Welcome to SHOOT‘s inaugural digital edition. In the first feature series of 2005, agency creatives, producers and production company execs sound off on the year just started. Questions asked included: What trends and developments do you anticipate in the advertising landscape in 2005? What do you think the creative climate will be? What changes in advertising do you anticipate–e.g. more account consolidation, more media-neutral approaches? Below are the responses:

 

Corey Bartha

Senior producer, integrated production department

Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Miami

I think the most obvious trend will be the continuing use of alternative media outlets to reach consumers. This year I saw its impact more than ever before. We have finally reached a place where technology, creativity and audience size are where they need to be to come up with some really cool and unique ways of reaching the target. The great thing about the current trend is that it allows producers to break out from the norm of day-to-day production life and the restrictions of :30 TV, and venture into uncharted territory–like a 12 minute free-per-view cage match chicken fight for Burger King created for air on DirecTv.

This year more than ever before we’ll have the opportunity to produce content that could be distributed via TV, Internet, PDA’s, content on demand, etc. Internally, we have been working on ways to better recognize that more and more of our live-action content is overtly resisting the sense of being a traditional “broadcast” project. Hence, we decided on a new department name, the Integrated Production Department.

I think this will also be the year of WiFi. I know WiFi isn’t exactly new but its reach is growing exponentially. You can now find a connection just about anywhere–from Starbucks to your local public park. WiFi development is also changing how production gets done. Being a producer and living in Miami means life is good, but it also means I spend a lot of time traveling. More than a few times I have found myself looking at my latest rough cuts while waiting for a plane, or checking out a graphics revision while I sit in a restaurant. Given the ever-shortening production schedule WiFi helps us get things done more quickly. I don’t think the day is far off when I will be looking at rough cuts on my Palm from anywhere. No doubt streaming media will be coming to a hand-held device near you. This means another new outlet for reaching consumers.

I would say the creative climate is going to be hot in 2005. Advertisers are embracing media-neutral approaches like never before–it’s all about reach. I have been involved in some really creative interactive and Internet projects in the past, but the limited amount of broadband subscribers made it very difficult to reach our audience. Now the audience is huge and getting bigger. Advertisers are seeing results, and that means they are going to be coming back for more. From a creative standpoint this new media becomes a blank canvas in the eyes of great creatives and the work is becoming great.

The outlets for creative expression within the advertising field are greater now than ever. The work I see being created for these outlets within the walls of CP+B alone is some of the best work I have seen. When you strip away many of the constraints that hinder the traditional advertising process, the work is obviously going to get better. I really think this creates value for everyone involved; it makes the process more fun for creatives and producers, and it allows our clients to better reach their audience, and if taken advantage of, offers the consumer more entertaining advertising.

 

Ari Merkin

Executive creative director

Fallon, New York

I can’t predict what socks I’ll be wearing tomorrow, let alone what the marketing landscape looks like in 2005. I think it’s safe to say there will be a whole lot more talk about media agnosticism, product placement, creative content, and stuff like that–I imagine phrases like these will be overused in Power Point slides and new business kits. Personally, I’m still a little confused by it all. So I like to just think about these things in the same terms I always have: fresh ideas that solve business problems. The kinds of ideas make us drop all the scientific handles for a minute and remember why we got into the business in the first place.

As always, the big rewards will come to agencies that stop talking and start doing. The best agencies won’t just pay attention to trends–they’ll create trends. I’m thinking [that in 2005] the great creative shops will regain their confidence and decide to focus on doing great work despite the financial pressure. I can’t say I know what will happen, but here’s what I’d like to see happen. I’d like to see old-fashioned creative briefs go away–far, far away. I’d like to see more traditional media being used non-traditionally. And traditional agencies being used [in] non-traditional [ways]. And I’d also like to see a move in a theater once in awhile instead of on an airplane–that seems pretty unlikely.

[In terms of further agency consolidation] I don’t understand the whole one-network-to-serve-all-your-creative-needs approach. Has anything great ever come from this? My partner, Anne Bologna [president of Fallon, New York], believes there are two types of marketing people: those who understand the business we’re in, and those who don’t. So I guess agencies that understand will continue to compete on the size of their ideas rather than the size of their agency or network.

In 10 years from now, the question for creatives will be what ideas did you invent? What contributions have you made to creativity in marketing? And maybe, just maybe, what’s on your reel?

 

Stephen Orent

Partner/managing director

Hungry Man, bicoastal/international

I think coming from the agency side, this is sort of going to be changing what we’re doing, and how we attack things, because of these virals, and taking a longer format approach [to advertising]. A lot of them don’t have a ton of money, but they’re a really great way to spread the word and I think for the directors to do some of these things is really cool. I think it may take some time [before clients invest in bigger budgets]. I think it will work in the reverse of how BMW films [out of Fallon, Minneapolis] did it, where they came right out of the gate and spent a lot of money. I think now clients are going to spend next to nothing, but if they really see the results, they’ll get more money into them because they’re really kind of cool.

I haven’t been this excited [about advertising] in many years. I think it’s starting to bust out over the past six months, and I think it’s going to continue. I think agencies are taking more chances. Agencies can speak to this better, but I just get the feeling because the boards are getting a little more risqué, that clients are willing to take more chances, and it definitely feels like it’s loosening up, and hopefully [creative is] trending back to pushing it a little bit. It feels that way to me, and it’s really exciting.

In terms of where we are as a production company, I think it’s exciting because not only are the guys we have making strides, but I think some of the young guys, like Brendan Gibbons and Dave Grey, who we just took on, are really cool and interesting, and are already doing really interesting projects. I think the company is in a great place. … I’m excited where the company is at. Like I said, getting involved in some of this longer format viral stuff is really exciting. It kind of gets you more involved in the content world. It’s totally cool [creatively.] I’m really excited about ’05.

 

Kevin Roddy

Executive creative director

Bartle Bogle Hegarty, New York

I think that some of the large, traditionally conservative advertisers have already begun to see the value of a big, powerful creative idea. They have begun to realize that a powerful creative idea can build their brand and move their product in ways they hadn’t thought possible. They’ve begun to investigate these ideas and the agencies that develop them by going to [places like the] Cannes [Lions International Advertising Festival], looking at great work, and meeting with interesting individuals. As such, I think these clients, in bigger numbers, are going to be coming to the kinds of agencies that can give them these ideas. This, I believe, will be a trend where you will see a lot of smaller, more creatively focused agencies getting on the roster of the bigger clients. I think we’ll start seeing bigger ideas coming from brands not previously known for that. We’ll see better and more effective advertising being done in categories and for brands that haven’t been known for great advertising.

I believe creativity will begin to make its comeback in 2005. While it may have been marked absent for a few years, the competitive landscape is going to demand bigger, better and broader ideas. The more creatively focused agencies will benefit from this and likely more and more of them will begin appearing on America’s advertising landscape. They say things go in circles and I believe we’re entering back into a time of great creative growth and innovation.

The trend towards broader creativity will most certainly continue. We will see a few agencies at the front of that movement, and far too many others trying desperately to hold onto to the tail in an attempt not to be left behind. Clients will look to agencies for “creativity” rather than “advertising,” and this will enable the more innovative, big-thinking agencies to take brands further, and get more opportunities they haven’t gotten before. I think we’ll see a lot of “experimentation” from big advertisers giving assignments to smaller agencies and see what big ideas they can come up with.

 

Bill Sandwick

Owner/executive producer

Sandwick Films, New York

We all keep hearing about the business being in a state of flux. To me, the business has been in a state of flux since before the SAG strike. We’re pretty much doing the same thing we did five years ago. There’s just a bit more hand-holding/ass-kissing involved. Turning out a good piece of work requires a good deal of finesse and skill throughout the process. It takes experience to protect a good idea from what can often be too much research.

Life expectancy in our business can be as short as the “what have you done for me lately?” attitude (which) will remain prevalent. This attitude exists between client and agency as well as agency and creative person and director and production company. This is no time to rest. You can find yourself running that antique shop in Maine sooner than you planned.

As for the future, I do have very definitive and innovative plans for competing in the viral world, product placement world, and world of sponsored content.

 

Frank Scherma

President

@radical.media, bicoastal/international.

I think there’s a combination of things that are going on. In everything that I’m reading in all the business magazines, it seems that a lot of brands are increasing their budget next year. Coke is bringing in something like $300 million more, because they wanted to solidify their position. It will be across the board how they spend that money. I see many more agencies coming and sitting down with us and talking about, ‘O.K., we need to do the television campaign, but then we need to do an Internet component that’s tied to that, then we need to do a branded campaign and maybe we need to do a TV show.’ Towards the end of 2004 I saw more of that, and into 2005 I think we’re going to see more of it. …

Currently, we have [about] four different agencies in development on four different television shows for their clients–[none of which can be discussed]. We sign a lot of non-disclosure agreements–that’s a trend these days as well.

Some [of those types of projects] are from clients you wouldn’t normally expect to see that type of stuff from. I think we’ve talking about this for about the last five years–that it was some place advertisers were going to be going. I think all brand managers are talking about this now. I don’t think they know completely what the solution is, but they realize they need to be doing something, and they’re all trying to figure out what that is, and talking to their agencies, and talking to different groups, and trying to figure out what they can do.

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