Rupert Samuel, co-director of broadcast production at Crispin Porter + Bogusky (CP+B), Miami, had never worked with Spike Jonze of bicoastal/international Morton Jankel Zander (MJZ), until Ikea’s "Lamp," which began airing late last year. The collaboration was a long time coming—Samuel had sent the director many scripts, and Jonze finally agreed to one that caught his eye: "Lamp." The concept was appropriately bizarre for the director of Being John Malkovich and Adaptation; it featured an abandoned lamp that was meant to evoke sympathy from viewers.
Jonze and the CP+B team transformed the simple concept into an award-winning ad. The spot scored the Grand Prix at this year’s Cannes International Advertising Festival, and the Grand Clio at the Clio Awards, among other accolades. "Lamp" features a mournful piano tune, which accompanies images of a woman unplugging a desk lamp, taking it out of her apartment, and leaving it downstairs on the street with the rest of her garbage. We see the lamp, desolate and alone by the garbage can, as rain begins to fall. The lamp seemingly stares at the window of its former home, where a new lamp has taken its place. Then comes the kicker: a man with a Swedish accent steps into the picture and addresses the audience: "Many of you feel bad for this lamp. That is because you [are] crazy. It has no feelings. And the new one is much better."
"Spike brought [the concept] to life, adding rain and the big city scene," recalls Samuel, who along with David Rolfe, co-head of broadcast production, oversees an 11-person production department at CP+B. According to Samuel, this sort of methodology is typical of the agency. "[CP+B] creatives often offer up a script with room for ideas to be put in," he notes. "The basic idea for ‘Lamp’ is you feel bad for an inanimate object. But how do you make it sing? That’s where collaboration comes in."
Collaboration is the name of the game at CP+B, SHOOT’s 2003 agency of the year. So is success. The agency has a long track record of producing highly creative spots, winning awards, and enticing topnotch directors, both emerging and established, with clever concepts and creative freedom. Besides Jonze, the agency production team has collaborated with Happy—a.k.a. Guy Shelmerdine and Richard Farmer—of bicoastal Smuggler, who recently directed a series of spots for the TV show Nip/Tuck on the FX Network. (Those spots were done via the Los Angeles office of CP+B; producers from the Miami home base produced for the outpost.)
StyleWar, an up-and-coming Swedish directing collective with Smuggler, has also worked with CP+B, as have spot veterans such as Bryan Buckley of bicoastal/international Hungry Man and Baker Smith of harvest, Santa Monica. Smith, the winner of this year’s Directors Guild of America (DGA) Award for best commercial director, scored that honor in part on the basis of "Clown," a spot for the Mini Cooper, out of CP+B.
The agency owes its success, in large part, to the trusting give-and-take that was demonstrated in the creation of "Lamp." According to Rolfe, the agency producers and creatives pride themselves on their ability to leave their egos at the door and accept ideas from anyone. The goal is not to earn points for coming up with a concept, but to create the best possible spot.
"It felt like you weren’t fighting against each other, you were together fighting something else," recalls Oskar Holmedal—one of the directors in StyleWar—about the experience of helming a new package of Ikea spots for CP+B. "It was really good. You had respect for all of their ideas and thoughts. We just threw everything in there. There was no holding onto anything for ego. It was just a search for good ideas."
Take "Clown," directed by Smith, for example. In it, a clown jumps into a Mini and squirts the driver in the eye as he’s negotiating the car down a winding road. Rolfe says the spot was funny as shot, but that during the editing process, discussions with Smith, partner/executive creative director Alex Bogusky, and editor Paul Kelly of 89 Editorial, New York, led to a radical change in the spot. "Clown" was converted to black and white, grain was added, and a silent movie-style piano track was recorded.
"We wanted to push the envelope," explains Rolfe. "We wanted to make [the idea] unique. You don’t see a car commercial that looks like this that often. Everybody was excited by the changes and by the final result, including the client."
"I thought that was fantastic," says Smith. "I thought the creative was great. … The producers will give you boards and then expect the director to take it to the next level, not just shoot the boards. If something comes up in the process of shooting or editing, like in ‘Clown,’ everyone embraces it. ‘Clown’ started out one way and then ended up as something completely different—and better."
Rolfe says he and his fellow producers have very specific criteria. "We maintain overall stewardship of the idea, but we want the directors to take risks," he adds. "We look to what the director wants to bring to it. I don’t think anyone out there challenges directors as much as we do. They’re not used to being pushed; they are used to being restrained."
"Doing a commercial is like staging a ballet in a phone booth, and [CP+B’s] approach both stretches you and challenges you, which is fantastic," says Smith. "It’s what we thrive on. You are limited to a certain degree in advertising. You have a certain set of rules that just can’t be broken. But how can you bend them?"
Good Product
Such an attitude helps build trust between the directors and the producers, which leads to better creative. "There’s a tremendous amount of mutual respect here," says Sara Gennett-Lopez, who stepped down last year as head of broadcast production, and is now VP/broadcast business manager for the agency. "Everyone has respect, and that goes into the work that comes out."
The agency cultivates solid concepts by searching out new directors based on chemistry rather than previous experience in a particular ad genre. "In order to make a splash, you have to do truly fresh and unique work," observes Rolfe. "You want to keep things fresh and find new talent, to go outside the more obvious talent pool."
"Pony," an effects-driven Ikea spot produced by Rolfe, is a good example. The commercial, directed by StyleWar, who also directed "Thugs" and "Bedroom," finds a couple and a young boy lounging in a living room. A voiceover begins, "Maybe you have one hundred dollars," and the room magically transforms itself—new furniture slides into place as the family goes about their business. "Maybe you have four hundred and fifty dollars," the voiceover continues, and the room changes again. "Maybe you have one thousand four hundred dollars." Another change. "Maybe you have one million dollars." Now the room is at its most elaborate, with the woman playing a new harp, and the boy on a pony that has been added to the room. "Or maybe not," the voiceover concludes, as the room transforms back to an earlier incarnation. The tag: "Help yourself to unböring."
Rolfe says that he chose StyleWar—who was featured in the Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors Show- case at Cannes this year—as director because he "wanted to work with someone with a totally different, totally unique aesthetic. [StyleWar] had not worked on the ad side, but had done music videos," Rolfe points out. "They had a unique sense of freshness, and totally lacked cynicism."
The producers’ acknowledge that they are on a conscious quest for chemistry. "We look for computability between us and them," says Samuel. "We want to get along with people who love the project."
"If a reel is not full of spots similar to what you are doing, you don’t simply bypass that reel," adds Rolfe. "Chemistry, understanding and unity of purpose are more important than whether he has something like it on tap."
The secret to keeping their work cutting edge, says Rolfe, is in trusting their collaborators, and never playing it safe. "Unswervingly, you have to take risks," he says. "It’s almost like it has to challenge the audience. The process has to be challenging. It’s always our job to bring something fresh and new. That’s what the broadcast production department has to do, and what Alex has asked everyone to do from the beginning."
"Their work is all about innovation and risk-taking," says Happy’s Shelmerdine. "Agencies are judged by their product. At Crispin, they just make sure they kick ass better than anyone else."
