Copywriters and other creatives at DDB Needham Chicago no doubt will appreciate the wealth of experience Greg Lane brings to his new position as the agencys executive producer on the $600-million McDonalds account.
Lane comes to the job from Berry Brown Advertising, Dallas, where he filled a unique niche as both creative director and executive producer. Lane says his work on the creative side gives him a depth of experience that few producers can call on when theyre handed the storyboards for a new campaign.
It opened my eyes to the creative process, says Lane, who only began working in earnest on the McDonalds account in mid-January. Its really important to understand the process the creatives have been through.
Lane started out in the mailroom at now defunct Faulkner & Associates in Little Rock, Ark., in 1983. This new position, he admits, is a big step up for him. Its one of those deals you cant say no to, Lane says, recalling the moment in December when Needhams executive VP/executive production director Grant Hill made him an offer to take over the McDonalds business.
Grants got an incredible reputation in the business, Lane adds. I was really excited at the possibility this could come together.
The route toward the top has taken Lane across the Plains, from his home in Arkansas through the Lone Star State and on to Chicago. He spent his freshman year at Westminster College in Fulton, Mo., but quickly realized he wasnt going to be an accountant, physician or attorney. So he left to study advertising in the journalism program at the University of Arkansas Fayetteville campus, finishing with a B.A. in 1983.
Six months after starting at Faulkner, Lane got the break every struggling novitiate looks for. His boss introduced him to Stan Richards, owner of The Richards Group, Dallas, who offered him a position as an account executive trainee.
Lane accepted and quickly made a name for himself. An irrepressible practical joker, Lane created a fictional characteraa bowler named Lefty Bumpersaout of whole cloth one day while placing ads for a Texas hotel in D magazine. He was forced to fess up when the magazines editor approached him with plans to write a feature on the left-handed bowling hero.
News of his antics soon reached Richards, who summoned Lane to his office. Lane feared Richards planned to show him the door. But Richards instead offered to train Lane as a producer.
In 1990, Lane went to GSD&M in Austin, Texas, as a producer, where he eventually took over as executive producer. Then one evening as he was grilling in his backyard, he got a call from David Fowler, chief creative officer at DDB Needham Dallas. Fowler wanted to know if Lane would take over as Needhams director of broadcast production, an assignment he eagerly accepted.
When Fowler left the agency in 1994, Lane departed as well. After freelancing as a producer, he was approached in 1995 by Berry Brown president Jim Hradecky, who wanted Lane to build his production department.
A year into his stint at Berry Brown, where he worked on spots such as Lost Calf for Wolfs Chili and Base Jumper for the American Red Cross, Hradecky asked Laneawho had gotten involved in writing some spotsaif he wanted to take over as creative director, in addition to his duties as executive producer of the $40-50 million operation.
It was very manageable, though it was hairy at times, Lane says. It was a great opportunity.
The road was thus paved for the biggest jump in Lanes career to datealast Decembers invitation from Hill to rejoin DDB Needham as the executive producer of the McDonalds account, which the agency largely took over from Leo Burnett Co., Chicago, about 18 months ago.
Lanes transition has been eased by the caretaker stewardship of production manager Fran Liautaud, whom Lane credits with doing a tremendous job keeping the large and complicated operation afloat while Hill looked for an executive producer.
Since the executive producers job on the account is an entirely new position, the scope of Lanes duties are yet to be fully defined.
AIts yours to design, yours to assign, Lane recounts of the mandate he received from Hill. I hope in six months well be much further down the road.
For the moment, Lane has his hands full getting up to speed on the various jobs currently in different stages of the pipelineafrom creative to production to post. Its literally been non-stop since I got here, Lane says. Finding out whats sold, what hasnt, where there are weather problems. I encourage producers to think very creatively in solving problems.
Lane says clear communication is the key ingredient in his formula for keeping everyone on the same page in a large shop like Needhams 800-member, $1.2 billion Chicago office. My mantra is communication, preferably one-on-one, keeping people in touch with one another. Keep the message clear and true. The main thing is communication between creative, account service and production.
Without divulging details, Lane says the agency is in the middle of crafting a sizeable image campaign that will unfold during the course of 1999. Were in the process of creative development and production, he says.q
