressive and willing to take chances".
The ability to create something with a less-than-limitless budget appears to be one of Humble’s special gifts. According to Jim Bouvet, head of production for the directing collective Traktor—which helms spots out of bicoastal/international Partizan, and recently completed some Ping golf club ads for the agency—Humble is "a gentle bulldog in a way. But he’s able to do it and make you smile as you come down in budget and go up in commitment." Bouvet says that Humble always puts first priority on the quality of the work. "Also, he’s a really nice guy."
The Ping spots—"Dryness," Accuracy" and "Power"—display a wry-bordering-on-the ridiculous sense of humor that seems to be one of the agency’s trademarks. In "Dryness," a businessman continually gets doused with water from garden hoses, water fountains and rainstorms—he just can’t seem to avoid the wet stuff. He is then fitted for a custom-made Ping golf club, which he uses to hit the ball straight onto the fairway, rather than into a water trap. The result, the voiceover intones, is dryness.
This characteristic sense of humor is in full swing in a series of commercials for Alltel, a sponsor of the Southeastern Conference. Directed by Jim Jenkins of hungry man, the three-part campaign broke last December. In the first spot, "Car," two rabid football fans arrive in the parking lot at the big game. But tragedy strikes when the more heavyset of the two gets his giant foam finger caught in the car door. In the next spot, "Rip," the foam finger is ripped from the car door. The "victim" falls to the ground in apparent shock. And finally, in "Rescue," help arrives in the form of very concerned medics, who observe, "You’re buddy’s got a big hand. I hope he’s got a big heart to match." In the final moment of absurdity, the severed foam finger is placed in a cooler and brought to the medics.
Humble isn’t sure why so many of the ads he produces share this sense of humor, but he has his theories. "I don’t know if it’s what we’re good at—or, to be honest, if it’s that when you don’t have big budgets, it’s easier to make funny commercials than to make huge, beautiful commercials ," he comments. "When you don’t have the money to spend on the DPs and the huge, beautiful locations, it’s easier to come up with a really funny, solid concept."
According to John Noble, head of production at The Martin Agency, Humble always finds a way to get the job done well, no matter the budget. "He is vicious in protecting the work," states Noble. "He finds incredible new ways to pull off productions on these budgets that are pretty challenging. … He’s just got a way. He ‘Steves’ the project."
But Humble is a man who’s always been driven. Before even graduating from the University of Iowa, he got himself a summer internship on Oprah Winfrey. At the time, he was interested in producing television news, but a contact he made at the show led to a job offer at Leo Burnett USA, Chicago, straight out of school. He entered into the firm’s junior producer training program, and after three months he was producing small spots and test commercials. He stayed with Leo Burnett for five years, before making a pit stop as a senior producer at Campbell-Ewald, Warren, Mich., on his way to FCB Chicago.
While Humble admits that moving from Chicago to Virginia has been an adjustment, he’s thrilled with the way his career is going. "Virginia is a beautiful place," he says. "I was worried about the Southern thing, having lived in the Midwest my whole life. … But there are people from all over the country at the agency; it’s a melting pot.
"You know," Humble continues, "The Martin Agency is just filled with really smart creative people. The people here, I just can’t say enough good things about."Q
