Creative Director
Droga5 New York
What’s the most relevant business and/or creative lesson you learned in 2020 and how will you apply it to 2021?
In a word, speed.
This was the year that produced several occasions where nearly every advertiser wanted to say roughly the same thing at exactly the same time
Some said it better than others, but the ones who got their messages out first stood a much better chance of getting the desired response.
As Mark Singer wrote, “One guy in a tuxedo producing doves can be magic; ten guys producing doves is a travesty.”
Gazing into your crystal ball, what do you envision for the industry–creatively speaking or from a business standpoint–in 2021?
2020 felt like a year dominated by film, both because no one was really doing anything experiential other than experiencing being in the same place for long periods of time and because in a crisis, we prefer to operate from our comfort zones.
In 2021, I think we’ll see more brands poking their heads out of the burrow and looking for different sorts of opportunities to make an impact in the new world they find there.
What are your goals, creatively speaking and/or from a business standpoint, for your company, division, studio or network in 2021?
In 2021, we want to widen the aperture. The aim is to tell some new stories from different perspectives in different ways.
Working on Facebook’s “Born In Quarantine” last year, we spoke to a lot of centenarians about their experiences from the Spanish influenza pandemic of 1918.
One woman told us that when it was over, they “came out into a new world, and everybody stopped wearing long dark clothes, and everything was fresh and new and colorful.”
If that’s going to happen again, we want to be right at the center of it.
Tell us about one current project you are working on for early 2021.
The Olympics is coming. After all the isolation and the hardship, it might be just the tonic the world needs.
How did your company, agency, network, service or studio adjust/adapt to the marketplace in 2020 (new strategies, resources, technology, health/safety expertise) and what of all that bodes well for 2021?
Like everybody else, we had to maintain the quality of work we normally produce under a host of new pressures.
So many people across the agency rose to the task in different ways. We were all working remotely; some people spent a year in cupboards; others had their kids dive-bombing into client calls every day. And what we did, for the most part, stayed at a very high standard.
I think when we do finally return to the office, those experiences will have instilled a new sense of mutual trust. Less presenteeism, less hierarchy, more flexibility.
If we could make things work that well in 2020, we can certainly do it again.
What’s your New Year’s resolution, creatively speaking or from a business standpoint, for your agency, department or company?
Have more fun.
Latest Crop of VES Fellows Unveiled
The Visual Effects Society (VES) has announced the Societyโs newest VES Fellows, who will be celebrated with the other honorees at a special VES Honors event later this month. This yearโs venerated VES Fellows who will be bestowed with the post-nominal letters โVESโ are: Matt Aitken, Girish Balakrishnan, Randall Balsmeyer, Michael Conte, Lisa Cooke, Bryan Grill, Thomas Knop, Arnon Manor and Susan Rowe.
VES 2024 Fellows
VES Fellow Matt Aitken, VES. Aitken has been an integral part of Weta FX since it first opened its doors. With two Oscar nominations and five VES Award wins, including the top award of Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature for Avengers: Infinity War, Aitkenโs versatility and creative talent are foundational to the studioโs success. As head of visual effects, Aitken leads Weta FXโs artists across three countries, and is responsible for filmmaker and studio relationships. Prior to assuming this executive role, Aitken was one of Weta FXโs most experienced visual effects supervisors on projects including Avengers: Endgame, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts and Marvelโs Eternals. Aitken has been an active VES member for 20 years. He was instrumental in establishing the New Zealand VES Section in 2011, the 5th VES Section to be created, and was New Zealand Section chair for its first five years of operation.
VES Fellow Girish Balakrishnan, VES. Balakrishnan has more than a decade of experience driving business studio strategies, business development and production innovation across live action, animation and games. As director of creative innovation at Netflix, Balakrishnan leads the content & production studio investment strategy on the application of... Read More