Bicoastal/international @radical.media has signed high-profile agency creative Larry Frey for representation as a commercial director.
It marks the first production house roost for Frey, who most recently served as creative director at Amsterdam-based 180, which he helped to co-found in fall ’98; there, he worked on adidas. Previously, Frey served as creative director of Wieden+ Kennedy’s Tokyo office from mid-’96 to ’98. Before that, he worked as an art director and then creative director at W+K’s Portland, Ore. office and its former Philadelphia operation. Among the accounts he worked on at W+K were Nike, ESPN, Subaru, Honda motor scooters and KINK-FM.
Frey had originally intended to join @radical twice before, related @radical co-proprietor Jon Kamen. The first time, nearly four years ago, Frey was sidetracked by W+K’s offer to head up its Tokyo office; and approximately two years ago, he was enticed by the 180 opportunity.
"It’s been a convoluted, tangled trip, but I finally made it," said Frey, who had just returned to New York at press time. "Unfortunately, it’s very difficult to juggle two things; when you’re a creative director at an agency, it’s hard to have [directing] as a hobby because advertising is so demanding. And starting a company is really time-consuming,"
Explaining that when he initially thought of pursuing directing full-time, Frey said that Kamen-a longtime friend-was one of the first people he called. "[@radical] just has such a great reputation," said Frey. "I’ve worked all over the world-Asia, Japan, Hong Kong, South America, Eastern Europe-and they are by far the most respected production company, worldwide."
Kamen related that Frey, while on staff at W+K, has directed a handful of projects over the past few years for ESPN and Nike, which were produced by @radical.media. Among them were ESPN campaigns promoting its Women’s College Basketball coverage such as "Miss America," in which a grunge rock version of the eponymous song accompanies action footage of female athletes on the court. Frey also helmed "Labels," a spot for Nike Asia women’s sports in which a woman expresses her thoughts via voiceover about how the stereotypical labels-girlfriend, daughter, fantasy, possession-don’t apply to her once she’s playing basketball.
"He’s a great creative director, a great friend and a tremendous talent," said Kamen. "I think he’s going to find his own niche. As a creative, he always sought that and I think he’ll be very focused on doing that in his directorial career. Hopefully, he’ll be able to put his own fingerprint on his work. We anticipate him getting up and running pretty quickly because Larry’s got a fantastic creative reputation."
While at 180, Frey continued to direct spots for other agencies. Among these jobs were a Washington Post spot, "The Sage," for Berlin, Cameron & Partners, New York; a four-spot package for Carlsburg beer for DDB Copenhagen; and "Hero," a spot for Treo, a headache medicine, via Stockholm-based agency Garbergs. All were produced by London-based production company Stink.
Shot in the Ukraine and made to look like an American action film, "Hero" involves a scenario in which the hero rescues a woman from a crashed helicopter. The copter explodes into a fireball and the man carries the woman in his arms; as she swoons, her head hits a large oil barrel, and the man drops her. It turns out that this action is taking place on a movie set. The director yells "Cut!" and we see the fizz of Alka-Seltzer-like headache tablets. But instead of being delivered to the actress with the now-aching head, the potion is grabbed by the director.
After earning a degree in secondary education from Western Washington University in ’77, Frey briefly taught art in junior high school before moving to Los Angeles, where he worked in various positions in the film industry, including as a grip on film sets. In ’80, he enrolled in Pasadena, Calif.-based Art Center College of Design, initially to study graphic design before he became interested in advertising.
After a year at Art Center, having run out of money, Frey went looking for an advertising job. He first worked as an art director at Chicago-based N.W. Ayer & Partners (now Laughlin Constable) for three years, followed by four years at Ogilvy & Mather, Chicago.
"I got wrapped up in advertising, but I was always a huge film and commercial buff and really made it a point to work with the best people I could," said Frey. "With every project I worked on, I thought, ‘That [directing] looks like a great job.’"
In ’88, he moved to Portland to work at W+K. The experience was excellent preparation for directing, said Frey, because he had the opportunity to observe and learn from such top directors as Joe Pytka, Alex Proyas, Mark Romanek, David Fincher, Tony Kaye and Jonathan Glazer.
From ’94 to ’95, Frey was named a co-creative director (along with Stacy Wall, who is set to join bicoastal Hungry Man to work in television program development) of W+K Philadelphia. There, on the ill-fated Subaru account, Frey made his directorial debut in ’95 on "Factory," a documentary-style spot that focused on Subaru assembly line workers.
Originally to be helmed by graphic designer/director, the late Tibor Kalman, the Subaru spot fell into Frey’s hands when the agency felt it needed to generate some footage. Frey recalled, "We got another camera and I shot a lot of material, and they used it all for the commercial."
Frey subsequently got opportunities to direct a spot for Kink radio ("Can’t Play It," which featured singer/songwriter Randy Newman) as well as commercials for ESPN and Nike. "When I was creative director [at W+K], we did 500 commercials in three years," said Frey. "So there was enough stuff floating around where, as an amateur, I could step in and say ‘I’ll do that one,’ and everybody was fine with that."
Now at @radical, Frey said he is leaning towards strong narrative and dialogue projects. He also hopes to continue working in Europe. "I made a lot of contacts there," related Frey, "and I really love the storyboards that come out of Europe-especially the car commercials, which I think have a strong sense of narrative."
