While I share remembrances of agency creative Mike Koelker and production house exec Frank Tuttle in my personal reflections on mentorship in my welcoming column for this 50th Anniversary Issue, another person came immediately to mind when I began writing the intro to this feature heralding industry mentors: the late Steve Sandoz who was a creative director at Wieden+Kennedy in Portland, Ore.
On the occasion of SHOOT’s 40th Anniversary, Sandoz shared with us his mentor, legendary director Joe Sedelmaier with whom he worked on the classic Alaska Airlines advertising in the mid-1980s (when Sandoz was a writer with Seattle agency Livingston & Company).
Sandoz’s tribute to Sedelmaier appeared in our Nov. 3, 2000 special 40th Anniversary Issue. Sadly, the next month, Dec. 26, 2000, Sandoz passed away after a long battle with leukemia. He was 48.
W+K founder/CEO Dan Wieden told SHOOT at the time that Sandoz had a deeply profound impact on the agency. “There are two levels of contributions,” said Wieden. “One pertains to the actual process of producing advertising, and he was enormously important there. While what he most loved to do was humorous work, he could also write incredibly insightful, intellectual pieces on art or sport, or whatever.” Sandoz was also an early champion of new media forms and technologies. “Steve had enthusiasm about everything,” Wieden observed, “but he’d been pushing me to buy computers when I didn’t know what they were.”
Sandoz’s second contribution went far beyond the work, continued Wieden. “He’s been battling this damn illness for over 10 years; he’s one of the longest survivors of this form of cancer in the U.S.” Wieden related that Sandoz underwent a bone marrow transplant nearly 10 years prior. “Just having him around as a presence was powerful. He was so ready and willing to talk to anybody–at the deepest level you wanted to go–about the personal issues he was dealing with.”
Sandoz’s passing makes one imagine what more he would have achieved if he had been creating and innovating these past 10 years. During his last year, he was a key player in the multi-spot “whatever.Nike.com” interactive campaign. It was generally regarded as the first ad campaign to originate on television and end on the Internet, where people could pick among several possible story endings that played as QT videos. Driving traffic to the website were broadcast spots featuring Olympic sprinter Marion Jones, snowboarding champion Rob Kingwill and baseball slugger Mark McGwire.
Indeed I’d venture to say that Sandoz would have been among the leading contributors to more innovative new forms of advertising and entertainment had he survived. The industry would have been graced by his inquisitive mind and strong work ethic this past decade. But beyond the work, I think of how many more people would have been positively influenced and mentored by Sandoz if he had not passed away in the prime of his career?
Others were taken from us far too soon since our 40th Anniversary edition–tragic accidents claiming the lives of such talented directors as Jhoan Camitz and Paul Giraud. And just last month we lost director George Hickenlooper, who was repped in the ad arena by Epoch Films. Hickenlooper was 47.
There are others too numerous to mention. Suffice it to say that like Sandoz during their relatively brief time in our industry, they too mentored many directly through professional relationships and/or indirectly via their creativity and the quality of their work.
So on the occasion of our 50th Anniversary, we remember those mentors who continue to inspire and those who are no longer with us.
Mentorship is inherently a part of our industry history, its present and its future. Webster’s defines a mentor as “a wise and trusted teacher or counselor.”
However, there have been mentors who never consciously taught or counseled, yet who through their work and by example have influenced the next generation of talent. Whether operating in this capacity consciously, subconsciously or unconsciously, mentors make a profoundly positive difference in the careers and lives of others. And the benefits of mentorship extend beyond a single generation. Often the students take up the torch and as they advance their careers they readily give help, provide apprenticeships and opportunities to their younger associates.
Among the mentors whose name came up frequently in discussion was Phil Dusenberry, the former chairman of BBDO North America, who passed away at the end of 2008 at the age of 71. For more than two decades, the standard set by Dusenberry became the guiding light for the creative excellence of BBDO agencies throughout the world. From theme lines like GE’s “We bring good things to life,” to Pepsi’s “The choice of a new generation,” Dusenberry created advertising which touched the heart as well as speaking to the head. He was a lifelong advocate of advertising that featured beautifully filmed images, inspiring music, and poignant themes that created emotional attachments between consumers and clients’ brands.
Dusenberry’s creativity and brilliance extended beyond the advertising industry. A lifelong baseball and Yankee fan, he co-wrote the screenplay for The Natural starring Robert Redford in the title role. Dusenberry’s philosophy towards business and advertising can be summed up by the title of his memoir which was published in 2005, “One Great Insight Is Worth A Thousand Good Ideas.”
Shortly after Dusenberry’s passing, Allen Rosenshine, former chairman and CEO, BBDO Worldwide, said, “Phil was indeed one of the truly great creative leaders in the history of advertising. He had an unerring instinct for the insight that elevates a good advertising idea to an emotional and human experience. He inspired people by example to never give up on making the work better and always shared credit for our successes with everyone who contributed. Our clients, our agency, and our industry were all his lifetime beneficiaries. Having Phil as a partner was one of the things I loved most about being in our business.”
Roger Enrico, former chairman and CEO of PepsiCo and the client with whom Phil worked the longest, remarked, “Working with Phil produced some of the most enjoyable and rewarding moments in my years at PepsiCo. The advertising he did for our brands helped make them icons of popular culture and added significantly to the growth of the PepsiCo enterprise. He was a great ad man and a dear friend.”
Lauded director Joe Pytka of PYTKA recalled Dusenberry and other advertising legends in the March installment (3/19) of our “Then, Now & Looking Ahead” series. “Phil Dusenberry insisted on great work,” said Pytka. “He wanted every commercial to play like a great movie, a vintage Technicolor film. Hal Riney had a sense of fables. Ed McCabe had a tremendous irony to his work. He had a caustic pen and wrote beautifully. Who has replaced them? I don’t think corporate America wants true replacements. These men were iconoclasts who did things their way. The corporate mentality doesn’t want those kinds of independent people and thinkers.”
Pytka also cited ad creator Carl Ally who ideally wanted to maintain five great clients–and if one left, he would seek out and find the right replacement. “Carl Ally had as many going in the door as out to keep a balance and ensure that he could do the best possible creative job for them,” said Pytka. “That philosophy has since been cast aside as the advertising agencies that have become giant corporations instead seek only growth and sheer volume, without any regard for what that does to creative performance. They want their 15 percent annual growth no matter what, not caring as to how that will affect creative balance and harmony.”
As the Golden Age creatives have retired or passed on, the industry has in the process pretty much lost advertising talent with the clout, observed Pytka, “to look a client in the eye and say, ‘This is what it is’…There was a great David Ogilvy story where he is about to make a presentation to a client. He was one of several there to pitch for the business. The client informs him that after 10 minutes, a bell will ring, at which point he must stop the presentation no matter what. Ogilvy said that a great deal of work was put into the presentation, and that it needs more than 10 minutes for him to do full justice to it. So David simply tells the client, ‘You might as well ring the bell now,’ and then he walks out the door.”
Here’s a sampling of industry artisans and executives recognizing the mentors who helped shape them personally and professionally. Included in this mix are some mentor designations made back during our 40th Anniversary Issue (and they are identified as such).
Mark Androw,
executive producer, STORY
One of the people I most admire in the business is Frank Stiefel [the production house vet who this year received the AICP’s highest honor, the Jay B. Eisenstat Award recognizing outstanding contributions to the commercial production industry]. Frank approached business with integrity and thoughtfulness and lived by his principles. I also once sat next to Roberto Cecchini [exec producer of The Artists Company] on a flight that was severely delayed and learned much about running a company from a man who has done it successfully for many years.
Michelle Burke,
managing director, Cut+Run
During my tenure at TBWAChiatDay, I had the opportunity to learn from very talented people who helped nurture and define how I look at business and the work we create every day through a unique lens. Among them are creative visionaries Lee Clow and Jay Chiat. I learned producing under the leadership of Richard O’Neill and Elaine Hinton. Growing up in an environment like ChiatDay was a true gift and served as an example of how to produce exceptional creative work and informs how I run a business today. ChiatDay also taught me the importance of creating a culture and environment in the workplace in which people are inspired each day to push the work further and also grow talent.
Bill Davenport,
executive producer, Wieden+Kennedy Entertainment (WKE)
Marcia Cooper was my first mentor. She was the head of human resources at Ogilvy & Mather in Chicago. She got me into this business and taught me how to navigate both the business and the politics of the agency world. In terms of producing, Michael Paradise and Kim Lowell helped me find my way around a set and were role models. I really learned everything from working with great creative people. Jim Riswold, Stacy Wall, Mark Fenske and Susan Hoffman made my job easy and they made me look good.
Kerstin Emhoff,
exec producer/co-founder, PRETTYBIRD
Frank Scherma [@radical.media] has been by far my biggest mentor. For some reason he got a kick out of me when I first joined the board of the AICP. I was so passionate and so naive. I was also one of the very few women involved then. I thank god for his advice, encouragement and friendship over the years. He always encouraged me to find my own way, rather than just doing what he did.
Vin Farrell,
VP, production Digital Studio, R/GA
Throughout my career, two men stand out as being my mentors. The first is Ed Pressman, a film producer who took me under his wing and offered me my earliest and most significant opportunities at a time when most wouldn’t. He always told me, “Stick with the talent. We’re in a talent-driven business.” He reminded me to adhere to that basic premise and then focus on the work. The second is Bob Greenberg, my current boss and R/GA’s chairman, CEO and CCO. He taught me how to evolve into a leader. The guy is a visionary. And as the leader of R/GA, Bob empowers his executive team to cultivate our own management style; the key is to have a solid vision and company philosophy for everyone to follow. Then you have to go out and make stuff. Make mistakes, good work and bad work, but always evolve in the process. This philosophy has influenced my life as well as my career, and now I can impart this wisdom onto others.
Cindy Fluitt,
director of broadcast production,
Goodby, Silverstein & Partners
Rich [Silverstein] and Jeff [Goodby] have inspired me from the first day I met them. They have taken my breath away countless times with their energy, passion, intelligence, humanity and ability to evolve while staying true to their core values of great writing and design. They have taught me to listen and learn from others.
From them, I have learned that attention to detail is one of the best tools in your toolkit.
Bonnie Goldfarb,
co-founder/executive producer, harvest filmsGerald Molen was assigned to be my mentor from the DGA when I joined in the mid-’80s and always encouraged me to stay in commercials. He headed up Amblin with Steven Spielberg and we used to compare our daily production budgets. He taught me how much responsibility I had as a production manager/line producer in the commercial arena and how little I’d be able to actually do in the feature world at that time. Skip Short and John Marshall were always supportive and taught me production “on distant locations.” Skip always made sure I had his Amex when I left the country, even when I wasn’t working on a GMS job. John taught me how never to accept “no” for an answer and taught Robin Benson and I the value of Ferraris. Austin McCann, John Romeyn and Bruce Mellon were always guiding lights in my career path.
Hardwrick Johnson,
VP operations, ARRI CSC
Hubert Scoop Clapp, the owner of Camera Service Center for 33 years from 1954 to 1987. He trained me on how to set up the Mitchell BNC, the most popular camera at the time. Two years after working in the camera department, I became interested in lighting and grip equipment. Mr. Clapp supported me in building a lighting and grip department. He had a very positive influence on my life.
Ralph Laucella,
partner/executive producer, O Positive Films
Stephen Orent [now managing partner, Station Film]. He showed me the importance of staying cool and keeping my head, even when the most unexpected production issues arise.
Kevin Moehlenkamp,
chief creative officer, Hill Holliday
I was lucky enough to have been working at BBDO when Phil Dusenberry was just winding up his amazing career, but still haunting the halls. I hadn’t been in the business long, but I remember sitting in my cubicle late one night when Phil saunters in to congratulate me on an award my partner Tom Giovagnoli and I had won. It was amazing to me that he was still there that late and that he even cared what a young puke like me was even doing. He had such a huge passion for the craft of advertising and he always pushed everyone else to be just as passionate. And he did it in a way that never made you afraid of him. He did it in a way that made you never want to let him down. That’s a great leader to me.
Tor Myhren,
chief creative officer, Grey Advertising, New York
Tracy Wong [WongDoody] and Jim Heekin [chairman/CEO of Grey Global Group]. Tracy is the most innovative creative I’ve ever met, and he always finds a way to make greatness happen with limited resources. He never takes it personally, and has a healthy outlook on life vs. job. Heekin sees things at 30,000 feet better than anyone. His management style is awesome: Hire good people and let them fly. He’s helped me embrace the other side of the business.
Richard O’Neill,
executive director of integrated production, TBWAChiatDay, Los Angeles
I’ve had countless mentors. Each one taught me how better to see, hear, and interpret stories. They have entered my life as family, friends, college professors, artists, writers, directors, producers and co-workers. My family taught me “why.” My friends taught me “trust.” My college professors taught me how to “think for myself.” Artists taught me how to “see.” Writers taught me how to ” tell stories.” Directors taught me how to “interpret stories.” Producers taught me how to “make it happen.” Co-workers taught me “respect.”
Many mentors were not famous when I met them. Many have become famous. The famous ones offer validation in following their lead. Others will become famous. I can feel it.
Stephen Orent,
managing partner, Station Film
Mike Cuesta Sr. [director] and Jon Kamen [@radical.media]. Mike because he gave me the opportunity to learn the business from the ground up and wasn’t afraid to hire me as a young line producer and assistant director when he had the choice to use some of the most experienced and talented people available to him. Taught me a lot about actors, lighting and how to handle myself on set around crew, agency and clients. Not to mention he gave both my brother Kerry and I our first opportunities in the business.
Jon Kamen in many ways because I respected him so much for what he had done at Sandbank, Kamen & Partners and again with @radical.media. I had the privilege of working with Jon at both companies and admired how he never rested on what made both companies so successful. He pushed the envelope and expected everyone working for him to do the same without micro managing people like myself.
David Perry,
head of TV production, Saatchi & Saatchi New York
Karl Fisher, head of production at BBDO, who hired me in 1974 to replace Jerry Bruckheimer, who left for Hollywood, hoping to get into the movies.
Marc Petit, sr. VP/
media & entertainment, Autodesk
I have learned from Daniel Langlois, founder of Softimage, to never compromise with the requirements of creative people.
Michael Porte, owner,
The Field/ Nth Degree Creative Group
Denny Kuhr: Creative director (JWT, McCann Erickson)
Because he didn’t fire me on the numerous occasions where I made big mistakes. Instead he allowed me to learn from them.
Hal Riney: Creative director (HRP).
Taught me to never say never, and when to spend money to get it done right.
Josh Rabinowitz,
sr. VP/director of music, Grey Group, N.Y.
Like many of us, I have seen a large number of people come and go in the ad biz. Those who truly mentored me, although this was likely unintentional on their part, were the ones that committed the most flagrant and egregious of errors, those that one might classify as unseemly, inappropriate and inhuman/subhuman in nature, and literally mentored me on what not to do. Most of those folks were abrasive, accusatory, blame-shifting and untruthful. Not surprisingly, it has come to pass that all of those folks are somehow gone from our industry.
David Rolfe,
partner/director of integrated production, Crispin Porter+Bogusky
My mentors were my CP+B colleagues: Alex, Andrew, Burnie, Chuck Porter, Paul Keister, Rupert, Terry Stavoe and Sara Gennett. Outside, early on, it was Susan Murphy, Carmody, TK, DeLorenzo, Steve Shore, Factor, Janet Guillet, Phillip Squire, Deborah Sullivan, Pat Million-six and “Little Jonny Kamen.”
Chris Rossiter,
executive VP/executive director of production, Leo Burnett, Chicago
Foremost for me is Al Lira [the late, legendary director of print and television production at Leo Burnett]. Not only did Al make a major leap of faith by hiring me, but the counsel I received from Al serves me to this day, 20 years after his death. Although I only knew him for about four years so long ago, I feel like he’s still around. As hard as this business can be and as much as the business has changed, the lessons I learned from Al still apply today. Beyond Al, I’d have to say the rest of the list is very long, but for numerous tiny reasons. The reality is that what we do, how we do it, and who we do it with changes every day. I’m influenced by new people all the time. The more open I can be to new thinking, the better I can be. I’m reminded of that every day.
Michael Sagol,
managing partner/executive producer, Caviar
I love working with people along the way that teach you things. I have no specific mentors except everyone that loves what they do. It’s only because I work with such amazing people that I can learn things.
David Smith,
executive VP/ chief creative officer, RPA
Larry Postaer [the “P” in RPA] has taught me almost everything I know about advertising. Regarding the work: Keep it simple. Don’t use a paragraph when a sentence will suffice. Don’t use a sentence when a word will suffice. He’s a great writer. I can only hope some of his talents have rubbed off on me. Regarding business relationships: Respect those above you, those below you, and those who work beside you. Be patient. But be decisive. Be kind. But be demanding.
Close behind Larry is Gary Paticoff, Executive Producer at RPA, who has taught me all I need to know–and occasionally more than I want to know–about production.
Then comes Professor Russell Doerner at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. He gave me the gift of confidence. To this day, I believe optimism is one of the most important traits for any Creative Director.
Finally, Guy Bommarito, my former boss. A great inspirer, editor and friend.
And from SHOOT’s 40th Anniversary reflections on mentors:
Bryan Buckley,
director, Hungry Man
Two mentors come to mind, the first being Roy Grace, the creative from Grace & Rothschild. As far as I’m concerned, he revolutionized commercials in the early ’70s.
Look at the entertainment value of those spots he did at Doyle Dane Bernbach. They were selling while the consumer didn’t know he or she was being sold.
The Volkswagen work was classic–as was American Tourister. As a kid growing up, I remember being stuck in front of the TV set and seeing the Volkswagen “Funeral” spot–it showed how advertising can be absolutely brilliant. And the gorilla in the cage is the ultimate demo spot, bringing creativity to the most dull ad category of product demos.
I think TV Guide did some sort of poll of the top 50 commercials of the century, and Roy had two of the top five. His work was just amazing. It’s the kind of stuff you just sat there and admired–which carries over into the print work he did for Volkswagen as well.
I started at Doyle Dane as an assistant art director and went over with Roy to Grace & Rothschild. Later on in life, I became a writer when I left to go to ChiatDay. Roy was and is an inspiration.
The other influential creative for me is Jim Riswold of Wieden+Kennedy. He took advertising to the next level. When I was at Chiat, I remember seeing the Spike Lee as Morris Blackmon campaign in the late ’80s for Nike. It became a part of pop culture in a weird way, and melded advertising and pop culture together as embodied in “Just Do It.”
What Jim did is what Roy did–reintroducing true characters, quirky characters, back into advertising. Morris Blackmon was a personality, not your normal ad character.
My work as a director is largely character-driven. No matter what commercial you get, you try to figure out the character. I worked as a director on two Nike campaigns with Riswold. He’s a great guy and great to work with. The Nike stuff assumes consumers are intelligent. You’re laughing. You get what’s funny. And “Just Do It” kind of revolutionized the thinking behind theme lines. Up until that point, the line was product-driven. With Nike, the theme line became a philosophy bigger than the product itself. It helped to change the course of advertising.
Bob Kuperman (who at the time was president/CEO of the Americas, TBWAChiatDay)
Three major people were profound influences at different times in my career and in my development: Bill Bernbach, Mary Wells and Jay Chiat.
I started at Doyle Dane Bernbach in ’63, and kind of got to know Bill Bernbach early on in my career. He had the ability to look past a 23-year-old kid from Brooklyn who didn’t speak much differently than I do now. He saw what was there, what others couldn’t see–not only with me, but with other people. That helped him to create an atmosphere in which talent could thrive–the Bob Gages, the Len Sirowitzs, the Sid Myers, the Helmut Krones. Bill instilled in all of us the value of creativity, of doing something in good taste, a deep respect for the creative product.
There was a structure at Doyle Dane Bernbach in which you did your apprenticeship and moved up the ladder. I started off in the bullpen there–pasting up ads, pasting down type, doing mechanicals and matte cutting. The bullpen was full of young people who were starting out in the business. They told me I would have to be in the bullpen for two years. I was out in two months and became an assistant art director, then a junior art director, an art director, a senior art director. By the age of 28, I was running the Volkswagen account. What an education it was coming up through the ranks there. Bernbach was fabulous. He had this theory that he created an agency that was a garden where plants grew–and if you transplanted to another place, you didn’t grow as well. I still quote him today.
After a couple of short stints at Carl Ally and Della Femina, I went to Wells Rich Greene. I was a creative director at Della Femina, but Wells Rich Greene wanted to pay me more to be an art director. It was a perfect fit, because at the time I was longing to get back to doing my own ads. Mary Wells was something to behold. She was smart. She had a great marketing sense. I remember presenting ads to her in the morning, in front of a mirror at the agency where she would get her makeup put on by a makeup man. She did everything with a certain style and elegance. Everything was first class.
Mary really taught me about the whole marketing idea: how you position something, whether it’s Braniff Airlines or Benson & Hedges cigarettes. She taught me that there’s a difference between an art director and being an advertising man. An art director does ads. An advertising man does the total thing. But it was always fun with her. She was very good to me. I wanted to move to the West Coast, and she asked me to open the West Coast office of Wells Rich, which I did in ’75. Mary was funny, extremely bright and probably had the best understanding of human nature and human beings that I’ve ever seen.
Someone could walk into a room and Mary knew what he or she was about, within five minutes. When I was at Della Femina, I had turned down job offers twice from Wells Rich before meeting Mary. When I finally met her, she said, “Bob Kuperman, the man we can’t hire.” She had me from then on in.
When I was on the West Coast, I got friendly with Jay Chiat during the late ’70s. We just got to be friends. He knew a lot of the people I knew from Doyle Dane. He tried to hire me several times to run different offices–San Francisco, New York–but it never worked out. I had gone back to Doyle Dane on the West Coast to run that operation. Bill Bernbach asked me to do that shortly before he died. In about ’87, when ChiatDay got the Nissan account, Jay finally convinced me to come over–the agency had gotten to the size where it was big enough for me and Lee Clow. I became president a couple of years later.
Jay taught me about how important culture is, and how important it is to treat people well. He shaped this whole idea of creating an atmosphere that creativity can grow in. He used architectural management to create these spaces in which people were forced to work a certain way. Everyone was in open areas, which created an openness, a certain overheard informational system. He just had a great feel for people, principles and doing great work, which was the primary goal. He showed me that really building an agency is much like what Bernbach said–it is truly an ecosystem that has to be handled with care.
Jay was never afraid to make a decision. He saw something, thought it was right and he did it. Sometimes he made the wrong decision. But he never sat around and worried about a decision all the time–which would have translated into good decisions never getting made.
Rich Silverstein,
co-chairman/creative director, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco
Hal Riney, because he taught me God was in the details.
