By Sandra Garcia

A lot has changed in Eric Silver’s world in the past three months, which could be an indication that a lot has changed in the world in general. What does it mean when Silver, the former executive VP/creative director at Cliff Freeman and Partners, New York, responsible for shooting gerbils out of a cannon on national television, leaves to join what’s perceived as the more conservative Saatchi & Saatchi, New York, as executive VP/creative director? You might say that the world has less room for risky advertising these days or that Saatchi has more room to do something a little wacky. Either way, Silver is ready to move on and try something new.

"If I hadn’t taken the Saatchi job I probably would’ve tried to start an agency," explains Silver. "This move has the same entrepreneurial feeling, but now I have tons of help."

In his new post, Silver will mainly be responsible for bringing in new business, but he’s also been lending a creative hand to some of the shop’s existing clients, with the hope that, collectively, the agency can continue to raise the creative bar in Saatchi’s New York office. He’s already hit the ground running, weighing in on an undisclosed Procter & Gamble spot that could possibly air during the 2004 Super Bowl telecast.

Silver’s move comes at a time when the venerable Cliff Freeman and Partners has had a tough stretch. In June of this year, associate creative director Jason Gaboriau, strategist Doug Cameron and director of new business development Charles Rosen departed the shop to start their own agency, Amalgamated, New York. Days later, Silver left, taking with him a creative team—copywriter Ari Weiss and art director Aaron Adler, who worked with Silver for the past year on the FOX Sports Net account. Silver mentioned to SHOOT that he planned to continue his relationship with FOX Sports, and Neal Tiles, the network’s executive VP of marketing.

Funny business

Silver joined Cliff Freeman in late ’97, around the time that the dot-com advertising boom started. However, that era of far-reaching, at times creatively risky work came to a screeching halt after the events of Sept. 11. "After 9/11, clients became more risk averse and flat-out afraid," notes Silver.

During that more freewheeling age of advertising, Silver and his Cliff Freeman team were atop many an awards list with groundbreaking work for clients such as FOX Sports, Outpost.com, and Budget Rent-A-Car. We watched with horror and delight as a pack of ravenous wolves attacked an unsuspecting high school marching band in Outpost. com’s "Wolverines," directed by John O’Hagan of bicoastal/international Hungry Man. We winced when a tree fell on a man in "China," a spot promoting regional offerings from the FOX Sports network, directed by Traktor of bicoastal/ international Partizan. ("China," along with "India," "Russia," and "Turkey," scored the Grand Prix at the ’01 Cannes International Advertising Festival.) We were shocked when a competitive bowler attacked her opponent in FOX NHL’s "Bowling," helmed by Christopher Guest of bicoastal Moxie Pictures.

And of course, there were the gerbils in "Gerbils," also helmed by O’Hagan for Outpost.com, which seemed to kick off this no-holds-barred variety of advertising. Never before had commercials been so irreverent (not to mention violent) and Silver was a frontrunner in pushing the genre as far as it could go. But by ’03, fear of terrorism and a weakened economy rendered that style of advertising irrelevant.

"I had very mixed feelings about leaving Cliff Freeman and Partners," relates Silver. "We had such a great run from September 1997 through September 11, 2001. So many boundaries were broken, and I think a lot of what we did is taken for granted now."

Before his Cliff Freeman days, Silver was a writer for the Late Show with David Letterman, spent a year at Goodby, Silverstein and Partners, San Francisco, working on Levi’s, and served a year-long stint at Wieden+Kennedy, New York, weighing in on Nike and ESPN.

Given his track record as a funnyman, it’s hard to imagine Silver as anyone but the office prankster, an attribute that’s a little more than detectable on his reel. It is a sensibility that was partially born out of the culture Cliff Freeman cultivated at the agency and in his creatives. Now that Silver has moved on, the question remains: Does he have to get serious? "Most agencies are stereotyped and it is very tough to shed whatever perception they are hit with," he notes. "You can segue into other areas, but it’s not easy. For me, the great thing about Saatchi is its tabula rasa. I have no idea what we’ll produce. I don’t care if it’s funny or serious. I just want it to be relevant and talked about."

But that doesn’t mean that his transition has not been without its bumps. "There has definitely been a little culture shock," relates Silver. "Cliff Freeman, during its heyday, was an absolute circus. Everyone in the creative department was a master of the practical joke. Saatchi is, obviously, a more conservative place due to its sheer size. My second day there I went to ask [chief creative officer] Tod Seisser a question. Before I knocked on the door, I dropped my pants around my ankles. He was in a meeting with ten people but, with a straight face, said he’d be with me in five minutes. That gave me great hope."

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