“The culture is not something static so we don’t really spend time trying to maintain it. We spend more time trying to change it,” states Alex Bogusky, partner/executive creative director at Crispin Porter + Bogusky (CP+B), Miami. That constantly evolving agency creative culture has been behind truly innovative marketing solutions for the likes of Burger King, Mini Cooper, Virgin Atlantic Airways, the Miller Brewing Company, and the American Legacy Foundation. (CP+B shares lead status on the latter account with Arnold Worldwide, Boston.)
A lot has changed since SHOOT selected CP+B as its agency of the year in 2003–for one the shop has gotten bigger, having added Burger King, and more recently Sprite; CP+B will welcome its largest account, Volkswagen, later this month. More accounts mean more people, a bigger office, and increased billings–$750 million today vs. $250 million two years ago. What hasn’t changed though, is the creative product. Whether a fully integrated effort like Mini’s “Counterfeit,” which encompassed TV, the Web, print and DVDs or a cinema spot like Gap’s “Dust,” no agency at the moment seems to have such a prescient ability to navigate an ever-changing media landscape.
Toward that end, the agency explores concepts that highlight product attributes, while resonating with popular culture. “In general, we’re trying to create a big idea that’s an original idea that comes directly out of a product and has an element that will hook into pop culture,” explains Andrew Keller, VP/creative director at the agency, who oversees the BK account along with VP/creative director Rob Reilly. Keller also oversaw the agency’s output on Mini, until the shop resigned the account to make way for VW.
For each of its clients, the agency starts with the concept, not the media it will appear in, all in an effort to bring a product and what it offers to the forefront. “We still work from the idea out,” explains Bogusky. “It’s hard for a lot of new people to get used to. Because there are a lot of sacrifices that get made. We will do what we think is right for the larger idea in each medium and sacrifice a ‘creative’ execution in favor of one that supports the whole of the idea.
“We’re pretty big on believing that ideas that seep into pop culture are what does the real work in a market,” he continues, “and that an execution within that idea has much less power to do anything–the commercial doesn’t change behavior no matter how funny. It’s the catalyst that it is delivering that has the power to change behavior.” To get the proper insight into popular culture, the agency works with cultural anthropologists and social scientists.
And while many agencies–and clients–talk about the consumer being in control of the advertising they take in, and using alternative media and new technologies to reach those consumers, few have succeeded as well as CP+B in making that talk a reality. When asked what makes the agency so successful at integrated marketing, Bogusky notes, “I think [it] just goes back to the way the ideas are created. They don’t usually start as broadcast so the integration may be done before we even get started.”
Indeed creatives remain truly media neutral until an idea is solidified. “If the center of the idea is a game,” relates Bogusky as an example, “and we add TV and outdoor, the thing looks–and is–pretty integrated right away. It’s also how we tend to impress each other here in the halls,” he jokes.
THE CULTURE
Bogusky isn’t terribly concerned with whispers about whether or not the shop can keep up its creative reputation as it grows in size. “I’m funny because I don’t think of anything as permanent–even for an instant,” he muses. “So the idea of keeping up with a reputation is very foreign to my way of thinking. There are times when I get exposed to that way of thinking and I begin to buy into it a little bit, and it creates a lot of worry very quickly. But I just remind myself that trying to repeat the past is somebody else’s idea of success and not mine. Then the pressure disappears and I can enjoy myself again.”
And while the agency has been staffing up, the creative department’s structure remains relatively flat, without many layers. The creative structure encourages collaboration. While creative directors oversee specific accounts, those artisans also work on other projects. For instance, Tom Adams, a VP/creative director who oversees the American Legacy Foundation work and Slim Jim, has copy-written several ads for BK. “There are no groups here,” explains Reilly. “We have whoever’s available in the agency to work on different things–there may be five teams on a project, or three teams, or sometime the whole agency is working on a project. … It’s too much of a candy store, to say ‘OK, you’re only working on Burger King, or you’re only working Truth.’ “
Reilly also credits Bogusky and the partners at CP+B for “setting up everybody who works here to win. They’ve made it so we have great clients who want what we’re selling, and then you’re really given the freedom to come up with an idea.”
Despite the agency’s growth, Bogusky, who’s always had a very hands-on role with his creative department, has been able to maintain his input into the process. “So far it seems like both our clients and the folks here want that to continue which is great with me because I really love what I get to spend my time doing. In general, I prefer to be hands on with the work than hands on with a meeting,” states Bogusky. “We’ve got a great process that makes that possible. So, as people grow and take on more responsibility, it hasn’t forced me away from the work. I’ve become more of a collaborator, which is a joy.”
Most of the senior-level creatives at CP+B have been with shop for some time–Bogusky joined the agency in 1989, while Keller and Adams have been there for over seven years, and Reilly has a nearly three-year tenure. What does it take to be a successful creative at the agency? For one, notes Keller, rock stars need not apply. “We’re very clear about what we stand for and what we do,” he explains, “so clients know what they’re getting into, and people who come to work here know what they’re getting into. The playbook is there for everybody to see, so there aren’t any real surprises.”
“We don’t really know,” says Bogusky of what makes a creative fit in the CP+B culture. “But to anybody out there that feels like they couldn’t get a job here because they don’t have the pedigree, you should know that’s BS. We’re mostly made up of people who have been rejected and or thrown out of every decent agency in the land. So we’re always looking for mutts with talent and a willingness to throw down.”
NEW BUSINESS
In the coming year, the shop will test its creative mettle on the VW account, one of the most storied in advertising history, with a rich creative heritage stretching from the 1960s at the venerable Doyle Dane Bernbach, New York, through to some if its most recent work from Arnold Worldwide, Boston. “It is a huge honor and responsibility and we are taking it very seriously,” says Bogusky. “We just want to dig in and find a path for their business and their brand through what have become very challenging times. Their sales are way off, so a lot of what we will be focusing on is getting people into dealerships and making the Web experience world-class again.”
“VW is one of the greatest brands–let alone automotive brands–that have existed,” states Keller. “–It feels like there’s never been anything done that’s not good, and if there was, you just don’t remember it. You think VW has had the most incredible advertising that’s ever been done, and the thing that all the work has in common is that at that moment the advertising found what was absolutely right for the brand and its relationship with culture.”
It’s certainly a relationship that CP+B wants to contribute to in a big way. “It’s all a daunting task,” says Bogusky, “and I think we will probably have to go through a gauntlet of criticism to get there, but in the end I think we will do some great work and turn the business around–and with a little luck create a new way to brand a car company. That industry and the marketing model [behind it] is outmoded and obsolete. [Carmakers] are falling short of customer expectations and to create something as sophisticated as a Nike in automotive will be the end goal.”
CP+B’s other big account win of 2005 was Sprite. The shop was already on the Coca-Cola roster, working on Coke Zero. The agency has already started work on Sprite, though it’s too soon in the process for details. “Sprite is one those brands that’s always been great,” relates Keller, who’s working on the new the Sprite effort, and will likely be working on VW, given his success on Mini. “Its done great stuff within pop culture, and has had a great voice.”
THE WORK
While winning new business, the shop has continued to turn out creative gems for Burger King, Slim Jims, Mini Cooper, and the American Legacy Foundation. For Burger King, the agency unveiled “Fantasy Ranch,” a spot directed by David LaChapelle of bicoastal HSI Productions that featured Darius Rucker, lead singer for Hootie and the Blowfish singing an ode to the Bacon Cheddar Ranch Sandwich from BK. Also for BK, the chain’s Burger King–the plastic-faced mascot in white tights–recently made a couple of more appearances, most recently in “I-Beam” and “Lumberjack” promoting, respectively, BK’s coffee and breakfast sandwiches. (Kinka Usher of House of Usher, Santa Monica, directed both.) This past summer, “Coq Roq” debuted. The effort introduced viewers to a rock band that sings about BK’s Chicken Fries. The package is a multimedia effort–with original songs, merchandise, Web components, as well as spots and a music video. (Paul Hunter of HSI directed the clip and commercials.) For Halloween plastic masks of the King were offered at www.bkmasks.com; they sold out in a matter of days.
For Slim Jim, the agency recently broke “Back Flop,” “Mud King,” “Pipe Pain,” and “Snow Bank,” which feature the “Fairy Snapmother,” a character who encourages youths about to engage in extreme sport–according to Adams, the snapmother is a play on the iconic tagline for the brand, “Snap into a Slim Jim.”
The first work for Miller Lite broke from CP+B broke last month. Called “Great Taste Trial,” the campaign showcases a courtroom trial that seeks to prove that Miller Lite is the best-tasting beer. The effort features eight spots from director Martin Granger of bicoastal/international Moxie Pictures, as well as print executions and online elements.
For the ongoing American Legacy Foundation “Truth” campaign, Granger directed a series of spots featuring tobacco executives in a sitcom setting as they hatch plots to attract more smokers. A new effort from director Chris Smith of bicoastal Smuggler is set to break later this month–Adams says the new work is “going back to the roots a little bit,” of the more guerilla-style ads that have appeared in the past on behalf of “Truth.”
The shop also won its fair share of awards this year, including the Best of Show at the One Show Interactive and the Grand Clio for Internet advertising for the “Subservient Chicken” campaign, a 2004 effort for Burger King, that included, among other elements, a Web site featuring a chicken who does a visitor’s bidding. CP+B scored the Grand Prix in the Cyber Lions competition at the Cannes International Advertising Festival for its Method hand soap campaign called “Come Clean.” The interactive effort for the environmentally conscious household product maker features a Web site (www.comeclean.com) where users can type sentences and words onto a woman’s hands; she then washes the words away with Method hand soap. The Mini Cooper package “Counterfeit,” a cross between a 20/20 investigation and an infomercial, featured spots, a DVD, a Web site (www.counterfeitmini.org), and print ads in publication like Auto Trader. Each element warns consumers to be on the lookout for fake Minis, much in the same way they would avoid knock-off Gucci wallets. The spot in the package won a Gold Lion in the Film competition at Cannes, while the online portion of the campaign picked up an interactive Gold Lion; the overall package scored a Titanium Lion, awarded for integrated work.
BK
When CP+B won the BK account two years ago, the fast food giant had been through four agencies in as many years, and had no discernable identity in the marketplace. CP+B changed all that, with innovative creative that highlighted the product attributes (the agency revived the old tagline “Have It Your Way,” which emphasizes how you can design your own burger), and squarely went after the 18-34 year-old males who frequent the chain. They also introduced the aforementioned king mascot, who though a little creepy looking–after all, he is a guy with a plastic head in white tights and black shoes–appears in seemingly normal situations. “I had a lot of fun crafting the King this year,” relates Bogusky. “He gets a lot of attention, and there are lots of pieces to the formula we’ve created to do that but at the same time we don’t want it to become too formulaic so we’re moving and evolving his character slowly and carefully to keep him fresh.”
In addition to spots, the King has also popped up in a tie-in for Star Wars: Episode III, Revenge of the Sith. An online game featured the King helping Darth Vader play 20 questions with gamers. “King V. Vader,” directed by Moxie’s Granger, captured a staring contest between the two. Reilly relates that BK has a co-branding deal with the film King Kong, and while he won’t confirm that Burger King and the giant gorilla meet up, one could conclude that the match is just too perfect to pass up. A new spot from Usher is due shortly, and viewers can find out if there’s room for both Kings.
Come January, the shop will be breaking another large effort for BK. Though the agency wasn’t at liberty to discuss exactly what the new campaign will encompass, it will harken back to the “brand promise of having it your way,” relates Reilly, who adds that the effort will appear on TV, in cinema and online.
“We want to continue to come up with new and inventive ways [to promote BK],” notes Reilly. “And [we aim to come up with] innovative things, because I think that’s where we are going to be successful as an agency and as a brand. We need to keep consumers engaged.”
So far, consumers seem to be just that. “BK continues to be a pretty big victory for us and for them,” notes senior copywriter Bob Cianfrone, whose face served as the model for the King masks. “Sales are up, they’re happy, and we’re happy, and we’ve done a lot of fun work for them.”
MOVING FORWARD
Bringing in new business means growth, and none of the creatives SHOOT spoke with thought that growth would adversely affect the agency, noting that’s it happened before, and the culture at the shop has only gotten stronger. “The charge for us is to not mistake any of these wins or ‘successes’ as a sign that we have some sort of magic formula that must be maintained,” stresses Bogusky. “Next year will be–and must be–completely different than this year. That’s the nature of life and business.”
Reilly believes the growth of the shop is a positive note, not something that will cause harm to CP+B’s work. “The partners all have the same vision, and Alex, all he cares about is the culture,” states Reilly. “And if he sees something go bad, he’ll do something to stop it. The motivation isn’t money–the motivation is being innovative, and I think if that’s your main goal, you’ll always be able to protect the culture, because it’s not about money, it’s about making brands famous, and making stuff that people haven’t seen before. That’s why I stay.”
In addition to the account wins, CP+B bought a minority stake in Fuseproject, a San Francisco design firm that the agency has worked on projects with in the past for BK and Mini. And, the agency entered into an agreement with FOX Television Studios whereby the studio gets “first look” rights to TV show ideas the shop develops. The deal, announced in May, hasn’t yielded any projects as of yet.
CP+B, which has a media office in Los Angeles, will be opening a small service office in London, reports Bogusky. “We may have another little surprise in store but we have no plans to open offices with the hope of getting separate accounts with that office,” he relates. “We will do what needs to be done to service our clients, but we’re not trying to roll this thing up into some mega agency. We have always made decisions based on having fun and feeling good, and it’s worked pretty well. I like to change things–in fact I may be addicted to it–but changing into some traditional structure of what a big agency should be is pretty low on my list of how to have fun on this planet.”