A year ago, Eric David Johnson, aka DJ Bunny Ears, joined Search Party Music as executive producer, ending a 13-and-a-half-year run on the agency side of the business, having most recently served as executive producer of music and creative integration at DDB Chicago. He earlier was executive music producer at Y&R New York, and a music supervisor and producer at Wieden+Kennedy, Portland, Ore.
Johnson made the jump to the vendor side because he felt Search Party, founded by Randall Poster, was the right fit and opportunity. The move has been one, he said, that has allowed him “to harness my entrepreneurial spirit, something that was sometimes hard to flourish in an agency system. The pure level of hustle it takes to be on this side of things really has shown me in its true application, something that I had witnessed in theory from the other side for all those years.”
Two major dynamics come to mind when Johnson reflects on the past year. “One is the ongoing perception of our company–how it is seen from the outside looking in. Possibly one of biggest challenges I’ve attempted to change is that Search Party had often been seen primarily as music supervision, rather than a full-service music company. Fortunately, last year we were awarded an AICP award for best original music on a Nike spot [‘Greatness’], and that alone helped us be able to have those conversations and let people know what we’re really doing here–creating amazing music ideas for advertising projects, whatever they may be.
“The second thing I see is the ongoing pressures that our agency partners are dealing with, in ever-expanding demands–whether it be tight or small budgets, the need to triple-bid, or even competitive demo–and so I try to be particularly sensitive to these realities they’re faced with and try to do the best we can, while making sure our bottom line makes sense.
“And that second challenge,” continued Johnson, “is probably the biggest insight that I’ve had in my time here at Search Party Music–this burden that we’re all facing in the industry, in which we need to do more for less. So while helping us to chug along, I’m keeping a watchful eye on the industry and trying to figure out different ways to keep us creatively and financially successful, all the while being an asset to our clients. It’s a tricky balancing act, and sometimes fickle and riddled with pitfalls, but at the same time, it’s a total blast as well and I’m honored to count so many smart and talented people as my contemporaries. I have to say that I still absolutely love sitting at this unique and incredibly fertile creative space of where music meets advertising.”
