A SHOOT STAFF REPORT
NEW YORK-Back to the future. That was the paradoxical prediction articulated by John Hegarty, chairman/creative director of Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH), London, New York and Singapore. Hegarty affirmed that traditional, large-scale broadcast network television will continue to be of utmost importance to the advertising community, despite talk to the contrary about narrowcasting, audience fragmentation and other emerging media.
One of four guest speakers during last week’s Association of Independent Commercial Producers
(AICP) Lecture Series at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, Hegarty said that the power of a shared audience experience-which only big ticket network television programming and event coverage can deliver-remains critical to many advertisers.
And clearly that was reflected in the recent announcement that even with decreasing viewership, the major traditional broadcast networks in the U.S. collectively have sold a record high $7.2 billion worth of primetime ads for next season. Advertisers are willing to pay a premium for a commodity that is diminishing-programs that can provide a large audience as compared to the smaller, niche appeal of specialty cable channels. The economic reality is that when the supply of something valued decreases-in this case broadcast network fare drawing big ratings-marketplace demand grows and prices go up.
Meanwhile, in a separate AICP session, guest speaker Jeff Berg, CEO of International Creative Management (ICM) headquartered in Beverly Hills with offices in New York, London, Paris and Rome, observed that new media represent new opportunities for the ad community and production houses in particular.
And directors Mark Pellington of Crossroads Films, bicoastal and Chicago, and Spike Lee of Forty Acres And A Mule Filmworks, Brooklyn, and agency Spike/DDB, New York, addressed crossover prospects-ranging from spots to longform-for creative filmmakers.
The following is a more detailed rundown of the observations made by Messrs. Hegarty, Berg, Lee and Pellington during their presentations. The AICP sessions were moderated by Scott Ross, CEO/president and founding partner of Digital Domain, Venice, Calif.
Hegarty
Stepping up to the podium in his usual attire-a checkered suit and multi-colored socks-Hegarty first expressed his understated British excitement about entering MoMA for the first time without paying and then moved on to more serious matters.
Titling his talk, "The Future of Advertising-The Secret Ingredient," Hegarty shared with his audience that while predicting the future is a typically hazardous pastime, he would on this occasion throw caution to the wind to say where he thought advertising was going and what it needed to succeed.
"One only needs to open any trade magazine for the advertising forecast and even though the economy is doing fantastically in many ways, the future of advertising is cast as somewhat gloomy," said Hegarty. To put the state of the industry into perspective, Hegarty first took the audience through a brief history of where it’s been.
In 1950, the average supermarket stocked 550 products as compared to today’s 20,000. In 1960, 1,000 new products entered the market, whereas last year more than 25,000 did; and the average American commuter will encounter 100-150 commercial messages between getting up in the morning and coming to work. In addition, the amount of information available through computing doubles every year and a single issue of the London Sunday Times contains more information than a person in the 17th century would come across in a lifetime. To this Hegarty posed the question, "Are we getting any wiser?" But maybe the question would have been better stated, "Is our advertising getting any wiser?"
Put side by side, facts like these are staggering and, as Hegarty said, "should strike fear into the hearts of even the haughtiest of marketers and ad men." With an overwhelming amount of consumer choice, Hegarty warned, "as competition increases, we have to fight to be heard. There is no doubt that it is going to get harder but it doesn’t mean that it will become impossible."
While a singular solution seemed somewhat elusive, some marketing professionals have proposed "relationship marketing" as a means to achieving advertising success. The idea is to have a highly targeted advertising scheme where you only spend valuable budgets on those who are going to buy your product. Also called "occasion-based segmentation," it is both intimately flexible and precise and the message can be adapted in the case of every individual, even to the point of adapting to both the time of day and the mood the consumer is in. This, however, was not Hegarty’s prediction for success.
"I believe those marketing professionals have underestimated the sensitive needs of the human beings they are trying to talk to. They have not truly understood the power and competitive advantage of a brand and crucially, I would argue, misunderstand how to build one," said Hegarty. He continued, "I put it to you today that despite the prophecies of the imminent demise, the future of advertising is incredibly rosy and I would say primarily in broadcast."
After pausing for a moment to let that notion sink in, he went on to clarify his message by pointing to the dictionary definition of broadcast: "To disseminate [information] widely." Then, much like a lawyer, Hegarty began to prove his point.
His first argument focused on the simple fact that what makes a brand out of a product is fame. "The currency of a product is money over the counter; the currency of a brand is how people feel towards that product," said Hegarty.
He used the Spice Girls as an example. Hegarty assured us that while he would never go to a Spice Girls concert or buy their music, the fact that he chose them for his speech knowing that the mere mention would get a reaction, added to their value as a brand. And, he continued, when Ginger Spice quit the Spice Girls, it was the top story on the evening news in the U.K. "A global branding effort is not something that the world consumes, it is something that everyone has heard of," asserted Hegarty.
According to Hegarty, Hollywood clearly understands the value of fame and is willing to pay a premium for actors because it gives a brand-in this case a movie-stature. "The sheer scale of a broadcast campaign is an indicator in and of itself about the quality and health and wealth of your brand and product," explained Hegarty. It is also true that today’s consumers are more savvy than ever and recognize a good media strategy when they see it. "People know that brands advertised during the Super Bowl have spent a lot of money to do so and in the end, the message only has value if you make that message in a very public way," Hegarty added.
Another aspect of large-scale broadcast advertising Hegarty highlighted, was the power of a shared experience and, moreover, the power of an emotional shared experience. He offered that often people’s favorite ads are the ones that intrigue and move them in some way. "Emotion is one of those intangible human things that market research people have great difficulty trying to measure, but you and I all understand its potential," related Hegarty. With this said, the house lights went down and Hegarty showed the audience seven commercials created by BBH, London that used the power of emotion.
Most notably was Lego’s "Box" directed by Frank Budgen of Gorgeous Enterprises, London. In this epic :60, a young boy’s Lego creation, which he keeps in a box, is discovered by official-looking men in suits who are awestruck by what they find. The boy is instantly launched to fame Neil Armstrong-style, complete with a ticker tape parade, global recognition and the cover of Newsweek. The boy’s journey brings the viewer to a fever pitch of excitement before the simple tag, "All ideas start with imagination."
Hegarty proposed that with the way the economic landscape was shaping up, the USP (unique selling proposition) would be replaced by the ESP (emotional selling proposition). And that with all the variety of choices, simplicity and speed of delivery would need to become part of the formula for advertising in our time starved society.
Wrapping up, Hegarty reiterated the power of broadcast and that a shared experience is far more valuable than any market research could ever put a price on. "In my view, the future of advertising is definitely in broadcast and don’t let anyone tell you that it isn’t as long as broadcast generates one simple thing-as long as it generates fame," concluded Hegarty.
-Sandra Garcia
Berg
Picking up on the theme of creative convergence and the changing marketplace at the onset of his remarks, Berg noted that ICM had helped some commercial directors become feature directors. Berg then stated that with mergers among telecommunications and broadcast entities taking place at a rapid clip, the most relevant question remained one of content. "As all of these delivery systems are combined, what are you going to put on it?" he wondered. Observing that there was "more capacity available than programs," Berg concluded that for creatives and content providers, the emerging media framework was a "tremendous opportunity in the model of supply and demand." Berg observed that the role of his agency was to gain access to these media for the artists it represents.
Berg continued on the theme of technology’s impact on creative opportunities as well as modes of content distribution. He forecasted that as data transmission rates increase, the Internet will soon be an outlet for programming that will rival that of television and films. Observing that what he described as the Internet’s first wave was driven mostly by technologists, he said that the next phase will be driven by creatives. "We now have to program this as competitively as the programming we see on cable and television," Berg said.
"It’s clear to me that the puck hasn’t left the hockey stick," Berg observed about the current state of the Internet’s maturation. The great advantage of the Internet, Berg said, was that it "enables customers to be involved on a one-to-one basis with the brand."
Berg added that the he found the emergence of digital cinema to be even "more exciting" than the Internet’s evolution. In the digital cinema model, films are downloaded as digital information to theaters and shown using a projector that transforms the information into a big screen image. Berg said that digital cinema would produce major changes in the distribution system and enable the studios to save quite a bit of money.
Berg observed that the new modes of distribution are accompanied by new ways in which creative people can emerge as artistic voices. In Hollywood’s past, for instance, there were limited ways to become a film director. Berg noted that there are now many other ways that a director can become a feature helmer, and the Internet would undoubtedly open up other routes.
In the contemporary era of synergy, the creatives who will be most successful will be those who work in as many media as possible. "The most talented people are working in every conceivable medium-film, television, commercials, theater, book projects," he said.
Berg had praise for the commercial industry on the quality of the work that is being produced. "When I watch the reel of today’s advertising, it’s better than some of the films I put together," he said, citing the technology and the "visual grammar" used in the medium. "More than ever, the visual messaging in advertising is influencing a generation to a degree it never had."
Berg later went on to consider the difficulties that commercial directors have when they try to transition to feature-length work. A fundamental question in this process was, "How are you going to go from :30 to an hour and a half?" Berg said that the directors who have successfully made the transition were those who excelled at storytelling.
Berg’s other predictions included a somewhat gloomy view on the future of commercial production companies that now exist. "There is a glut of capacity," he said in answer to a question, referring to production companies. "I think there will be consolidation just as there have been in the agency business. It may not promote creativity but it may be more economically efficient."
-Jeremy Lehrer
Lee
As a filmmaker who has directed features and commercials, Lee said he didn’t feel confined to any one medium. That was a thread he tied throughout his speech.
"I never thought I should constrain myself to one thing," he said. "If an opportunity arose, and if it interested me, I would do it … For me, all good directors are storytellers."
He noted that among his films, he has directed features as well as a documentary-4 Little Girls. Lee observed that he got into advertising by accident after directing She’s Gotta Have It. Two creatives from Wieden & Kennedy, Portland, Ore., had seen the film, in which the character played by Lee wears Nike Air Jordan shoes and is also a huge Michael Jordan fan. The W&K creatives had the idea of teaming up Lee and Jordan to make a commercial for Nike using the character from the film. That was the beginning of Lee’s commercial directing career.
Lee observed that his work in advertising was different from his feature endeavors. He found his experience in advertising to be "frustrating" because the agencies simply hired him as a director and had already concepted the spots. "I just know going in that the advertising agency has the final say," he said later.
Lee explained that part of the reason that he launched agency Spike/DDB was to retain the control that he relinquished when he was simply a gun-for-hire.
While Lee has made the transition from feature to commercial directing, he noted that some directors who emerge from the music video and commercial worlds simply don’t cut it as feature storytellers. While acknowledging that their material is "flashy" and "looks good," Lee concluded that "a lot of these guys can’t tell stories." On this subject, Lee decried the contemporary tendency for quick-cutting, and said that some of this degraded visual aesthetic derives from editing tools such as the Avid. Noting that his films are still edited on a Steenbeck, Lee contended, "The Avid is the worst thing to happen to editing."
"I don’t understand why we have to see 50 different variations of a scene," Lee continued. "Why should a director look at 50 different cuts? … Why should a director be forced to shoot so much?"
Lee did have some advice for commercial directors who want to direct features. "If you come from the commercial world, you have to go into the woodshed," Lee said, in order to "understand where your weaknesses are."
"Feature filmmaking drives everything," Lee said about the variety of his work. "We’ve been fortunate to do a feature every year. There are 52 weeks in a year, and there’s a lot of time that we can shoot commercials. As Jeff [Berg] said, the more stuff you do, the better you get at it."
In the question and answer session following his talk, Lee was queried about his comments on the creative control of artists who crossover from Hollywood (or in Lee’s case, Brooklyn) to Madison Avenue. Prompted by the question, Lee reflected on the disparity between his creative role in film and advertising. "I have more weight in features," he said dryly. "I’m a fly- or bantamweight in advertising." Lee nevertheless said that he was "fortunate to work in both [worlds]."
-Jeremy Lehrer
Pellington
It’s no surprise that the AICP asked Crossroads Films director Mark Pellington to give a talk on the theme of creative convergence. Over the course of 13 years, Pellington has directed PSAs, documentaries, commercials, promos, feature films, music videos, episodic TV shows and Internet pieces.
The bulk of Pellington’s presentation consisted of a reel highlighting his directorial career. According to Pellington, it was not a retrospective, nor was it chronological. But the showcase clearly demonstrated his ability to cross over, through and above all mediums.
The reel opened to a cameo appearance Pellington had in the ’96 Cameron Crowe film Jerry Maguire where he very appropriately plays a commercial director trying to convince Cuba Gooding Jr. to get up on a camel for a shoot. The reel then cut to a series of spots directed by Pellington, including Sprite’s "Turbo," Gateway’s "Anthem" and Pepsi’s "Chant." The styles of the spots ranged from fast-paced action to humor.
He showed some of his classic MTV work, including U2’s "The Fly," featuring Pellington’s signature hyper-kinetic quick cuts of words. Also featured was the devastatingly tragic video "Jeremy" he directed for Pearl Jam, wherein an angst-out teen shoots himself in front of his classmates. Pellington then gave the audience a personal glimpse into his soul by showing a moving documentary he directed for PBS called Father’s Daze, about his father’s struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. The show reel wrapped with a trailer for Pellington’s soon-to-be released feature film, Arlington Road.
As a director, Pellington puts himself into two different camps: The creator, where he is writing and executing an idea, or the interpretive artist, who takes a person’s idea or song and brings it to life. "There is not one kind of magic approach that you have for any sort of form, and for me it’s about trying to get to the soul of whatever I am working on and try to understand what is being communicated," explained Pellington.
Pellington’s training ground was MTV where he started directing music videos and promos. He said that the experience at MTV taught him how to come up with ideas and then trust his creative instinct. "I learned that in spite of the many bureaucratic layers that lie between conception and broadcast, you can write an idea down during a surreal, fitful, "I-can’t-sleep" moment, and literally see it on the air 24 hours later," said Pellington. From there he segued into how fast the world is moving and how un-fast he’s become.
"People say to me that it’s my fault that everything is so fragmented, and that TV is so fast now and I laugh because, at 24-years-old at MTV, I was only interested in seeing the world as fast and fragmented. The irony is that the way I view the world now is very different," related Pellington.
Today, Pellington sees the world getting so fast and fragmented that in a sense, pop culture is eating itself. And in all that overwhelming chaos and meaninglessness, Pellington is at the point where he’s searching for truth in content and to just slow down. "That might be pissing in the wind of progress, but we’ve already seen here today that humor and emotion are the number one ingredients to communicate and get to people," said Pellington.
The director went on to talk about how he finds beauty in simplicity and that he wanted his work to operate on a more visceral level. He cited the ’97 Paul Schrader movie Affliction as an example of the kind of work that moves him. "So I continue to be inspired and, as I grow older, continue to reflect the world we live in," said Pellington.
-Sandra Garcia
