AT&T Wireless’s mLife campaign has in essence been Lynn Roer’s life for the past few months. Roer, senior partner/co-director of broadcast production at Oglivy & Mather (O&M), New York, has been overseeing production on the mLife commercials, which launched the new tagline for AT&T Wireless. The concept for mLife is that people can live a mobile life by using AT&T Wireless products.
"It was a huge launch, and it had to get done quickly," relates Roer. "I have to tell you, if it hadn’t been for [executive producer] Melanie Baublis, [senior producer] Cheryl Gackstetter and [assistant producer] Melissa Mapes, who were my immediate team on the launch, I don’t know how we would have gotten it done."
A teaser campaign—directed by Lenard Dorfman of bicoastal/international @radical.media—began airing about two weeks before this year’s Super Bowl. The payoff spots, titled "Belly Button" and "Why"—both helmed by Laurence Dunmore of bicoastal RSA USA—broke during the big game. Another ad, "Friendly Rivalry"—also directed by Dorfman—first aired during the 2002 Winter Olympics.
The teaser spots—"Business Woman," "Lounge," "Sal," "China Town," "Farmer," "Walter," "Brothers," "Accountants" and "Brits"— show people talking about mLife—without defining what it is—in humorous situations. For example, in "Brothers," two little boys are sitting in a backyard, and one tells the other that his mother won’t get him mLife, but she did get him a frog. In "Accountants" three accountants try to impress their client by pretending to know what mLife is.
"Belly Button," the first of the payoff spots, shows beautiful images of people’s stomachs—paying careful attention to their navels. The ad starts off with an older woman’s belly, and each successive person gets younger and younger, until a woman who has just given birth is shown. As the doctor goes to cut the umbilical cord, a voiceover explains that people were meant to live wireless lives and that AT&T Wireless can make it a reality.
During the production stage, Roer’s staff worked on all of these jobs simultaneously. "The teasers were being shot in New York, while the ‘Belly Button’ and ‘Why’ spots were prepping in Los Angeles," Roer recalls. "Then while that shoot was happening, the Olympic shoot was prepping in Milwaukee."
And the mLife campaign has only just begun. "AT&T Wireless and Kodak are my two babies," says Roer. "Kodak is a little quiet right now, so AT&T and the mLife launch have really been our focus."
Over the years, Roer and Texas East, senior partner/co-director of broadcast production for the last seven years, have worked on campaigns for clients ranging from American Express to Coca-Cola. And they’ve followed one edict all along. "Seven years ago, [O&M president/chief creative officer] Rick Boyko challenged Texas and me to bring every piece of work we do up to the same level as our biggest-spending clients," says Roer.
Collaboration
It’s a mandate everyone in the agency accomplishes by working together to come up with solutions. Roer says the creative team, for example, gets her and her producers involved in projects from the get-go. "We all face the challenges of tighter budgets and shorter schedules, and the only way we’ve conquered that is to work as a team," she says. "We figure out what promises have to be made, what promises don’t have to be made—and together we figure out a solution because the fourteen-week production schedule doesn’t exist anymore."
Of course, one of Roer’s most important jobs is finding the right directors for each project that goes through her agency. "We don’t take risks when we hire directors, but we do like to push the creative envelope and give our clients the best it can be," she points out.
When it came to the mLife campaign, Roer and her team chose to call on two separate directors rather than have one do the entire job. Why? "There was a bit of tonality difference in the jobs. The teasers were meant to taunt and tease with a little bit of humor and get the question out there, while the other spots were meant to take a more emotional look," she explains.
Roer had worked with Dorfman before on spots for clients like Kodak and IBM, and knew he’d be perfect for the teaser campaign as well as for the Olympic spot. The production team had to search more extensively to find someone to direct "Belly Button" and "Why." Ultimately, Dunmore was chosen.
"With him, it was one of those classic examples where it’s not on the reel," states Roer, "and you walk into the client and say, ‘You are not going to see your spots on his reel, and we deem that a good thing.’ "
While both Dorfman and Dunmore delivered great footage, Roer credits aforementioned senior producer Gackstetter and the rest of her team with "doing an amazing job of keeping that synergistic feel working with two very different personalities."
It is interesting to note that Roer constantly peppers her conversation with references to her staff, ranging from young, up-and-coming assistant producers to more seasoned senior producers. "My real pride and pleasure at this point is I have great kids that I mentor," Roer comments. "Internally in the department that is my focus—mentoring the next wave of producers we’re going to put out on the planet."
Roer says that she and East have worked long and hard to build a staff they can truly rely on. Assistant producers are assigned to brands, and are mentored by the executive producers. "And no one gets promoted before they’ve worked with me," she adds. "So we have great executive producers. We really do. They’ve taken ownership of their brands, and they’re an amazing bunch of people. I’m proud to say I have the best production department anywhere."
She has the big title and office, but all of Roer’s employees—her department consists of 38 people—know their boss well. "I am involved with them in their meetings. I support them through their process. When they may be doubled up, I will assist them or be assistant to the assistant," Roer explains. "The beauty of the culture of O&M is it’s a partnership."
And that’s what has kept her at the agency for a decade. "I actually got started in the business in 1980," she says. "I’m embarrassed to say that only because I can’t believe it is 2002."
Roer is a graduate of New York University’s Gallatin School, which allows students to design their own majors. "That was probably the best precursor to being a producer, because you had to set out a plan, then justify it in the end," she reasons. "And that’s kind of what we do every day."
While still in college, she worked as a receptionist at an agency then known as James Jordan Inc. Later she began freelancing, until she finally found a home at O&M. At this point, Roer can’t imagine herself working anywhere else.
"I have a department I really consider a family," she says, "and when you can come to work every morning and look at the people you work with and say, ‘I really like these people,’ it makes it all worthwhile."
