Our “Agency of the Year” coverage in this issue features the observations of several key players at TBWAChiatDay and TBWAMedia Arts Lab, none more key than Lee Clow, global director, Media Arts TBWA Worldwide, and chairman of TBWAMedia Arts Lab.
An icon in his own right, Clow offered reflections on another icon, the late Steve Jobs with whom he made advertising/marketing history.
After a first go-around which yielded the classic Apple “1984,” the commercial that put the Super Bowl on its path to becoming an advertising event, Jobs returned in 1997 to the company that had ousted him. He immediately sought out Clow.
“I remember Steve telling me that Apple was in big trouble and he wanted to save it,” related Clow. “We were in a fire drill mode and the “Think Different” campaign and the “Crazy Ones” commercial were part of the reassertion that Apple was going to find its soul again. Steve was speaking to the public but also to Apple itself and the software developers. He didn’t have any new computers or product to point to yet. So he pointed to what made Apple great. ‘Think Different’ was a promise that Apple would get back to its values and what he and Apple’s customers believed in. Less than a year later, the iMac was unveiled and the turnaround of the company was underway.”
A few years later “Think Different” is what Clow, Jobs and their colleagues applied to the agency itself handling Apple.
From that thinking came the formation of TBWAMedia Arts Lab, a separate unit dedicated to Apple.
“We built this unit for a perfectionist communications genius,” said Clow in reference to Jobs. “We built it to give Steve the security and consistency of talent he demanded.”
Clow explained that security was very much “needed because there was stuff on the office walls that needed to be kept under wraps, new Apple innovations. Security on our shoots and at the Media Arts Lab offices is tight–that’s not paranoia. It was part of Steve’s communications strategy. He was P.T. Barnum who at the right moment would say, ‘Ta-dah, look what we just did.’ We worked in a unique way for a unique guy.
“Steve came to every marketing meeting every week,” continued Clow. Here’s the chief executive making that commitment when for other clients you often don’t have ad managers who show up for each week’s marketing meeting. We built Media Arts Lab totally around the dedication of our people to the things that Steve wanted us to deliver.”
Clow observed that Jobs “understood early on that everything a brand does is advertising. The ad agency has to be the keeper of the flame–one who understands the core belief and soul of the brand and to make sure everything the brand does and says stays true to that emotional center…We are in charge of finding the soul and center of a brand and trying to tell stories that reflect that core, that do in fact resonate in the culture and give people something to tweet about, talk about and relate to in some meaningful way. The center of it is that a brand has to have some kind of passion, a soul.”
Gene Hackman Died Of Heart Disease; Hantavirus Claimed His Wife’s Life About One Week Prior
Actor Gene Hackman died of heart disease a full week after his wife died from hantavirus in their New Mexico hillside home, likely unaware that she was dead because he was in the advanced stages of Alzheimer's disease, authorities revealed Friday. Both deaths were ruled to be from natural causes, chief medical examiner Dr. Heather Jarrell said alongside state fire and health officials at a news conference. "Mr. Hackman showed evidence of advanced Alzheimer's disease," Jarrell said. "He was in a very poor state of health. He had significant heart disease, and I think ultimately that's what resulted in his death." Authorities didn't suspect foul play after the bodies of Hackman, 95, and Betsy Arakawa, 65, were discovered Feb 26. Immediate tests for carbon monoxide poisoning were negative. Investigators found that the last known communication and activity from Arakawa was Feb. 11 when she visited a pharmacy, pet store and grocery before returning to their gated neighborhood that afternoon, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said Friday. Hackman's pacemaker last showed signs of activity a week later and that he had an abnormal heart rhythm Feb. 18, the day he likely died, Jarrell said. Although there was no reliable way to determine the date and time when both died, all signs point to their deaths coming a week apart, Jarrell said. "It's quite possible he was not aware she was deceased," Jarrell said. Dr. Michael Baden, a former New York City medical examiner, said he believes Hackman was severely impaired due to Alzheimer's disease and unable to deal with his wife's death in the last week of his life. "You are talking about very severe Alzheimer's disease that normal people would be in a nursing home or have a nurse, but she was taking care... Read More