Director Peter Kagan–who’s perhaps best known for his long, successful tenure at Stiefel + Company, which was acquired by bicoastal/international @radical.media in 2002–has launched bicoastal production house Streamline Content. He had most recently been at bicoastal Celsius Films.
Kagan has already wrapped his first project under the Streamline banner, a campaign for the New Jersey Department of Health and Human Services promoting breast cancer awareness. Kagan bills his new venture as being based on a “low-fat production model,” meaning a shop with low overhead. He has tapped into PGM Artists, a New York-based firm headed by Phil McIntyre, for national representation.
Kagan reasoned that a lean operation gives him cost flexibility to offer to clients for traditional and emerging ad forms. He will also be more hands-on involved in his own entrepreneurial shop, leading to more direct creative interaction between himself and agency creatives.
Beginning his career as a still photographer, Kagan broke into live-action directing through work on such fashion accounts as Karl Lagerfeld. Kagan gained prominence through Stiefel+Company where he directed commercials for, among others, Nike, Chevrolet, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, JC Penney, Reebok, MTV, Saturn and Ford.
For the latter, he directed live commercials promoting the Ford Focus automobile for J. Walter Thompson, Detroit. The first flight of ads debuted during the MTV Music Video Awards in ’99 and starred Anabelle Gurwitch, who was then co-host of TBS’ Dinner & A Movie. The centerpiece spot in the campaign had Gurwitch preparing to pick up singer Ricky Martin after a concert. She held up two outfits and asked viewers to go to the Ford Focus Web site (which displayed photos of Gurwitch wearing each getup) and to choose which one she should wear. The spontaneously interactive TV model spurred on Kagan’s interest in new unconventional ad formats and was a catalyst for others to explore new ground.
Kagan’s experience also includes the music video discipline. He has helmed clips for such artists as Steve Winwood and Duran Duran.
