New business models, a wider array of projects–some of which are still being defined–underscore the ever evolving roles of agency heads of production, executive producers and for that matter, producers. SHOOT sought out a number of agency artisans to get their takes on how their job descriptions have changed, starting with Matt Bonin whom we gravitated to based on his recent career decision to become senior VP, director of integrated production at Trailer Park, a Hollywood-based company which includes Trailer Park Entertainment and Trailer Park Studios.
Bonin formerly served as VP/integrated head of video at Crispin Porter + Bogusky (CP+B) in Boulder, Colo. He played an instrumental role in shaping CP+B’s integrated production department and helped grow it to more than 100 employees. Work he either produced or supervised there garnered assorted awards, including the Cannes Cyber, Titanium and Grand Prix honors.
“I wouldn’t have left [CP+B] to make a horizontal move to another agency,” related Bonin. “Crispin is about as good as it gets. It’s an incredible idea machine.”
But Trailer Park, explained Bonin, is a distinctly different kind of shop, a “unique” agency/production hybrid. He noted that Trailer Park is well established as an entertainment agency, creating and producing marketing campaigns for feature films, TV and home video, encompassing promotional packages that span varied media and content (including trailers).
“We not only have creative and strategic expertise here but also an extensive production department,” related Bonin. The production operation has nearly 240 artisans, including 50-plus editors (some of whom are color specialists), visual effects and graphics artists, interactive designers, programmers, flash specialists, producers and music composers. The talent is world class, contended Bonin, citing for example editor Benny Coulter who is a go-to-trailers-guy for such notables as director Steven Spielberg and actor Tom Cruise. Coulter and Trailer Park are developing the marketing material for the next Spielberg film, Tin Tin. Also Trailer Park editor Kim Wong is cutting trailer/promo fare for James Cameron’s upcoming sci-fi film Avatar.
The ensemble of talent at Trailer Park enables the shop to be responsive to the fast-paced entertainment business. For a feature print campaign, Bonin noted, “It’s not uncommon for studios to provide us with a brief line of copy or an idea from which they expect us to come up with full creative. Whereas a traditional agency might outsource to photographers, costumers, designers, digital people and so on, we have the resources internally to turn out 400 photo-ready comps in five days for the motion picture studio to assess. Based on their feedback, we hone in on what they want, the work gets tweaked and approved.”
Trailer Park–via its Trailer Park Studios–is now actively extending its creative, strategic and production wherewithal to non-entertainment brands. For example, Trailer Park is now the agency of record for Orbitz and news is forthcoming on other mainstream clients that the hybrid agency/production shop is collaborating with.
“It wasn’t uncommon [at CP+B] to get a PDF with 100 pages of brilliant ideas,” recalled Bonin. “Then budgets and other realities would sink in and we’d have to parse that all down to maybe four or five ideas we could bring to life. But Trailer Park’s production resources make us nimble and in a position to bring more ideas to fruition–certainly not all of them but more than four or five. Most traditional agencies are experiencing the challenge of how to best stretch the money that at one time was for a TV commercial into money not only for a spot, but also social media, digital, mobile, web design, microsites, other consumer touchpoints within the retail space, experiential space and events.
“Recessionary thinking has resulted in a reset that I think has staying power,” continued Bonin. “We’re not going to suddenly find ourselves with a budget of $750,000 to do a :30. That will more likely be the budget for an entire initiative–TV, experiential and social media. TV still has its rightful place–it is an important part of the mix but not necessarily the dominant force. Our hybrid operation is conducive to getting the most creative and budgetary leverage out of a campaign. Thankfully the entertainment business is booming so we have a healthy base for our artists as a foundation.”
Asked if directors are or would be a part of the Trailer Park mix, Bonin replied, “We won’t ever compete with an MJZ or a Smuggler, not with the A-plus level talent they have. At the same time we do have relationships with some talented directors though we don’t have a Trailer Park roster of directors. And I could see opportunities here for directors to concept and create, working alongside our creative and strategic people. Whether we move in that direction [a Trailer Park directorial roster] is something I’m trying to analyze in the coming months. Our orientation is to work with the best talent for a project, whether it’s within or outside the company.”
On the latter score, Bonin noted that a current Trailer Park project for client New Mexico Tourism is being bid out to select directors at outside production companies.
“We’re no different from traditional agencies in the respect that we are all trying to figure out how to best react to and prepare for the future. I remember that in building the digital infrastructure [at CP+B], we went from zero to 65 percent of our digital work being done in house. Now at Trailer Park we have a digital team as well as all the production resources I mentioned to you. With our content creation and generation, we are uniquely situated to respond in real time to what goes on in the marketplace for clients. This is resonating with clients and potential clients we meet with. Their ears perk up. Our creative and production capabilities are especially relevant to the challenges they are facing.”
DDB’s St. Clair While Bonin’s role continues to evolve now that he has moved to a shop with a hybrid agency/production business model, there are assorted artisans who have stayed put and are too feeling the winds of change relative to what they do and the nature of the projects they are working on. SHOOT connected with several of them based on their recent endeavors.
Take for example, Will St. Clair, VP/executive producer of DDB Chicago, who related, “There’s literally no limit to what you can produce. Viewers and consumers have so many places to go for entertainment, media and information, which means that as an agency producer, you need to go anywhere the idea will take you.”
In terms of where ideas are taking DDB Chicago, St. Clair noted that the agency is active “across the board for several clients….We are in development in at least two reality TV concepts that I know of, some longer form feature work this is kind of a feature but also kind of not. Sorry to be vague but it’s part of a job that’s very exiting that can lead to other forms. That’s a big source of the excitement–sometimes you don’t know what the project exactly will be, only that it’s something that breaks away from the conventional.”
St. Clair has a track record of breaking away from the conventional as reflected in his recent primetime Emmy Award history. He served as DDB Chicago executive producer and producer on Bud Light’s “Swear Jar,” which won the 2008 primetime commercial Emmy Award without even having run on television. The spot, which debuted on the since shuttered Bud.tv online entertainment network and then went on to a viral life of its own, centered on a workplace in which a “swear jar” has been set up. Each time anyone swears, he or she has to put money into the jar, with the funds collected ultimately going toward buying Bud Light for everyone in the office. This proves to be incentive enough to send expletives flying–pretty much bleeped out in the spot but leaving little doubt as to what’s being said.
In a case of déjà vu, this year St. Clair exec produced Bud Light’s viral spot “Magazine Buyer,” which garnered a primetime commercial Emmy nomination. Thus for two straight years, work that wasn’t broadcast on TV earned Emmy recognition, an ostensible peculiarity which underscores how the times are changing. Indeed the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (ATAS) amended its Emmy qualification rules a couple of years ago to acknowledge that new platforms have emerged for entertainment.
At the same time, St. Clair observed that TV and so-called new media are often strongly connected. Consider that the launch pad for “Magazine Buyer” was the quintessential mass broadcast, mega-audience event, the Super Bowl.
DDB Chicago set up a website so that Super Bowl viewers could again view Anheuser-Busch’s Big Game spots. Those viewers who logged on and voted for their favorite ad work airing on the ’09 Super Bowl in turn earned a bonus commercial which was too risqué for broadcast: “Magazine Buyer.” This was the second consecutive year that DDB drove traffic to a bonus spot–the one in ’08 being Bud Light’s “Deli.”
While “Deli” was marked by a touch of bathroom humor, “Magazine Buyer” too used the freedom of the web to present a slightly off-color concept. Magazine Buyer” introduces us to a man who decides to complement his purchase of a Bud Light six pack with a porn magazine, leading to varied forms of embarrassment for the gent not only inside the convenience store but also on a live TV newscast as a would-be robber bursts in and holds the “porno guy,” among others, hostage.
“Both ‘Deli’ and ‘Magazine Buyer’ are examples of traditional and new media being linked,” observed St. Clair. “You read stuff about the death of the commercial. But a TV commercial can drive people to the web and the web can drive people back to television. For me as a producer, this is encouraging, freeing and exciting. The story isn’t so much the death of one medium and the rise of another–instead it’s the evolution of the two of them, with more emphasis on entertainment and engaging viewers. That’s what makes being an advertising agency producer today so exciting and potentially fulfilling.”
Broadcast and web fare can also be linked in terms of they’re being produced as part of an overall package, continued St. Clair. “Magazine Buyer” was part of such a package produced alongside traditional :30 TV fare.
“Packaging is a huge help in getting new media material produced,” observed St. Clair. “Without that kind of packaging, it’s harder to get a web spot done with the high level of production value we need and expect. A package makes it more feasible economically for a production house to take on. You ameliorate costs by packaging a web spot with broadcast, bringing more work that way to a production company.”
BBDO’s Logan Just as non-broadcast spots garnering Emmy recognition are indicative of a changing landscape, so too are a series of web films for FedEx. The five films, each three minutes long, feature comedian Fred Willard as a tongue-in-cheek infomercial style spokesman, addressing a prototypical smiling infomercial studio audience.
David Logan, senior producer at BBDO New York, said the Internet-only FedEx job carried many considerations that agency exec producers and producers wouldn’t have had to contemplate just a few years ago. For one, Logan had to not only be concerned with the films themselves but a web promotional package–entailing rich media banners and pre-roll video–to help drive traffic to the films.
BBDO New York brought in director Bob Odenkirk of Bob Industries, a choice which Logan said underscores the importance of having both a knowledgeable team on both the agency and vendor side. Logan described Odenkirk as very web and concept savvy, citing the director’s extensive experience spanning shorts on funnyordie.com, celebrity and comedy work, including having served as a senior writer on Saturday Night Live.
“Bob’s experience meant so much on so many different levels,” said Logan. “We had, for example, a cast of more than 70 folks to deliver various levels of performance. I was initially worried that we’d have to spend weeks in casting for a project with a limited budget. But Bob had specific comedy people in mind for each role, which streamlined the casting to like a week. He would also sit down with me and the creative team, and we would have writing sessions to continually streamline and tweak the work.”
This coming together to keep making the comedy better is essential given what Logan referred to as “‘the antsy hand factor’…The audience on the Internet has an extremely short attention span, especially for an ad. You only have a few seconds to keep their attention.”
Towards the goal of engaging the audience, Logan noted that “if anyone didn’t think what we were doing would keep viewers involved, the attitude was that it’s everybody’s responsibility to speak up. Critiques included ‘it’s too long’ or ‘it’s too boring here in this part.’ Without the luxury of a media buy to keep putting something in front of people’s faces, you have to do everything you can to try to keep your audience interested…And we had the extra pressure–and at the same time the benefit–of high agency and client expectations, and perhaps most importantly viewers’ high expectations for FedEx commercials.”
Also key, said Logan, was BBDO senior creative director Jason Lucas “bringing me in early in the planning and conceptual stage to talk about options and some of the problems that don’t have traditional solutions. Having more time up front on the production planning end is necessary and fortunately for me Jason recognized that. You need to plan for as much as you can up front. At the same time, it’s like any commercial in that you have to be open to ‘happy accidents,’ for keeping your eyes open throughout the process when good things happen, when a surprise emerges that helps the story or helps to drive traffic.”
On the post side, editor Tom Vogt of BlueRock, New York, who’s experienced in commercials, also embodied the deep longer form comedy storytelling experience ideal for the FedEx films. Vogt is known for his work as editor on the irreverent animated comedy series South Park. He also cut features directed by the show’s creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone: South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut; and Team America: World Police.
Logan additionally cited BlueRock assistant editor Laura Bermudez and producer Jesse Schwartz. Bermudez’s contributions included cutting some 20 different videos for rich media banners and promos, providing the client with options to choose from. Schwartz, noted Logan, pitched in beyond her BlueRock duties to also serve as an integrated producer akin to being on the agency team.
Additionally there was the challenge of being effective within a limited budget. Logan credited line producer Brian Etting working via Bob Industries with helping on this front.
Logan said that ingenuity even played a part in showing rough cuts to the client. BBDO N.Y. executive creative director Greg Hahn suggested that a YouTube page be created to help present the rough cuts to FedEx. DVDs were burned accordingly and shown to FedEx execs.
“This put the client in the same position as the viewer,” related Logan. “In hindsight Greg’s idea was brilliant. The client was in a better position to assess–and approve–the rough cuts.
While comedian Willard–who has a healthy fan base–was a major magnet helping to drive traffic to the shorts, Logan said in hindsight he would have also considered playing up Odenkirk–who has a web following based on his funnyordie.com and other exploits–in the promo campaign for the FedEx films.
“If I had it to do over, I would have explored negotiating the right to use Bob’s [Odenkirk] name up front to promote the work. I don’t know whether we could have successfully negotiated that–perhaps he would have wanted control over the rough cuts. But it would have been worth looking into because the web audience knows Bob and his work. Again, this is something that an agency producer wouldn’t have had to consider or even deal with just a few short years ago.”
BETC Euro RSCG’s Brovelli The global success of Evian’s “Skating Babies” spot out of BETC Euro RSCG, Paris, has been a viral sensation, spawning a documentary that is slated to debut down the road on TV channels in the U.S., Germany, France, Japan and the U.K.
Helping generate interest in the now famed commercial were a music remixing contest and a pair of virals, as chronicled last week (SHOOTonline, 9/18) by Fabrice Brovelli, general director, head of TV production, BETC Euro RSCG.
Brovelli observed that Evian reflects the changes that have taken root in advertising and marketing. “Traditional advertising used to make an impact on people’s lives, but today the audience can avoid advertising if they choose to [TiVo, legal or illegal numeric platforms]. That’s why the role of advertising has changed; now brands have to create a more friendly relationship with their consumers, more sincere, with more emphasis on sustainable development issues, whatever the medium is. Content will have more impact if it interests a large audience, as it will be this audience that will convey the content, as it happened with the Evian ads.”
