Baby Bob"—a tough-talking infant who is part of a recent campaign for FreeInternet.com—reflects a new kind of advertising. This may not be true of the spots themselves—they are cute and clever, but what makes the campaign different is that its creator, Rob Siltanen, chairman/chief creative officer at Siltanen/Keehn, Santa Monica, sees an unusual synergy which he claims is a sign of things to come.
"I don’t feel that advertising as it exists right now is being fully leveraged," he explains. "Advertising needs to work in a way that is unlike advertising, in a way that Hollywood is working. When Disney produces a film, for instance, they have other revenue streams: merchandising, television cartoons, and various products. That’s what I’m trying to do." As an example, he points to a development deal for Baby Bob—who is an adorable baby clad in a T-shirt, ostensibly speaking in the voice of a grumpy, older man—with CBS. (Bob is voiced by actor Ken Campbell.) In fact, a pilot of a sitcom featuring the little guy is currently being filmed, and will air as a mid-season replacement. "I want Bob to spin off into dolls, T-shirts, a Web site. There are infinite, untapped possibilities," says Siltanen.
This new kind of advertising may also need a new kind of agency: small, entrepreneurial, peopled by top creatives who started out at large, well-established shops. Creatives like Siltanen, an award-winning veteran of TBWA/Chiat/Day, Los Angeles, where he was the lead creative on the Nissan account, and worked on ads for the likes of Apple and Levi’s. He founded Siltanen/Keehn in December 1999 as a solo operation with one client, JoAnn.com. In January of this year, Pam Keehn joined him as president of the shop.
"Baby Bob" helped put Siltanen’s new company on the map. Thanks in part to that campaign, the boutique has grown into an approximately 25-person operation with more than $100 million in billings. Spots featuring the tot include "Technological Revolution," "French" and "IQ." There is also a five-minute film that aired on the Web, called Baby Bob Interviews Shaquille O’Neal, which shows the tyke speaking with the Los Angeles Lakers’ center. A fourth ad was created by cutting the short down. All of the work was directed by Craig Tanimoto of Japanese Monster, Los Angeles. (Tanimoto, is formerly an art director at TBWA/Chiat/Day, who now directs; he has also helmed spots for Round Table Pizza and JoAnn. com, both out of Siltanen/ Keehn.)
A new movement is afoot. Within the past year, several high-profile creatives at top-flight agencies have left the comparative security of large shops to open their own creative boutiques. Roger Camp, formerly an art director for three-and-a-half years at Cliff Freeman and Partners, New York, is now principal/creative director of Camp/ Arbues, San Francisco, which recently broke its first TV campaign, a four-spot package for PeerLogic, a software firm. Another Cliff Freeman alumnus, David Angelo, chief creative officer/managing partner, has opened davidandgoliath, Los Angeles, along with Skip Sullivan, COO/managing partner. The new venture’s primary account is Kia Motors America. And Lance Jensen, most recently a VP/creative director at Arnold Communications, Boston, on the Volkswagen account, co-founded Modernista!, also in Boston, with Gary Koepke. Since opening in January, Jensen and Koepke have secured two accounts: a branding assignment for MTV, and The Travel Channel. Spots directed by Lisa Rubisch of bicoastal Bob Industries for the latter client are set to break in October; work for MTV is due early next year.
The big question is: Why? Why did these top-flight creatives decide to go out on their own?
For some, opportunity has come knocking. Angelo, who began his advertising career in ’89 at DDB Needham (now DDB), New York, and who has won more than 250 industry awards, was most recently on staff as an executive creative director at Cliff Freeman and Partners, before leaving to freelance. After he’d done some freelancing, Kia Motors made him an offer he didn’t want to refuse.
"They said that if I started my own agency, they would be my first client," recalls Angelo, who subsequently partnered with Sullivan—formerly VP/management director at Team One Advertising, El Segundo, Calif.—to open davidandgoliath. Angelo was at Team One working on the Lexus account when he first met Sullivan. "I always wanted to run my own agency," Angelo explains. "When the opportunity came, there was no question."
Some say there is the need for a new challenge. Jensen admits that he "loved" his role at Arnold because it was the "best creative job there." His work on the Volkswagen "Drivers Wanted" campaign, including spots such as "Sunday Afternoon," directed by Baker Smith of Tate & Partners, Santa Monica, and "Milky Way," helmed by Dayton/Faris of Bob Industries, was the culmination of five years of well-regarded ads for the car company. The VW work had netted him not only attention, but employment offers from other agencies. "The [offers] got me thinking," he says. "Maybe I should try something else. Maybe I should leave the party when it’s really rocking."
Jensen turned to Koepke, a former creative director at Wieden+Kennedy, New York, whom he had known for 10 years, about starting their own business. "We felt, what the hell, we could always go back and get a real job if it didn’t work out," relates Jensen. "Boston needs a kick in the pants, and we thought we could do that."
Siltanen was also looking for a change when he left TBWA/ Chiat/ Day, Los Angeles. As managing partner/creative director, he had been considered, according to reports within the industry, the heir apparent to TBWA Worldwide chairman/creative director Lee Clow. "I felt like I needed a new challenge," says Siltanen. "Businesses were booming. Everything seemed right. I had a lot of desire. I could have done what I’m doing [at TBWA/Chiat/Day], but by doing it on my own, I could do it exactly the way I wanted. I could truly live out my vision."
The principals in the start-up shops all cite the good economy as another key factor, and also the proliferation of dot-com companies. "The dot-coms fueled that fire a lot," observes Camp. "The fact that there were so many out there made it seem easier [to build a client roster] than it had in the past."
Although the dot-coms have, in Camp’s words, "scaled back," or are "downright disappearing," the new agencies continue to thrive. Camp adds that the impetus for Camp/ Arbues was not just the economy, but an idea that he and his partner could offer a unique perspective. That partner, agency president/CEO Eileen Arbues, and he had come from different sides of the advertising fence. Camp had been an agency creative, while Arbues was a client—most recently an executive at 2Bridge Software, San Francisco, an Internet start-up. They partnered in the new agency because of personal chemistry, because she loved the advertising world more than the corporate world, and because they both thought their partnership would allow them to offer something unique. "We can go into a new-business interview, and I can put in the creative I’ve done, while she can speak to client concerns because she’s been on that side," notes Camp.
However they began, the fledgling agencies share a key idea: the dream of doing things differently. "I feel like I’ve worked at some really hot agencies in the past, but [at someone else’s shop,] you can only bring so much to the party philosophically speaking," says Angelo. "An agency has its own philosophy. I wanted to create a new environment, one that allows people to realize their creative potential. It’s an environment that is hopefully free of barriers and departments, and a more collaborative environment where people are approachable. In the past, I’ve been at places where there are talented people, but it’s all about politics, bureaucracies and too much ego. I’ve always wanted to create an environment that was about the work and about having fun doing it."
"We avoid the formalities of the typical client/agency relationship and work together throughout the process," says Arbues. "This includes small impromptu meetings to discuss where we’re at and what we’re thinking."
At each agency, collaboration is the buzzword of the day, whether it’s with clients, other creatives, or directors. Camp says it is important that the directors "bring something to the party. We want a really smart collaborator." Camp/Arbues recently broke its first broadcast effort, the aforementioned ads for PeerLogic. The spots, "Monster," "Pony," "Magic Box" and "Disappointment," feature an off-the-wall kids’ program where children who don’t tell their "CEO Mommies and Daddies about PeerLogic software" suffer horrible fates. All four ads were directed by Trevor Robinson of Quiet Storm, London.
"We look for collaborators who are about the work," Angelo agrees. "We want people who embrace it as much as we do." He cites Stephen Kessler, director/owner of bicoastal Promiseland, who helmed "Oxygen/ Choking," a Kia spot. In the ad, a man and woman are fighting over another woman. "Lisa? I can explain!" he calls after her as she makes a beeline for his Kia automobile parked in front of their cabin. "I wasn’t kissing the girl! She was choking! She just needed oxygen!" As an announcer explains the durability of the Kia car, Lisa dumps trash all over it and tries to wreck it, yelling back, "I’m not trashing it! I’m just giving it oxygen!" Originally, the spot was to end there, but Kessler suggested an alternative: a final shot of the man talking to the other woman, who is seen blue in the face and choking. The new ending never aired, but is on the agency’s reel.
"We like working with directors who get it and are collaborative and who aren’t afraid to listen," notes Angelo. "In many cases, we hand over a script to the director and he comes up with a better way to execute it and we’re open to going back to the client."
On a recent Kia campaign, for instance, one of the three spot ideas was not working; so in the final pre-production meeting before the shoot, Kessler and the creatives jointly came up with a new idea and successfully pitched it to the client, resulting in "Crazy Cash Back Sale/Larry." "It was amazing," Angelo says. "But you gain respect and trust with directors in situations like that. Their ideas are being listened to."
MULTIFACETED
All of the creatives SHOOT spoke with feel that to succeed as a start-up, it is also important, in Camp’s words, to "play the chameleon." He notes: "You need to offer different clients different options because they have different needs and different levels of comfort."
"We like to believe we’re capable of many different styles," adds Angelo, "doing whatever is right for the brand. I have been about that my whole career."
For now, most of the start-up agencies are restricting their work primarily to broadcast, although they all believe in branching out to other media. For instance, Gordon Biersch Brewing Company is utilizing Camp/Arbues to devise an integrated marketing plan (including point-of-purchase and sales promotion) and to produce a television campaign scheduled to begin airing in November. Camp/Arbues is also planning and buying the associated media for the company.
The creatives are looking to expand their already growing agencies—and seem to be succeeding. "Nine months ago when we opened, the account [Kia] was $50 million," Angelo reports. "Now we’re at $190 million. We went from ten commercials to twenty-eight."
With size come more possibilities. "In a year, I’d love to get some new clients," says Siltanen. "I’d love to have a car account. I’d love to be able to take in a major brand. Right now, we’re busy, but I want to be able to do this on a bigger stage. With the Baby Bob character, the media spent was not that large. Imagine if we’d done that campaign for Coke or Pepsi or other brands on the shelf with huge budgets behind them. The possibilities would be incredible."
The birth of the new agencies is "the natural pattern of things," concludes Jensen. "The large shops get larger and shoot out their spores, and those are now landing. As a result, everything is starting all over again.
"We’re getting pretty big," he continues. "And we want to get really big. Screw that boutique idea."v
