At conferences covering creativity and varied communication outlets, talk about media neutrality abounds. Clients are more actively pursuing ideas outside the realm of the traditional TV spot. More likely than not these days, a client wants an integrated approach–perhaps an online game, a viral component, a branded content piece, a DVD and traditional broadcast ads.
With an estimated 90 million people tuning in to watch the Super Bowl, it’s clear that commercials aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, but rather the nature of campaigns are changing. With new elements increasingly necessary, the broadcast production departments at agencies are constantly evolving, and adding new responsibilities and skill sets. “Multi-platform content requires producers who are unafraid of venturing out and finding out who are new partners are in these things–like if we’re going to do something for the Web, if it’s going to be something long-form, if the production company can do it for you, or [deciding] how many partners you need on a particular project,” says Matt Bijarchi, VP/director of broadcast production at Young & Rubicam (Y&R), Chicago. “It’s happening fast and furiously, and it’s falling [onto the production department to get it done], which is good, as it should. It’s exciting; it’s a huge opportunity for all of us, but you’re forging new ground, which is a challenge–but it’s a good one.”
Brian DiLorenzo, head of broadcast production for Fallon North America, who is based in Minneapolis notes, “it all ends up being in the broadcast department ultimately, if there are things that are content-based. Whether we’re shooting photographs for a Web site, or working on a game, you invariably are the conduit.” What that means, he says, is that he and his producers are more often than not working more closely with other departments–media, planning, interactive and others.
At Crispin Porter + Bogusky (CP+B), Miami, creating integrated campaigns is the norm. In fact, the shop, which has produced projects such as the Web-based Mini Cooper “Robots” campaign and the Subservient Chicken Web site for Burger King, has taken the word broadcast out of the production department’s name–it’s now called the integrated production department; continuing to head it up are David Rolfe and Rupert Samuels, co-heads of integrated production.
“We’ve taken significant steps to engage non-broadcast work in a philosophical way, as well as structural,” explains Rolfe of the name change. “We consider all work to have interactive or non-traditional potential, even if all we get at the beginning is a TV script. Our mindset is now pre-engineered to move a project, an incipient idea to the non-broadcast realm.”
Structurally CP+B’s integrated production department means that interactive, TV, radio and art buying have all been merged. “This streamlines communication and helps merge skills sets among our producers,” says Rolfe. “Most significant about this process is that we will avoid isolating the interactive side–and its producers. The skill set of a good, versatile broadcast producer is ideal for taking on interactive work–not to mention non-traditional and long form.”
THE PROCESS
DiLorenzo and others note that producer involvement is coming earlier and earlier in the process. “We’re finding ourselves even earlier being involved during the concepting phase,” he says. “I would say one of the huge lynchpins now in terms of creative [is that] more than likely there’s an integrated campaign that involves aspects of the Internet and traditional work, and sometimes some out of home that connects to it all. It really boils down to what the media is about and what the usage is. The big dynamic shift I’ve seen is where you would originally be involved early in on the concept to figure out how its genesis would go through commercial production, right now the very first question we ask is ‘how are you going to use this, and where are you going to use this?’ “
Fallon is well-versed in creative media placement, having arguably pioneered short films on the Internet with its series of BMW short films, directed by A-list feature helmers; the first round was produced via bicoastal Anonymous Content, with the second round–which DiLorenzo served as executive producer on, being done via bicoastal RSA USA. More recently, the agency teamed with RSA USA again to produce a series of shorts for Amazon.com, and created a branded content project for Lee Jeans that had its mascot, Buddy Lee, appearing on MTV 2’s Control Freak. DiLorenzo relates that meetings about new projects often involve not just production and creative–representatives from the media or planning departments might be on hand as well.
“Things that were regimented into specific meetings are ending up as these brainstorm forums,” he explains. “What we’re actively doing is getting together with different groups of people, to change up the dynamic of how an idea can be impacted by these different areas, because sometimes the beauty of an idea could be the media buy.”
Collaboration and integration of function have become common at Fallon as ideas are executed to reach consumers in new ways. DiLorenzo notes that creatives at his shop are very open-minded about how they might execute a particular idea. “We find ourselves trying to envelop some of these creative conversations with people that really know what the latest and greatest is in each of those different environments,” he explains. “We find ourselves doing a lot more cross-pollination. For example, we might get turned on to some of the latest stuff that our interactive people might see in terms of technology, or interesting sites. And at the same time we might have these great collisions of ideas, and so we’re finding ourselves organically becoming very integrated between different disciplines and executions.”
Rolfe notes that integrating the production department has made it easier to provide leadership for new ideas. “Our goal with the integrated department is certainly to provide leadership in inspiring the work within the agency,” he says. “CP+B’s creative department is very engaged in developing interactive work, but [the new structure] is ideal terrain for teamwork–it is very hands-on, it can be refreshingly homegrown, and it is perfect for creative producing. And by creative producing, I don’t mean that merely as an aesthetic function, but more so with regard to innovative approaches to making a project happen. For example, ‘What director can you get for this project–whether it’s a Web site of short films, a DVD or a longer form piece? Who–and what–vendors can you inspire to take this work on?’ ”
CLIENT INTERACTION
Each of the heads of production SHOOT spoke with said that interacting more closely–and earlier–with clients is a large part of coming up with new ideas to reach clients.
Bijarchi, of Y&R, who is currently working on a project for the Travel Channel’s World Poker Tournament that includes spots directed by the team of Jacobs/Briere at bicoastal HKM, as well a Web component and guerilla campaign being produced in-house at the agency, says working more closely with clients is a good thing.
“There is a comprehensive, systematic approach [to projects] that has to happen,” says Bijarchi. “[You have to make sure] that all the important pre-production conversations happen with the client. I like working with the client, because you build up a collaboration with them, and it’s a huge trust thing, and it is new ground for everyone, so they just want to know that you’re not afraid to manage the process for them, and bring to them not just the right people, but the right executions of your multi-platform contented creative.”
DiLorenzo reports that clients in general are dealing more with all facets of the agency. “There’s a lot more talk about how you get work done that fits into the core of [the client’s] audience. And whether it happens from a planning perspective or a media buyer’s perspective, it seems like the creativity of the project doesn’t focus itself so narrowly just in the stream of the creative department of the agency,” he notes. “…We’re brought in very early [in some] cases to weigh the pros and the cons, and sometimes taking ideas that are very creative, but very raw and trying to refine them in ways that are practical to shoot within the budget, or within the schedule.”
And while budgets for most integrated approaches remain miniscule in comparison with traditional broadcast, the reward for clients and producers can be great. “Our producers want to work on this stuff, no matter the budgetary dimension of a project,” contends Rolfe. “That’s because the ideas are terrifically inspiring. I think directors and production companies will yearn for the work in the end, rather than fear it (due to budgets). And, budget-wise, we will sort it out and the process will evolve. But the potential is awesome.”
The budgets, though are likely to increase in the future. “It is a new world, and your clients have to know what they’re going to spend, and on what, so this, since it’s all new, the budgets haven’t been set up,” notes Bijarchi. “That’s what the challenge is. … All these dollars that are going to these other platforms are coming from your production budget, or a highly spirited conversation with a client over the need for more money. It’s hard. Agency producers have to own this, and they have to lead on this, or somebody else will–and it makes the most sense for us to do it.”
SKILL SETS
Along with working more closely with other agency departments, producers and heads of production are finding that being astute when it comes to technology is more important than ever. “It’s a harder job than it was 15 years ago,” says John Noble, senior VP/head of broadcast production at Element 79 Partners, Chicago. “You’ve got to see and understand things and learn how to communicate in broader ways–producing content, and viral gaming, and branded placement, it’s a new horizon. It’s everything a producer was before–you had to be a quick study and a quick learn, even more so now. Certainly a wider knowledge is necessary.”
Noble, who is currently working on a gaming project for Gartorade, says that he is in the process of initiating a “mirror training program,” where the younger producers will teach up, and the more senior level producers will teach down. “I have made huge strides in new hires, looking for new producers who are wired and plugged in–living and breathing the technology. [Everything] from the Web to gaming, people who know viral marketing,” he explains. “They have to know the classic training, and that’s what I’m giving them–storytelling and filmmaking–they need to know the rules before they can break them, so to speak. I’m putting together a mirror training program where, I teach down, as do some of our senior producers, and they’re going to be able to teach back up, because we learn so much from them.”
DiLorenzo also looks to his staff for expertise. “[Today, producers] need to be much more up on technology,” he notes. “I would say that in our department, there’s a continuous add-on of things you need to know.
“The best thing you can do as a head of production,” he continues, “is make sure that you feel that there is a panorama of people that are out there experiencing and looking at stuff and then figuring out how you can pull them in on a project to project basis.”
