By Robert Goldrich
CULVER CITY, Calif.—Joe Public—the directing team of Adam Cameron and Simon Cole—is leaving bicoastal Headquarters to join HSI Productions for exclusive spot representation in the United States. The directorial duo will also be repped internationally via the relationship bicoastal HSI maintains with London-based Exposure Films.
At press time, Joe Public was honoring its project commitments at Headquarters, including a MasterCard job for McCann-Erickson, New York. Once those assignments are wrapped, Cameron and Cole will formally end their longstanding tenure at Headquarters, during which they gained industry prominence, underscored by being nominated twice for the coveted Directors Guild of America (DGA) Award for best commercial director of the year. (They earned the nominations based on their body of work in 1999 and ’01.)
Joe Public now helps to diversify HSI into comedy in a major way. The shop’s reputation encompasses varied ad genres; the notable exception over the years has arguably been humor. HSI president/founder Stavros Merjos noted that his company has recently gone underground to address its comedy need, with several up-and-coming young helmers in the pipeline, including the London-based team of Jake & Jim, who are starting to make inroads stateside. Additionally, HSI continues to handle established comedy director Dave Merhar, whose credits include the lauded Anheuser-Busch "Bud Institute" campaign fare out of Downtown Partners DDB, Toronto.
But the addition of Joe Public represents the highest profile statement yet by HSI that it is serious about comedy. "In a lot of ways, this is our most significant signing to date," assessed Merjos, acknowledging that the company is most closely associated with visually driven work and large scale production jobs. "The competition has traditionally been saying to comedy and dialogue guys, ‘Why go to HSI, they’re known more for visualist guys.’ But that’s also a good reason for comedy/dialogue directors to come here, to get a lot of attention," related Merjos. "Joe Public has the comedic touch, works great with talent and offers tremendous casting and visual sensibilities. They help to fill a void here and are starting what will be a mutually beneficial relationship for them and HSI. They open up a whole new market for the company."
Cameron and Cole, who were unavailable for comment as SHOOT went to press, have a comedic range spanning the absurd, silly, surreal and charmingly offbeat. The duo’s brand of people-based humor and storytelling, sometimes on the dark side, is reflected in assorted jobs, perhaps most notably in the work that landed them the DGA nominations.
Earning them the DGA best director of ’99 nomination were: adidas’ "El Duque Dance" for Leagas Delaney, San Francisco; Cracker Jack’s "Sizes" and Dreyer’s Ice Cream’s "Truck Driver," both out of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco; "Fire 2" for Church’s Chicken via Cliff Freeman and Partners, New York; and Snapple’s "Sponsor" for Deutsch, New York. The latter, for example, is a parody of public service ads, in which a sincere host outlines Snapple’s efforts to "keep good fruit from going bad," as child-sized raspberries, strawberries and peaches are shown cavorting at a Snapple-sponsored fruit camp.
Joe Public’s next DGA nomination came on the strength of its work in ’01, specifically its "Subtitles" for Toyota out of Saatchi & Saatchi LA, Torrance, Calif.; Visa’s "Baby Talk" and Cingular Wireless’ "Touchdown Dance School" for BBDO New York; and 7-Up’s "Calendar," "Captive Audience" and "Singers" via Young & Rubicam, New York.
BRIT MARK
Cameron and Cole made their first directorial mark in London. They initially teamed up to helm a spec PSA, which helped them garner a series of spots for British Rail in ’93. That in turn landed them their first European spot representation with Stark Films, London. They then caught the attention of Headquarters, which introduced Joe Public to the stateside market. Several years ago, Cameron and Cole moved to the U.S. They most recently had European representation via the London and Paris offices of Partizan.
The commercial that helped put Joe Public on the American ad map was the aforementioned "Sizes" for Cracker Jack. The client saw that ad and put it on the Super Bowl in place of another spot; the widespread exposure and resulting industry buzz brought Joe Public to top-of-mind status among leading agency creatives. Over the years, Cameron and Cole have teamed on spots for such clients as adidas, Dr Pepper, BMW, AFLAC, Sprint, Target, Anheuser-Busch, and most recently Mini Cooper and MasterCard.
"We had a terrific run together," said Headquarters’ president Tom Mooney of his relationship with Joe Public. "I wish them the best." Acknowledging that the duo’s departure represents a hit on Headquarters’ billings, Mooney reported that he has some director signings in the offing and that the rest of his roster remains intact, with David Cornell, Eric King, Steve Reeves, Agust Baldursson, Lloyd Stein, Laurence Thrush and Maggie Zackheim.
Mooney noted that the anticipated dip in billings necessitated that he cut overhead by eliminating a staff position, which turned out to be that held by Cyn Guzman, head of production. Managing director Shelly Townsend then opted to leave since she and Guzman are a team. Executive producer Scott Flor remains on board and will oversee production at Headquarters.
Townsend and Guzman joined Headquarters in October ’02, continuing a professional relationship that saw them work together at bicoastal Anonymous Content and, prior to that, at now defunct Propaganda Films. Townsend said that she departed Headquarters on "good terms. There’s no ill will involved," she added. "Tom [Mooney] and David [Cornell] are consummate professionals and I enjoyed my time with them."
Townsend has an extensive spotmaking pedigree, which includes her having served as head of production at bicoastal RSA USA, and as an executive producer at both Propaganda and Anonymous.
Steve McQueen Shows Wartime London Through A Child’s Eyes In “Blitz”
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