In the throes of a challenged economy and contraction in the global marketplace, there are nonetheless expansive efforts being made in various pockets stateside and internationally–company and project launches, investments in new talent, and professional transitions with artisans embarking on new chapters in their careers.
Such beginnings are strikingly evident in the Midwest as new ventures have emerged and other prospective endeavors are hot topics of discussion. On the latter front, talk of ambitious plans for stage facilities are front and center in Michigan, though it remains to be seen exactly when or which of these facilities–any or all–will fully come to fruition.
In the works is a major soundstage production facility, operating under the Raleigh Michigan Studios banner, which entails a partnership among Nelson Ventures, The Taubman Group, and William Morris Endeavor’s Ari Emanual. Back in May, a deal was closed on a 22-acre site in General Motor’s Centerpoint complex. Plans call for taking what was once a workplace for 3,000 GM employees and turning it into a major complex with some 10 soundstages. But also integral to the plan is the facility supporting and hosting educational programs to train 3,500 Michigan residents and bring them into the film industry workforce. Down the road this figure of 3,500 will increase to 15,000 if all goes according to plan.
Meanwhile billed as being on the horizon is Unity Studios, a 104-acre studio complex in Allen Park, which is situated in the Detroit area. The development is slated to include soundstages and support resources. The complex is also slated to host the Lifton Institute for Media Skills which is prepping for an inaugural class of 250 students who will be trained for film industry employment.
Also in the mix is a soundstage facility in Traverse City, Mich. Key movers in this project are Michigan developer Ron Walters, and David Kenneth who is president and executive producer of Innovate Entertainment and I.E. Effects, both based in Southern California. Education is also a vital part of this venture as plans call for instituting a certification program at the studio to train state residents so they can fill different film industry-related capacities.
Spurring on these prospective soundstage developments is Michigan’s film incentives program currently offering qualifying feature and television projects a 40 percent-plus rebate on production-related spending in the state. At press time, the future of the incentives package was in the state legislature so it’s not yet known what form the program will take. Presently the program does not apply to commercials.
Emerge Having firmly emerged in the Midwest is Emerge, a division of Grace & Wild Inc. in Farmington Hills, Mich. Under the aegis of interactive veteran Jim Shanley, Emerge, which opened in January, offers creative and marketing solutions for use and distribution across all channels, including the traditional (TV, radio) as well as the Internet, mobile, rich media, and point of purchase.
Earlier in his career, Shanley was part owner of Rootlevel, a Detroit area shop that specialized in high-end Internet applications. Five years ago he came aboard Grace & Wild to complement its broadcast-driven offerings with resources for communication on the web and other varied emerging channels. This initially entailed developing content for car dealerships, and then the endeavors extended well beyond retail.
“At one time broadcast was the sole focus of a campaign and if anything outside broadcast spun off of it, that would be a great opportunity to experiment in new channels,” related Shanley who is executive director of business development for Grace & Wild, and executive director of Emerge. “But now we’re increasingly seeing the reverse dynamic–a highly interactive campaign can spawn and call for us to repurpose elements for retail television. New media feeds conventional media and vice versa.”
Emerge was born to help realize through customized content the potential in these multiple channels. Often this has Emerge working with ad agencies, serving as an arm to fulfill needs across different platforms.
For example, Emerge enjoys a close-knit working relationship with Wenham, Mass.-based agency Mullen on GM Certified. “Mullen is constantly trying to find new ways to help GM advertise better,” said Shanley.
In that vein, Emerge has developed the GM Certified Toolbox which takes the traditional running footage proposition to new heights. Agencies developing campaigns through running footage shot by production companies has been a longstanding norm. But Emerge –with its in-house talent and access to Grace & Wild artisans and resources–has added to the options, creating CGI components of vehicles so that regional dealers can show GM cars and trucks being put through the paces in local and neighborhood environments, thus personalizing and customizing content for the local/regional marketplace. This toolbox of component-based assets can be applied to TV, print, the web, customized banners, in-dealership content, mobile and other video venues (i.e, an interactive piece for a kiosk). Emerge developed and now hosts and maintains www.gmquickspot.com as well, which provides GM dealers access to these assorted components for Local Marketing Association and In Market Retail advertising support.
Also for Mullen and this time client Virgin Money, Emerge created CGI component animations as well as Flash programming for the interactive experience “The Virgin Money Bill of Rights,” the centerpiece of which were six CGI-driven mini-Flash games.
On a separate front, Emerge developed a series of videos for Borders Media and its in-house agency. The videos were lit, shot, directed, edited and encoded for a web/mobile experience. Similar videos were created for other channels of BordersMedia.com, including the Borders Book Club. Emerge tapped into Grace & Wild’s production/editorial resources for this non-broadcast campaign.
Emerge also developed promotional video content for the web/social media-based “Making the Cut with American Idol’s Matt Giraud,” a web reality contest for singers and vocalists created by YOBI.tv. For client YOBI, Emerge provided production, post, audio, graphics and web encode/optimization related services. YOBI is currently in the round one submission phase of this contest initiative.
“The multi-channel mode is more primary than ever before,” affirmed Shanley. “And elements like having the encoding right and optimizing CG content properly have become important in this arena. We started Emerge to help agencies and clients with all these new possibilities.”
Career transition
On Oct. 5, Susan Credle will become chief creative officer of Leo Burnett USA, Chicago. She formerly served as executive VP/executive creative director at BBDO New York.
Credle will have oversight of both Leo Burnett and Arc USA. It’s an exciting new career transition for an already accomplished agency creative, marking another new beginning in the Midwest.
For over a decade, Credle has been leading BBDO’s creative development on M&M/Mars and Cingular/AT&T, among other brands. Under her direction, these brands have won numerous awards (including honors at Cannes, One Show, Andy’s and Clios) and meshed themselves into pop culture.
For instance, Credle’s contributions to BBDO New York were noteworthy when that shop was named SHOOT’s Agency of the Year in 2007. In many respects, her exploits in ’07 reflected the wide ranging creative at BBDO. For example, Credle made what she characterized as her first significant high-profile move into “new media” with Mars/M&M’s “Inner M” campaign in which TV spots showing what people would look like when turned into M&M characters helped drive traffic to BecomeanM&M.com.
Visitors got in touch with their “Inner M,” building their own avatar M&M character. The campaign brought a new dimension to branding. While it’s great to bring consumers to a brand, the “Inner M” initiative had them become the brand.
Also on the ’07 awards show front, Credle scored with AT&T/Cingular’s “Battle,” which was not only nominated for a primetime commercial Emmy but also won a Gold Effie Award and an AICP Show honor in the Performance/Dialogue category. The commercial shows a mother and teenage daughter “arguing”–at least that’s their tone–but the incongruity is that they are conveying positive messages to each other, as the parent entrusts her teen with a cell phone.
Particularly appealing about “Battle” to Credle was that it respected the audience’s intelligence. “The human brain is a problem-solving mechanism. This spot requires you to work a little bit,” she observed back in ’07. “If you lay something out that requires no activity for the brain, you might be missing more of a connection that you can make with the consumer.”
In the spirit of new beginnings and career chapters, SHOOT presents a mini-gallery of just several of the many Midwest artisans who represent something fresh through their work and other endeavors. In the mix are some folks who aren’t yet household names but show the promise to be, as well as established artisans who have kept a low profile yet managed to make an indelible mark on the community:
Barry Kimm
An established documentary filmmaker, director Barry Kimm is starting to see momentum build for his commercialmaking career.
Kimm–who directs through ONE, the production arm of Optimus, Chicago–has benefited from a growing ad community penchant for reality, be it true performances from real people or actors, and/or work with a feel of authenticity that taps into his documentary sensibilities.
“There’s a heightened interest in people being themselves as opposed to pretending to be themselves,” observed Kimm. “And that has translated into my documentary experience attracting more interest from agencies.”
Kimm made his first documentary mark while he was a student at the University of Iowa. He directed a short documentary, Measuring Oxford, for which he enlisted everyday people in Oxford, Iowa, to help him, armed with a tape measure, figure out the town’s size and dimensions.
The quirky documentary gained national TV airtime and actually made some money, prompting Kimm to make filmmaking his career. He embarked on a documentary about his family titled Meteor, centering on the cleaning out over two summers of the farmhouse he grew up in and a decision as to the future of the farm. Meteor gained exposure on PBS and garnered positive reviews.
After turning the camera on his family, Kimm decided to diversify into commercialmaking via Twist Films, Minneapolis, where he began to shape his ad industry identity, helming projects for Virgin Wireless and Finnegan’s via Fallon, Minneapolis, and H&R Block and Toro for Campbell Mithun, Minneapolis.
Some three years ago, he shifted his focus back to documentaries, having gotten the opportunity to direct Mars 3D, an Imax project billed as being the first 3D HD film.
This was followed by 3D Sun, which Kimm worked on in collaboration with NASA and the Smithsonian Institute. Both 3D films played the museum/special venue circuit.
In January of ’09, Kimm renewed his commitment to commercials, signing with ONE, noting that the ability to access Optimus’ resources and offer clients a complete production through post has proven advantageous. “It’s like having a track team handle the same baton as opposed to passing it off to outsiders,” he observed. “It’s enabled us to be highly responsive to clients and agencies, and to increase efficiencies across the board.”
Among Kimm’s latest jobs are Blue Cross/Blue Shield for Ogilvy & Mather, Chicago, a real people/kids campaign for Giant Eagle grocery stores out of Y&R, Chicago, and a University of Minnesota package of spots for Minneapolis agency Olson. At press time, Kimm was about to embark on a job for the Nike Bauer division of Nike, also via Olson.
Kimm has also had some recent long-form activity, having wrapped a 10 minute documentary as well as a music video for Mason Jennings’ new record “Blood of Man” from Brushfire Records, which is performer Jack Johnson’s label with Universal.
Ben Chappell Another rising director, Ben Chappell has teamed with Aaron Brown to form a helming duo at Foundation Content, Chicago. Chappell has been with Foundation for three-and-a-half years, starting out as an assistant editor. A year later when Foundation diversified via the launch of a production operation, he became in-house DP, shooting a variety of projects.
Meanwhile he was collaborating on the side with Brown. The two have worked together, dating back to when they met at DePaul University, Chicago–Brown was a philosophy major, Chappell studied cinema.
Last December, with backing from Foundation, Chappell and Brown co-directed a music video, “Hell Hole Rat Race,” for San Francisco band The Girls. The directors next wrapped a clip for singer/songwriter Cass McCombs. Both videos gained popularity on music video sites and blogs, translating into a positive buzz for the directorial duo.
Next The Girls signed with a label, meaning a bigger budget for their clip “Lust For Life” shot in San Francisco in July.
At press time, Chappell and Brown had finished a video for Los Campesinos!, which became popular among college audiences. Now there are four more videos in the pipeline for other artists, with Brown recently formally coming aboard the Foundation roster. One of the forthcoming videos is for a band on the Universal label, another for an act with Matador Records, N.Y.
In addition, prospective commercialmaking jobs are starting to surface for Brown and Chappell. They plan on continuing to direct as a team because of their rapport, but are also open to individually taking on select projects.
“We very much want to broaden our range and get into commercials,” affirmed Chappell. “It’s a challenging creative discipline.”
Matthew Wood Matthew Wood of The Whitehouse, Chicago, is an accomplished editor with many notable credits over the years. Yet what’s new and fresh about him is the nature of the work he’s taken on, perhaps reflected best in two Bud Light spots for DDB Chicago: “Swear Jar,” which won the primetime commercial Emmy Award last year; and “Magazine Buyer,” which earned a nomination for the ’09 Emmy.
What makes both projects different from the norm is that they both received Emmy recognition yet never aired on television. “Swear Jar” debuted on the online Bud.tv entertainment web channel, which has since shuttered, while “Magazine Buyer” premiered on a special post-2009 Super Bowl Anheuser-Busch website and then took on a thriving viral life of its own.
“My most interesting recollection about ‘Swear Jar’ was the back and forth as to how short we would make the bleep for each swear word,” said Wood, who related that director David Shane, who was with Hungry Man at the time and is now at O Positive, wanted to have just a bit more of the swear words heard.
The spot centers on an office in which employees agree to put money into ‘a swear jar” each time they utter an expletive. When the jar is full, the proceeds will be used to buy Bud Light for the workers–which proves to be a compelling incentive for cussing.
“There was a delicate balance with the bleep. By hearing a bit more of the word, you are getting more risque,” related Wood. “At the same time we found that we had to be careful–that if you didn’t bleep enough of the word, then the spot isn’t quite as funny. David understood that balance.”
Wood said there’s a parallel in this regard to “Magazine Buyer,” directed by Erich Joiner from Tool of North America. “It’s funnier to see the sex toys [in ‘Magazine Buyer’] blurred, not fully visible. The bleep in ‘Swear Jar’ is like the blur in ‘Magazine Buyer.'”
In “Magazine Buyer” a man decides to complement his purchase of a Bud Light six pack with porn magazines, leading to varied forms of embarrassment for the gent inside the convenience store. For example, the magazines come with bonus sex toys, like a vibrator and other off-color accoutrements for other customers to see. A would-be robber then bursts into the store and holds the “porn guy,” among others, hostage, leading to coverage on the local TV news.
“I learned the art of cutting the :60 and :30. It’s a wonderful discipline,” related Wood. “But at the same time, it’s a bit liberating to have less of a time constraint to tell a story–and you get that freedom with this kind of Internet work for Bud Light. The problem is that some people revel in their freedom and then it can come back to bite you. You can’t always make the piece as long as you want. There’s still a short attention span on the Internet so you have to capture viewers in those first five or ten seconds or they’re off to something else on the web. You shouldn’t get caught up in the notion that the story can be any length. The story dictates the length and while you have the freedom to go beyond the traditional :30 or :60, you can’t abuse the privilege.”
Wood has had two tenures at The Whitehouse, the first in London, and later returning in 2000, working out of the edit house’s Santa Monica office. In ’05 he moved to Chicago. “I love the market, the strength of the creative at the agencies here,” assessed Wood, who is a partner in The Whitehouse.
Wood is well known for his prowess in cutting comedy as the Bud Light fare–and this year’s Cannes Bronze Lion-winning Tampax viral piece “Zack Johnson” out of Leo Burnett–will attest. Wood’s penchant for humor continues as he just wrapped a humorous Illinois Lottery spot directed by Harold Einstein of Station Film. The editor also likes the chance to diversify and extend his creative reach, a prime example being one of his latest assignments, a serious-minded PSA for Bring Change To Mind, an organization looking to raise awareness of those one in six adults who are dealing with varied forms of mental difficulties. The PSA, which features actress Glenn Close, was directed by Oscar-winning feature filmmaker Ron Howard through @radical.media.
Tyler Jay Tyler Jay is embarking on a new chapter in his career, joining Dictionary Films as executive producer in its Chicago office, where he will team with exec producer Megan Maples. (Dictionary also has a shop in L.A.)
Jay comes over from the Chicago Olympic 2016 Bid Committee where he was the executive producer of content overseeing the creative, execution and completion of 22 bid films. He continues to contribute towards the Chicago Olympic efforts, maintaining his seat on the committee.
Jay took on his second tour of Chicago Olympics duty in January, just as he started freelancing after having served as a senior producer at Draftfcb, Chicago. This time around–with Chicago being the lone North American city vying with international centers to host the 2016 Summer Games–he collaborated with multiple Chicago agencies such as Leo Burnett, Ogilvy, Element 79 and Downtown Partners, and with notable directors from the Midwest and beyond, including Dennis Manarchy of Manarchy Film, Chicago, Michael Neumann from Chicago’s One World Productions, Steve James of bicoastal Nonfiction Unlimited, Brett Morgen from bicoastal/international Anonymous Content, and Janusz Kaminski who directs via Santa Monica-based Independent Media.
“We used all Chicago crew and getting the work done sprang from Chicago agencies, production companies and post houses all coming together like one big community,” said Jay, whose first go-around with the Olympic bid came back in early ’07 when he was a producer at Leo Burnett, Chicago. At that time, Chicago was making its play to be the North American candidate for the ’16 Olympics and Jay’s colleagues at Burnett brought him into the fray. Helping the Windy City win that competition (with Los Angeles being the other prime U.S. contender) was a series of films Jay worked on, teaming with a variety of creatives and directors.
A centerpiece project in that mix was a documentary called Nine Stories, which introduced us to nine Chicago-based athletes with dreams of competing in the Olympics. Lauded documentary filmmaker Steve James of Hoop Dreams fame directed the piece which told the stories of these aspiring athletes, including a boxer, a gymnast, a soccer player and a rower.
In retrospect, Jay related that the overall Chicago Olympic bid experience whetted his appetite to return to the production house side of the business after establishing himself as an agency artisan at Burnett and Draftfcb in Chicago. Earlier in his career, he freelanced at top drawer production houses in Los Angeles, directing and producing projects.
“The Chicago Olympic initiative brought me back directly into production where you have to react, be proactive and make sure you can deliver,” said Jay. “That experience now enables me to bring to Dictionary Films a deeper resourcefulness, the ability to change on a dime, to look at things from different angles. Through the Chicago Olympics experience, I also gained the chance to be very much involved in nontraditional format work, both short and long form, and to get to know more deeply the creative and production culture in Chicago, all of which should help me at Dictionary.”
As for what drew him to Dictionary, Jay cited his respect for its owner, Midwest mainstay Tim McGuire of Cutters, Chicago. (Dictionary is a separate, autonomous company from edit/post shop Cutters.) Also key in Jay’s decision to come aboard Dictionary was its directorial roster, a mix of talent based in Chicago, Los Angeles and globally that he feels is well positioned to attract business ranging from traditional spots to new forms, both short and long, spanning different platforms.
Karen Sauder While Susan Credle is a high-profile addition to the Midwest agency scene, an ongoing stalwart in the community is Karen Sauder who’s operated under the radar–that is, until recently when she was named the ’09 Advertising Woman of the Year by the Chicago Advertising Federation (CAF). As managing director of Draftfcb, Chicago, Sauder is a key member of the management team for an agency that has grown into prominence since it was formed via the merger of Draft and Foote, Cone & Belding in 2006.
Sauder began her career in 1990 in the marketing creative services department at Anheuser-Busch. She then worked as a regional manager for Frito-Lay before joining ad/promotions agency Zipatoni in ’93. There she rose through the ranks from account director to partner to president.
“When Karen joined Draftfcb as managing director in 2007, she took charge of a huge, diverse office. She’s one of the strongest voices on our senior management team and looked to by our entire agency–especially women–as a strong and inspirational, yet humble leader,” said Mark Modesto, president of Draftfcb Chicago. “She’s a mentor to many within the agency and the greater community, and she’s played a significant role in the process that got us where we are today.”
At Draftfcb, Sauder has used her expertise in multiple disciplines to combine the heritage of two different Chicago ad agencies into one integrated organization that is enjoying growth and great momentum–not to mention repeated recognition as one of the best places to work in the city and state. Draftfcb Chicago was recently named the “Best Large Company To Work For In Illinois” by The Illinois State Chamber of Commerce, the Illinois Chapter of the Society of Human Resource Managers, and The Business Ledger.
“Karen personifies the many contributions women have made to the Chicago and global ad communities. She’s a woman with vision and business acumen that has brought new flair and valuable benefits to her agency and the advertising industry,” said Anne O’Malley, president of the CAF.
Speaking at a CAF luncheon in her honor at the Westin Chicago River North Hotel last month, Sauder said, “This is an ad community that can look itself in the mirror each night and know it is a spirited, vibrant leader…a group of smart, hardworking creative marketers who have a tremendous legacy and an even brighter future.
“I see blue-chip, multinational clients clamoring for the smarts and creativity that this very ad community has and can bring to solve their ever-more-complex business issues,” Sauder continued.
She called attention to the world-renowned agency brands that were created here decades ago, as well as the new, upstart agencies now making their mark in today’s specialized digital disciplines such as SEO, SEM, and multiple forms of social media.
“It’s no accident,” she said, “that this is the city called home by those smart marketers behind the political campaign that put the first multi-racial president in the White House.”
