When it came to selecting the up-and-coming creative teams featured in this story, we sought only the most dynamic copywriter/art director duos. Think Batman and Robin—but replace the capes and tights with more appropriate office attire, and the gadgets with markers and storyboards. Ultimately, three teams were judged heroic enough to make the cut: Peter Kain and Gianfranco Arena of Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH), New York; Steve O’Connell and Ryan O’Rourke of Crispin Porter+Bogusky (CP+B), Miami; and Rachel A.M. Howald and Ahmer Kalam of Young & Rubicam (Y&R), New York. Read on to learn why these partners are the ones to watch at their respective agencies:
Kain and Arena
Copywriter Peter Kain and art director Gianfranco Arena of BBH work together an average of 10 to 12 hours a day. But they get along just fine because, "our mood swings are on different schedules. He’s a pain in the ass in the morning, and I’m a pain in the ass at night," Kain explains. "So it works out."
In fact, it’s been "working out" for five and a half years now. The pair—who studied advertising at Syracuse University, simultaneously, but didn’t know each other—first met when they were teamed up at Hill Holliday, New York.
After spending a year and a half collaborating on ads for clients ranging from Southern Comfort to Sony, they left together for Ammirati Puris (now Lowe), New York, where they created ads for the Iridium cell phone. Next, it was off to Berlin, Cameron & Partners (now Berlin Cameron Red Cell), New York, to work on the Mello Yello account, among others.
Then, just over two years ago, they landed at the New York office of London agency BBH. (Earlier this year, BBH won global ad duties on the Levi’s account; U.S. work will be handled by the ad shop’s New York office.) "We liked the idea of coming to this place when it was starting off," says Kain, "and seeing if we could help build it."
Build it they did. Over the last couple of years, Kain and Arena have done some noteworthy work for BBH, including a series of powerful anti-hunger PSAs for the Ad Council—"Ketchup Soup," "Shared Food" and "Chicken Pox"—that were directed by Joe Pytka of PYTKA, Venice, Calif. One of the ads, "Ketchup Soup," helped garner Pytka a Directors Guild of America nomination for best spot helmer of 2001.
On a lighter note, the team also created commercials for Lipton Sizzle & Stir, in which celebrity "families" get together to enjoy dinner. One of the Lipton spots, "The Ts," features Mr. T and Loni Anderson in the parental roles, with George Hamilton and Mary Lou Retton as their kids. The other ad finds Sally Jessy Raphael and Chuck Woolery playing mom and dad to Pat Morita and Little Richard.
As pop culture junkies, Kain and Arena got a kick out of being on set with the stars. "Chuck Woolery gave us his own ideas for ad campaigns," Kain recalls.
BBH executive creative director Kevin McKeon points out that Kain and Arena are full of winning ideas. "They always come through with great work," he notes. "Always. We’ve been a pretty small shop here in New York—although we recently hired a bunch of people. But when I first came here, it was basically the group creative director, Thomas Hayo, and these two guys. They’ve been pretty much responsible for all of the creative product coming out of here."
So, how do they work? Well, it helps to be out of the office. "We like to go to Central Park or to a movie or to the Virgin record store," Arena reports.
"Or we’ll work at Gian’s house and let his wife contribute ideas, and steal the ones that are good," Kain jokes.
The best thing about this partnership, according to Kain, is that they can be honest with each other: "If I have an idea, and it sucks, then he can just say that, and we’ll have a fight about it, and then we’ll move on. I see other people make compromises because they’re afraid to step on each other’s toes, but we’re past that."
O’Connell and O’Rourke
Copywriter Steve O’Connell and art director Ryan O’Rourke of CP+B studied advertising at Penn State, State College, Penn. They were in the advertising club, and worked on projects together. Little did they know that they were setting the stage for what was to become a professional collaboration.
They weren’t close friends during school, but when O’Connell landed an interview at CP+B about two and a half years ago and was told that they’d be talking to another guy from Penn State—a guy named Ryan O’Rourke—O’Connell talked him up as if they were best buddies. "I was like, ‘Yeah, we work great together. You should totally hire both of us,’ " O’Connell recalls.
When O’Rourke came in for an interview a few days later, he, too, praised his fellow Penn alum, although hardly knowing him. The talk-up-your-buddy technique worked. Both O’Connell and O’Rourke were hired, and a creative team was born. "I showed up the first day of work, and Steve was my partner," relates O’Rourke. "It was odd."
Soon enough, though, the two guys bonded. "We were both in the same place. It was our first job, and we really didn’t know what we were doing in the beginning," O’Rourke continues. "We were just figuring it out together."
O’Connell notes that they were treated like any other team from the start. "We were never really looked upon as a junior team," he notes. "The first week we were here, we were working on TV assignments. It was baptism by fire."
As for how they work, O’Rourke says, "We sit and pound our heads against the wall all night and nothing happens. Other times, things click and we are coming up with stuff fast. But, in general, it’s a lot of late nights."
The creatives are never content with formulating one great idea. "We like to come up with lots of ideas to present," O’Connell explains.
"They tend to bring the same thing to every project," observes Alex Bogusky, chairman/partner/ creative director at CP+B: "A ton of hard work and a breadth of ideas for me to choose from. They don’t waste a lot of time trying to blow out a bad idea; instead they spend a lot of time finding good [ones], and the actual executions and scripts always follow the idea."
There certainly seems to be no shortage of ideas. In a short time, they’ve amassed a reel of offbeat, clever work for such clients as health insurance company AvMed and the American Legacy Foundation’s Truth anti-smoking campaign.
Directed by Noam Murro of Biscuit Filmworks, Los Angeles, a spot for Truth called "Swahili" finds a bunch of cowboys sitting in what appears to be a language class. We learn that they’re actually "Marlboro Men" learning how to pitch cigarettes in Swahili and other languages. O’Connell and O’Rourke also worked on four animated "Truth" spots: "Route," "Concert," "Fit" and "Present."
Three spots for AvMed—"Observatory," "Travel Agency" and "Bakery—center on people with unusual requests. In "Bakery," for example, a 30-year-old woman strolls into a bakery and orders a cake for her 100th birthday. The point: Because she is a member of AvMed, a preventive health-care plan, she is convinced she’ll still be healthy and alive 70 years from now.
"A lot of our stuff is a little weird and bizarre," O’Rourke acknowledges.
"The account executives seem to think we’re insane," says O’Connell. "Every time they see our work, they’re like, ‘You guys are wacky.’ "
Howald and Kalam
Rachel A.M. Howald and Ahmer Kalam—VP/copywriter and VP/art director, respectively, at Y&R, New York—have worked together for four years now, and they’ve never had an argument. Alright, they did have that one.
"The only time that we had an argument, we were with our producer. Afterward we apologized to her for arguing in front of her, and she was like, ‘That was an argument?’ " Howald recalls. "We respect each other’s opinions, and we’re both very mellow."
This mellow twosome has created some outstanding work. Over the last year and a half, they have spent much of their time crafting a notable campaign for Computer Associates, a developer and marketer of integrated computer software products.
That campaign includes the memorable "Wake Up" spot. Directed by Phil Joanou of bicoastal Villains, the commercial finds New York City being overtaken by thousands of roosters. Ultimately converging on Wall Street, and belting out a boisterous "cock-a-doodle-doo," the roosters awaken the world to the power of Computer Associates’ software for managing e-business. Some of the pair’s more recent Computer Associates spots include "Amnesia" and "Stapler," which were directed by LeMoine/Miller—Rick and Steve, respectively—of bicoastal/international @radical. media.
"I think the Computer Associates spots are great because they simplify technology, and they do it in a very human way," comments Y&R managing partner/executive creative director Ann Hayden. Of Howald and Kalam’s work in general, she adds, "They know how to discard what’s not important. They never get pretentious. They never get overblown. They’re always in touch with what’s going on in the world. They are always able to hit the right chord intellectually and emotionally."
When it comes to formulating ideas for spots, "We work separately initially, and then we come together and see what rises to the top," Kalam explains.
Over the years, Howald and Kalam have used their talents to formulate spots for clients including United Airlines, the Bronx Zoo and Pepperidge Farm. Right now, they’re working on more ads for Computer Associates.
A native of North Carolina, Howald joined Y&R in 1995, after earning a B.A. in English from Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio, and an M.A. in advertising from University of Texas at Austin, and following stints at New York’s BBDO (that job lasted two weeks) and DDB. Born in Pakistan and raised in Hong Kong, Kalam joined Y&R in ’96, after earning a B.A. in finance from Lewis & Clark College, Portland, Ore., and studying advertising at Portfolio Center, Atlanta.
Howald and Kalam worked at the agency a couple of years with various partners, until "our eyes met across a crowded room," jokes Kalam.
Okay, really they were left without partners at the same time, and management decided to pair them up. "We clicked from the beginning," says Howald. "We’re just your run-of-the-mill Pakistani Muslim man and lesbian mom working together."
Sounds like a great premise for a film. Actually, given their winning collaboration in the ad world, is it possible that this dynamic duo might seek success in Hollywood? "I try to get Ahmer to babysit," Howald says.
"I’m very unwilling," Kalam interjects.
"But that’s as far as we go toward outside projects," Howald continues. "We have no big dreams to secretly direct."
