1) I think we can all agree the industry is lacking a bit of clarity at the moment. Everything is changing so quickly and agencies are having an identity crisis claiming they can do everything and only one thing at the same time. It’s ridiculous and confusing. To top it off, clients are building their own internal agencies and working directly with production companies. I miss the days when we put a focus on process and everyone was coming up with weird inventive ways of finding and solving problems. It feels like we need to get back to just solving problems and better yet, identifying the real problems. This feels like what clients need the most.

2) I adapted by starting a new agency named CALLEN. We are the first agency ever to be backed by Wieden + Kennedy and unique from all the other startups in the sense that we can’t sell. Which forces us to be focused on one thing, the work. W+K is the best agency on the planet, but I wanted to explore how things could work in a smaller sandbox. See if new solutions came to mind without all the process and structures in place at larger shops. I also wanted to experiment having a producer, Niklas Lindstrom, at a founding level. We need to work faster as an industry and I think it’s interesting when you have a “maker” sitting at the table during deep strategy and creative conversations.

3) 2017 was a big transition year for me. It’s hard to start a new agency and it took awhile to get everything set up and functioning. That being said I’m most proud of the interactive music video we did for a band called Real Estate. It’s a moving coloring book that allows people to color their own versions of the video as it goes along. The end result was no single “official” video, but rather 1000’s of unique creations by the fans themselves. I had a blast making it with the amazing people over at MediaMonks and working with the band. It was a great practice in figuring out how to make big ideas on a small budget.

4) I imagine there will continue to be a great deal of emphasis on experiential. People want experiences, but they don’t want it to feel contrived and they don’t want to feel like they are being sold to. Basically, they don’t want ads. Helping brands express who they are and what they do at their core is where we are focused, no matter what shape that takes. Whether it’s directly looking at product innovation or the benefit, making sure every element of a customer experience is focused on a great, memorable experience or interaction with a brand.

5) Hire good people, have fun, try not to make tons of mistakes but cherish when we do. I’ve learned a lot going out on my own. It’s the most exciting and terrifying time of my life. I want to seek out those great clients that are willing to take risks and do interesting, new work. At the end of the day, I’m ready to start making things again. Things that people love and actually help brands. I’d also like to do more music projects. It seems people in the music industry are much more appreciative of the effort and open to experimenting. It may not pay all the bills, but it allows me to feel good in my creative soul.

Lastly, I would like to figure out how to make the pitch process smoother and faster. On occasion, it can seem pretty dysfunctional. Sometimes we get calls and they’re talking to thirty other agencies. That is not an exaggeration. I would love to find a way to be in fewer, more focused pitches. Amen to that, right industry?

1) Linking online social to live social experiences. Creating live experiences that connect brands to their market continues to be a strong trend.

2) We have continued to build on our two core competencies, brand building through effective strategies and campaigns and building branded software for our clients that enhances how brands interact and transact with their customers.

3) Our launch of a new car for Redspace at the LA Auto Show drew on all of our areas of strengths. From brand strategy to long form beautifully produced documentary about the car design process, website, live surprise and delight event at the car show and a gala event we produced for media and other influencers. We secured coverage for our client garnering over a half-billion press impressions in top-tier publications including The Verge, Mashable, Fast Company and Forbes.

4) The creativity will continue to be focused on integrated services and solutions. The ability to think across all platforms and campaign types and develop a comprehensive, efficient approach to brand building with a production team that can execute on creative assets and software.

5) Our New Year’s resolution is to build on our considerable successes in 2017 by expanding our team and delivering our model to more diverse audiences.

1) Well, bell bottoms are back. As are drop-waisted skirts. Sorry...you mean advertising? I think our industry—most industries?—got pulled into this new vortex we’re living in. We’ve all had so many conversations about the divide, about the mood of cynicism and negativity. But there’s still so much remarkable positivity out there. I really believe that. I see it in our clients, in what they want to do. The best brands will organically make that part of their stories. The other big thing that happened, I think, is the increase in the pace of information, in our need to synthesize and react quickly and intelligently. We’ve always had to work fast. But I think more and more we’re forced to juggle a vast flow of data, news, updates, chaos. For our clients, how do we pare away the noise? How do we stay topical, relevant, not get caught in the storm? Please tell me I don’t have to come up with an answer to that one now.

2) The short answer is that we’re still adapting. I think we all are. There are watershed changes going on in culture, politics, sports, music. We’re still adapting, still learning. It’s incredibly exciting. The longer answer is that 2017 was a really definitive year for Publicis. Our legendary CEO, Maurice Levy, handed the day-to-day running of Publicis Groupe to Arthur Sadoun, who is a pretty remarkable bloke in his own right. Arthur has a vision for a radical A.I. platform called Marcel. If it’s half as successful as all the fuss it’s caused, it’s going to be a world beater. And I’d never bet against him. What else? We won our first Gold Lion in a good while at Cannes for our work for Doctors of the World. Look, as much as things change—and there has been so much change—our business is about three things; people, ideas, and creativity. We seek the best blend of all.

4) You can only push something so hard before it bounces back the other way. I think we’re going to see a kind of negativity backlash. It’s out there, right now. And it’s getting tired of the ugly. Look at the Facebook numbers. We share the positive stories, the funny stories, vastly more than the negative ones. One of the things I love about America is this unending sense of optimism. I’m English. We’re made different. Kind of expect the worst. Americans have this wonderful attitude that things are going to be okay. So maybe it’s living here for a few years but mark me down for a new year of awe-inspiring work that moves us forward.

5) I’m so bad at these questions. I’m not a big resolution guy. I try to make small ones every day, to be honest. Talk less. Listen more. Be kind. Stare at my phone less. Avoid worm holes where I’m five stories deep on TMZ. (Why, exactly, did I spend five minutes looking at photos of Kanye’s new home renovation?) If I did have to answer your question, though, I guess it would be to remember that there are a helluva lot worse ways to make a living. To make someone laugh, to make them cry, to reach them in some way. We’re damned fortunate.

1) Hey! Wasn’t VR supposed to be red hot by now? I just went into my AT&T store today and the VR goggles on display are all non-functional dummies, if that’s an indicator about how that is going. VR is going to be profound some day, and we’re all in, but right now, we’re getting asked to do massive sophisticated, multi-channel, integrated campaigns that center around followings brands have accumulated over the years.

Then there’s the six second ad, which came from the Facebook recommendation. Micro-movies are an entire industry. Six seconds is a wonderful space, we’re learning. We’ve had as much fun crafting a hundred short form videos as we do making broadcast.

2) Truth: you thought you knew what that was, didn’t ya? Thanks to all the fake news, goofball tweeting and Russians messing with our cheese, the consumer is exhausted. Exaggerations, hyperbole and fanciful tweaks to reality are generally repulsive to a population pounded by lies, half-truths and make believe. We’ve also seen a thirst for diverse, but real American people. Work that features genuine folks is red hot. You can be dramatic, cinematic with a lot of scope but what you’re saying had better be more truthful than you’ve ever been before. Or else.

3) As I write this, I’m stuffed into the back of a 1969 VW #BarefootBus escorting a hallowed bottle of bubbly through the Moab desert en route to the NYE national stage in Times Square. Millions of people are watching this and it’s my new normal. Creating and producing LIVE content. I’m proud of this because we had to make so much of it up on the fly. “Advertising” that acts more like a YouTube influencer than a commercial, meaning it constantly evolves with a narrative that builds, engages and gets jiggy when it has to. For production, smart executive producers who are excited about putting their skates on and jumping in the pool, will prosper. We need them.

4) Legacy brands are finally getting how to use social media to drive ROI. Content has finally risen to king. Facebook/Instagram are the most powerful platform on earth in terms of engagement, but it can be mysterious to many marketers. Here’s the deal: they made the thing so anyone can use it— I heard a stat that something like 80% of Facebook’s revenue comes from brands that didn’t exist 5 years ago. If that’s true, then legacy brands, with all their resources, should be killing it.

We’re getting the same engagement and views of a social calendar as a popular TV show. The industry has largely reformed around data and ROI, so production budgets and expectations look a lot different than they did in previous years. Here’s the thing: it’s a bit more work, but it’s more fun and the lawyers can barely keep up with us. So it’s a burgeoning golden age for content with all this support.

1) We continue to battle amid the resolution arms race. The advent of stereo 360 VR projects has bought a whole new level of complexity to our productions. This comes with some challenges but it has been fantastic to see veteran artists genuinely stumped and ultimately excited about having to try workarounds and try things for the first time.

We are starting to see clients ready to dig a bit deeper into true applications of VR and Mixed Reality formats. In 2016 we saw a lot of surface level content that felt like it was created to pacify executives looking to jump on the trend. I think a lot of production companies will look back on last years projects and feel some regret for what they did in efforts to feed on and benefit from that spike in demand. ]

Clients are increasingly aware of the incredible culture of waste that has somehow become accepted in the production space.

2) In 2017 we totally overhauled our studio with 70% of the spend going into a room the size of a two car garage. The result is one of the newest and evolved production engines we could get our hands on. Interestingly we are currently running at over 1.1 Petaflops which is higher performance that the worlds most powerful supercomputer from 9 years ago (IBM Roadrunner which cost $100m and was used to render Ironman) We made this investment to protect our creative process. The increased complexity of our projects has the potential to totally disrupt our creative process.

We are going right to the end state. Educating clients on the where the path we are on with regard to immersive formats will lead us in 2022 and beyond. The Three R’s (AR, MR & VR) are limited today and will continue to be so until further advances in Realtime Rendering, Volumetric/Light-field live action capture and playback hardware. We deliberately engage in some projects that have long delivery horizon (beyond 2020) this enables us to develop applications that can imagine the end state without being too watered down by the constraints of the current generation of the technical solutions.

We have developed a process for generating content referred to as LAB Assets. LAB stands for Living Asset Base. It is a process that focusses on eliminating the waste in traditional production processes by applying focus to the downstream flexibility and lifespan of what is created.

3) We had a Project right at the start of the year called Moodroads for Acura. It explored a whole series of concepts in one experience from Biometrics to Realtime rendering and immersive superformats that used robotics to create small footprint Theme Park rides. Not only was it a great consumer experience but it demonstrated the cultural cache for brands that use technology in a really relevant way. We had 1600 riders who actually experienced the ride during Sundance in Park City but the live 360 stream attracted almost 3m viewers. It was a big investment for Acura to attempt something that had never been done before but it paid off in an experience that crossed the paths and resonated with all the right target audiences.

We are currently working on a project that we can’t talk about until early next year. It involves the post biological existence of a cultural icon still alive and active today. The project has required us to bring together leading expertise in AI, VR and VFX and has completely opened our minds to a world of possibilities we had never even imagined before we started going through this wormhole.

4) A total disruption as new technology changes the rules and conventions of traditional production methods. Consider the impact of a drone pilot with a flight case replacing a 6 man crew with a pursuit vehicle equipped with a Russian Arm. Or the impact of light field camera’s where the DOP has control both focal and positional decisions as part of the post process. Or Realtime rendered content that is indistinguishable from “the old technique’ of capturing images that are locked in frames and can’t be modified to meet downstream needs. In those three examples alone there is not only elimination of long established roles but a complete change of the guard.

5) My New year’s resolution that will also impact the way the agency operates is to instigate not educate. We spend much of our lives educating clients about the value of new ideas. My ambition in 2018 is to spend much fewer hours telling them about what is coming and instead show them. We are currently working on a project that perfectly illustrates this approach. In the same way we did with our Moodroads project we have invented an idea that will bring together a number of ingredients into a perfect use case. We are starting by calling our R&D efforts Research and Deployment.

1) One big trend is not necessarily a new one, but its massive importance and scale in the last year is unignorable—and that’s the voracious appetite for video content. This has led to some really great content and some not so great content. It’s led to compelling brand messages and fractured ones. With smaller agencies and content creators popping up almost every day, it’s a wild world out there with no end in sight.

Another development that I absolutely love is that consumers are demanding, more than ever, that brands share their values. This has led to brands becoming more human and embracing the role they can play in creating positive social impact.

4) I envision more brands working to find their true north – their purpose or their “why” as they endeavor to rise to the shared values expectations of consumers.

I envision a lot more video content creation coming from all over the map and the continued land grab this creates across the industry.

5) My personal new year’s resolution is not dissimilar from the resolutions of many at The Martin Agency and that is to do more work that creates positive change and social impact. Just recently, after the tragedy in Charlottesville here in Virginia, we created a simple but powerful message of inclusion based on the Virginia is for Lovers tagline created by the agency years ago. It immediately resonated with people and took on a life of its own. As agencies and brands, we have incredible opportunities to affect change and that inspires and energizes me greatly.

1) For us, a significant development was going from holding the reins so tightly in production—controlling all our content, our big TV ad campaigns frame-by-frame—to letting go a little bit like we did with Uproxx and Uproxx Studios for our Rick Ross piece “Buy Back the Block” for our client Checkers. You have to be willing to work with partners, and that’s where the shift is happening. There are opportunities to let go a bit and let people help you co-create content. This broke the mold from what we’ve traditionally done, and we struck awards gold with it. It was a huge hit on social, and a big learning for us. As more big publishers like Vice and Uproxx start to create their own content studios, there are more opportunities for us to learn to work together.

2) We’ve added people with more diverse experience, like Mike McGarry (director of emerging content) from Vice and Bear Collins, our senior creative technologist from BBDO New York. As we work with our client partners to sometimes move dollars from traditional media and start putting it into content and social, we need talent like this who come from varied backgrounds and know what’s next. Maybe even five years ago, we would’ve searched for the usual suspects when we were hiring but now we are adding people who understand influencer marketing and digital and original content.

3) We’re really happy with the Coca-Cola “1000 Songs” campaign where we celebrated more than 1,000 names on Coke cans with individual songs. It initially came in as a radio brief – write an ad for the fact that Coke had 1,050 new names on Coke cans (a continuation of its “Share a Coke” campaign). So we worked with our client partners and Score A Score to create an original song for every single name on every single bottle. That radio brief became something that blew up in social, and they saw a massive increase in sales.

4) I think we’ve only just begun to scratch the surface of what influencer marketing can be. We saw a great example when we relaunched the Fantanas (for new client Fanta). The reaction from fans to these four social media stars – how excited they were, how engaged they were – it really taught us a lot about the power of influencers. We chose four of the most successful influencers (for our demo) and featured them in a social campaign, cinema, OOH, experiential, events and just watched how they amplified the message. If I had a brand with limited spend right now I think I’d spend it on Influencer Marketing – obviously done well.

And on a production note: We’re really growing as an agency but we’re spending much less time out of town. We’re doing so much remotely now. I’ve become used to seeing casting online, and because Atlanta is now such a hub for film and TV production, we have great post facilities. So whereas in the past, I’d have creatives spending three weeks in L.A. for production, now they there for final casting and the shoot – and come back for editing, sound, color etc back in ATLWOOD.

5) Every year I say I want to lose weight and spend more time with the family. I’d like to change my email signature from: “6’8”, 300 lbs, has a posse,” which is a riff on Andre the Giant’s tagline, but I won’t unless I can get down to about 260.

Professionally, I’d like to see us continue to grow and try to replicate the amazing year we just had. And though women are well represented at the agency, including in leadership roles, I’d like to make sure we have more female perspective in the senior creative ranks.

1) The release of ARKit and ARCore and the integration of AR into social channels—it makes that device in the world’s pocket even that more powerful for users to explore their surroundings and how they express themselves within it. The now ubiquitous-ness of AR has deepened the discussion of our virtual world, as seen in the impressiveness of Snapchat’s augmented reality partnership with Jeff Koons being quickly supplanted by news of graffiti artist Sebastian Errazuriz tagging the Balloon Dog placed in Central Park. Begging the question, who owns public virtual space and how do brands respectfully navigate it?

5) To play and break things—some of the most innovative projects that I’ve produced originated from a place of joy, experimentation and trying to answer “what if” questions.

2) Like a great deal of agencies we’re in constant evolution mode trying to adapt as quickly as possible without sacrificing quality of our output or impact for our clients. The great thing about KBS is the fact that we have already established incredibly robust technology, media and social/digital offerings so our focus this past year has been on talent. We’ve hired an entirely new leadership team along with 30% of our overall agency new hires have significantly improved our diversity. Diversity will continue to be a main focus for our future.

Everyone in advertising knows the lack of diversity within our industry doesn’t properly represent the realities of the world we live in and this issue needs to be addressed with tangible action in order for things to change. And there’s no question industry leaders agree that this is a social issue they strongly believe needs to be fixed. The problem is most people are viewing it incorrectly. Diversity is much greater than just a social issue: it’s actually a productivity and economic issue. There are multiple studies that prove the companies with the most diverse talent base thrive the most from an employee satisfaction standpoint as well as bottom line growth. It’s our mission at KBS to educate others within our industry through our own actions which is why we’re incredibly excited to have partnered with She Runs It and Diversity Best Practices on the Inclusion and Diversity Accountability Coalition (IDAC).

5) I don’t know that I have a New Year’s resolution from a business or personal standpoint. I feel resolutions are easily broken. What I strive to do on a daily basis and apply to both my work and personal life is to be transparent with the people whom I have business and personal relationships with, and hold myself accountable for the plans that I put in motion. I’m a big believer in being actionable, decisive and empathetic with those who are a part of those plans. By taking that approach I hope for reciprocation which I believe builds strong, trustworthy and long tenured relationships. We work in a people business first and foremost so I value partnering with people that enable me to be at my best and I hope I can provide the same value for them as well.

3) We are most proud of two commercials we did for Lion’s Den, a 46-store adult retail chain determined to evolve into a top-of-mind sexual wellness brand. We needed to shift perception of this mostly male, DVD-centric, pull-off-the-highway adult superstore in order to make it an appealing destination for women and couples. Our woman-owned and operated agency specializes in creating emotional connections between women and brands and we centered our new campaign around the idea that taking care of your sexual self is an important part of your overall wellness and something that should be considered every day. We believe, and it seems like we’re not alone in this, that whether solo or with a partner, we all deserve to have pleasure and enjoy life—it’s good for your body, it’s good for your emotions, and it’s good for your relationship. Plus, it’s fun!

5) We have a theory that women over 40 are misunderstood, misrepresented, and sometimes just plain ignored by marketers. It’s our agency New Year’s resolution to change the landscape by truly recognizing who women over 40 are and who they are becoming. We’re conducting a nationwide survey with hundreds of women aged 40 years and older to get to the heart of what matters to them. How they feel and what’s motivating to them. We are also pulling together a panel of insightful women to provide a sounding board, a variety of perspectives, and spirited debate about what it means to be a woman over 40 today. Our goal is to help brands speak to this valuable group of overlooked consumers in a way that’s resonating and compelling. These ladies are loyal, they’ve got money, and right now they feel like they’re left out of the conversation with brands.

1) Six-second commercials, even more precisely targeted messages—i.e. thin-casting* (*tm, Greg Hahn), and shrinking budgets. The common theme being doing more with less.

2) Restrictions force you to be creative, to come up with new, fresh solutions. In production, they force you to call upon and develop new resources. In some ways doing more with less has enabled us to expand.

3) Sandy Hook Promise, “Evan”. With a very limited production budget and an even smaller media budget, it was able to make a huge impact for a cause everyone involved really believes in. It’s a testament to the power of partnerships, a compelling message, and an interesting way to tell it.

4) For every forward-lash, there’s usually a backlash. I think along with doing six-second commercials and quick hit digital messages, clients will begin investing in branding and long form pieces. We may even see a resurgence in the :30 or :60 TV ad. Trust is going to be a huge issue in the coming years. I think a brand investing in itself this way signals that it’s standing behind its name and reputation. In all the noise, people will turn to brands they trust.

5) Creatively speaking, applying our creativity to every aspect of our clients’ businesses. Not just the messaging we’re tasked with doing, but really stepping back and looking at their business problems and opportunities to see how we can solve them creatively.

As far as personal resolutions, I read an interesting article about something called “The Reverse Bucket List.” It’s basically just going back through your life and listing out the things you have already accomplished that make you proud. I’m going to take that approach to this year’s resolutions. List the five things I’m most proud of accomplishing this year. The idea being that at the end of next year, without knowing specifically what they are, I will have achieved five more things that I can look back on. For me, standard New Year’s Resolutions are just a prescription for self-disappointment.

1) 2017 was the year of women. Free the bid was a huge part of that. Agencies are looking beyond the typical male “A-list” directors thus exposing new talent with diverse points of view. Audi’s 2017 Super Bowl spot was a prime example. The bid included a lesser known Aoife McArdle alongside powerhouses Lance Acord and Martin deThurah. She brought an emotional performance-based treatment and a point of view that felt the most honest for the spot. It was incredibly well-received and I’ve been seeing her name more and more.

4) I’m wondering if there will be a backlash to the overproduced, “cinematic” look of 2017. As the need for original content continues to explode across media channels and production budgets continue to get sliced and diced, I think we may see more content that relies on wit and whimsy over high production. On that note, I’m hoping to see brands having a bit more fun in 2018. Humor would be a welcome change after a year of cause marketing and politically-charged messages. While I love that brands are getting involved and becoming a part of important conversations, it’s not for everyone. It’d be nice to take ourselves a bit less seriously and have more fun.

3) We’re incredibly proud of the wide range of work we’ve done this past year. From launching a chicken sandwich into space for KFC all while broadcasting it live, to giving the Internet a robotic Old Spice S.Q.U.I.D. to control via Twitch.tv in the name of helping boys become men, to creating a platform for the world to watch Nike get closer than anyone’s come to breaking the sub two-hour marathon. We also created an interactive music video for our friends Portugal. The Man that was filled with tools to empower social justice, which was named one of the best music videos of the year before the song rose to number one on the charts. It’s been a fun year pushing ourselves to work in new ways, across a variety of platforms and mediums, while protecting our fluid creative process to best serve our clients of all shapes and sizes.

4) We’ll continue to see more and more agencies and brands embracing opportunities to collaborate with platforms and publishers to reach their audiences on their turf. It’s about building experiences that connect with people in respectful and meaningful ways in spaces where they’re choosing to spend their time—all in the name of finding new ways to get more ideas made.

5) Simply put, we plan to seize every opportunity we get to create immersive storytelling experiences that generate a genuine emotional response with our audiences and hopefully have some sort of cultural impact. For us, it’s less about medium-specific goals but rather the excitement of the endless possibilities of what we could be making.

1) I think AI has been the most exciting area of growth and development in 2017. It makes us think differently about creative briefs and expands what we are capable of accomplishing for our clients. I love everything that’s happening in this space right now, and in April Deutsch launched Great Machine, an AI division tasked with adding creativity, soul, personality, and a voice to the AI landscape. It’s a huge opportunity for brands to connect with consumers, but we believe that without a personality, AI is still just a bunch of numbers and code. As AI becomes more mainstream, the agencies that are working with it now will be the ones that are ahead. We’re excited to see where it takes us.

2) When we were brainstorming work for DraftKings, we knew their fan base is different than our other clients. As a fantasy sports company, DraftKings needs to maintain constant communication with their fans, especially during the season. So, we set up the tools to keep them up and running with new communication within 24 hours of things happening. Our campaign “Play” content was created around the idea that people don’t just want to watch, they want to play. And they want to do so at what we call the “Speed of Sports.” Deutsch created a powerful, but easily adaptable campaign that allowed them to convert fantasy bracket-busting headlines into real reasons to play DraftKings. After weekend games, our writers created new scripts that were approved overnight by DraftKings, and by Tuesday were locked and loaded to go on air.

3) In 2017, Deutsch launched the first marketing blitz for DraftKings that featured a doctor character, named Dr. Aftkings. Deutsch saw that DraftKings was having a perception problem. Their campaigns were founded on how much you could win. We were able to rebrand DraftKings to tap into the truth of the consumers: It’s not just about money, it’s about wanting to be closer to the game. That’s why we launched Dr. Aftkings, a new brand ambassador that would cure fans’ season-long frustrations and ailments, such as Draftitis, Loseonic Plague and Winnerhea. With the guidance of director Wayne McClammy, the voice of Dr. Aftkings became a new comedic voice that resonated with fans. This year was DraftKings biggest, most winning year yet, improving brand perception, increasing consideration, and exceeding acquisition goals.

5) Great work breeds great work. I recognize that to keep your engine running, you need that satisfaction of producing work you’re proud of. My resolutions are to keep that energy going for Deutsch and ensure that everyone is creating and making.

1) Although it’s been a trend for the last few years, I think we’re finally seeing the effects of “fragmented” advertising. When I say that, I mean ads that don’t necessarily follow the traditional campaign format. Good brands embrace this and are truly looking at the medium to deliver the message, not just blowing out an idea that may have worked in your TV spot. And as mobile gets even more sophisticated with ad-blockers and such, telling a compelling story is going to be even more important to breakthrough. It’s really questioning what a “campaign” is. There’s been this old-school idea that people will view every single piece of work and process it or be entertained in the same way, regardless of the medium. That’s really changed in 2017. What I see from a brand is different from TV to YouTube to Snapchat.

2) We’re only as good as our creative so we invested heavily in beefing up our creative resources. Over the last year C+K Content Lab, our in-house production studio, added new talent and technologies. From Editors, 3-D animators, illustrators to developers, we’re trying to solve for ever-shrinking client budgets while maintaining a high level of craft. Sometimes that means bringing it in-house. Our social work for RE/MAX is a prime example of that, it’s a culmination of our creative teams working with our Content Lab to produce great work.

3) It’s hard to choose but I think the work we’ve done for DISH has been pretty great in terms of visibility (a small shop working with a big client) and creativity. Finding the right voice for our “Spokelistener” was tough but we’ve finally been able to nail a proper campaign for them and it seems to be doing well. We’re really lucky to be working with Martin Granger, he’s hilarious, super collaborative and great with talent. Each round of spots gets better and better.

4) Hopefully, instead of campaigns being slotted into every single media placement, you’ll see more meaningful pieces of content in fewer places but on better platforms. People want to be educated or entertained, not shouted at for the next limited-time offer. The brands that do that well will stand out.

5) For the agency, I’d love to continue listening more and talking less. As an industry, we love to talk about ourselves. There’s this inward navel-gazing that leads to work that a client is hesitant to buy. I think there’s a bigger challenge in listening to what a client is looking for and then bringing them along the journey of getting them to a good idea. It requires making more, but that’s the DIY spirit of Camp+King. I also don’t want to discount the fact that listening requires like-minded clients, its essential to making great work. Speaking of great work, we’ll be kicking off 2018 with a new round of spots for RE/MAX, directed by the wonderful Autumn De Wilde via Anonymous Content. It’s a fun comparison of people, their perfect homes and the agents that find them.

1) This year many brands played outside of their comfort zones and shifted marketing focus from functional messaging, to putting brand purpose at the forefront. I feel 2017 was a year of truly relying on data to inform marketing and creative decisions. And, new media appeared, or at least new ways to tell stories across media channels from VR, to 360, to understanding how to best use short and long form online and on mobile and, we began to understand what’s possible with AI.

3) Bayer Aspirin “HeroSmiths” and “Prescribed to Death” for the National Safety Council. Often we work on briefs where the common goal is to sell more of something, but sometimes you have the opportunity to create something far more impactful that can truly make a difference in peoples’ lives. This year, in the case of both “HeroSmiths,” focused on heart attack prevention, and “Prescribed to Death,” an awareness and prevention campaign targeting the Opioid Crisis, we got to literally help save lives. These rare opportunities have an amazing impact on us as individuals and as an agency—knowing that we have the power to harness our craft for good by bringing together creativity, technology and wonderful clients to change the future for the better.

4) I think AI will keep growing, and with it a whole new world to tap into. Our access to, and ability to interpret, data improves almost daily—this will continue to inform work that is stronger and more precise. Content will continue to be king and with it, storytelling. Overall I think 2018 will be a year where brands focus on evocative storytelling and creating innovative consumer experiences.

5) From an agency standpoint, we need to keep gaining momentum as we aim to position ourselves among the top five best BBDO agencies in the global Network. We’re proud to be part of the most awarded agency network and we set a high bar for ourselves internally. The past two years we have achieved great things at Energy, we’re ready to tap into the next level. From a personal standpoint, I believe the focus needs to always be my family, who give me the energy to be better at everything.

1) Augmented Reality definitely got a big boost in 2017, largely due to iOS 11 and its ARKit framework becoming available on iPhone and iPad. Agencies have been pitching AR ideas for years, but something about Apple embracing it in that way seemed to validate it as something beyond a digital cartwheel. Brands using AR to provide real, valuable utility to their customers are the ones pulling ahead of the pack.

2) I think the most significant changes our agency made this year weren’t about adapting to the current marketplace, but rather preparing for what the landscape is going to look like tomorrow. Investments in design thinking, tech innovation, even the way we work together as teams – much of what we did in 2017 was about setting our clients up for success in 2018 and beyond. We implemented change based on where things are going versus where they currently are.

3) One piece of work I’m really proud of from 2017 is a project we did for SweetWater Brewery. Fishing culture is an important element of their brand, so we created cans that, when stacked, form beautiful images of rainbow trout – the more cans you stack, the larger the trout. For every photo of a stack shared with #fishforafish, SweetWater stocked a live trout into a local river or stream. I liked it because it was a product and packaging solution first, with a cause tie-in that made perfect sense for the brand.

4) I think things will continue to change at a rapid pace in 2018 – the technology in our pockets will continue to open up new avenues and brands will have to continue figuring out new ways to tell their stories – but I also think there are some constants we can count on. Like creativity being the currency we trade in. Agencies are evolving at breakneck speeds and that’s 100% necessary, but creativity still wins the day. It may be a brave new world we’re all sprinting into, but our job is still to come up with great creative ideas. Agencies that can do that in ways that make sense in that brave new world will have the inside track.

5) My resolution for 2018 is to get back in touch with my inner nerd. There’s so much cool technology on our phones and tablets and baked into social media platforms, and a lot of it feels really accessible now. If your job is to figure out how to put these innovations to good used for brands, 2018 feels like it’ll be a feeding frenzy. So I’m excited about that. It’s also a goal of mine to eat fewer meals out of vending machines.

1) There seems to be an increasing use of brands deploying their power as a force for good, whether it’s the REI #OptOutside campaign from last year, a guerrilla work of art like The Fearless Girl or even the Breathalyzer Bag we created to discourage drunk driving on Super Bowl Sunday. The beauty of these stunts is that they require a very small—or sometimes no— media budget. They are all PR led, harnessing consumers’ passions on powerful issues.

2) We pride ourselves on adapting quickly to the changing advertising landscape.  Our in-house production department (eLevel), innovation group (GS&P Labs), and social content studio have greatly contributed to our work being more diverse than ever.  This diversity includes the Cisco Space Hotel VR Experience;, the Cheetos Museum;, the already-mentioned Breathalyzer Bag, which called you Ubers for potentially intoxicated consumers for TOSTITOS; a re-creation of the scenes from The Fate of the Furious in which we gave Xfinity fans a live stunt experience; and even a pop-up diner at Comic-Con that served meals from those shows consumers prefer to binge-watch, like Orange is the New Black and Game of Thrones.

3) To advertise Adobe’s new stock-photography offering—Adobe Stock—we asked artists worldwide to use stock images to re-create lost or stolen paintings while utilizing the Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator). Over 40,000 artists competed. We dramatized Comcast’s fast Internet speeds with a stunt that announced the release of the latest Fast and Furious film.  We built a fake drive-in cinema and surprised the movie’s unsuspecting attendees, who suddenly found themselves in the midst of a re-creation of the movie’s craziest chase scene. Twenty-eight million views.  We’re proud of that experiential execution: re-creating a live version of the same stunt that was simultaneously playing on-screen. It was a fun challenge.

I’m very proud of the special-edition Super Bowl TOSTITOS bag I mentioned earlier, which doubled as a Breathalyzer. The bag not only detected traces of alcohol but also called the consumer an Uber when they tapped a sensor on the bag with their phone.

There’s a lot of “where do I start/I’ve never done that before” excitement in approaching these executions.  That’s the best sign your experiential work is fresh and challenging.   

And, of course, I’m a sucker for craft so I couldn’t be more proud of our Stub Hub spots, “Festival” and “Machines,” shot by Martin de Thurah.  

4) I envision that brands will continue to take provocative stances and that the landscape for media will become only more complex. The challenge as a marketer is to create ideas that transcend media and attract consumers by engaging with their hearts and intrinsic motivations.

The goodwill projects will continue. The emphasis on great PR projects will continue.  The well-crafted work will stand out even more, as we continue to do what it takes to get any project off the ground.

Editorial will become more competitive. With increasingly ambitious but budget-challenging requests, combined with our faith that we can execute anything in the interest of PR, we are doing what it takes to get something in the can and then asking for favors on the post end.  The editorial talent pool seems to be rapidly expanding too.

5) It’s important we keep this fun. That’s a top priority.  The work will reflect the upbeat attitude with which it was made. Yes, we want to be the best agency in the world in 2018.  We want to maintain our focus on craft while continuing to challenge our clients to think outside the box.  How do we continue to push ourselves?  How do we make work everyone talks about?  

On a personal note, I hope to make executions more proactively for our clients; to take much greater advantage of editorial creative exploration. I’d also very much like to drop 20 pounds and grow more hair.

1) In today’s cultural climate, consumers connect to brands with values that align with their own. They also look to see that a brand’s actions back up its messaging. Combine this with consumers’ expectations for meaningful interactions and experiences from brands, and you understand how experiential marketing is now at the forefront of brand building.

As the importance of experiential has grown, so has its integration across media channels and technology platforms. Just look at publisher Refinery 29’s “29 Rooms” and how it became a media property hit and helped define a new revenue source for publishers. Another example is how advertising platforms like Facebook integrated tools in their Chatbot platforms allowing marketers to create engaging, digital experiential consumer encounters. There has also been considerable growth in platforms like Color Lab, MeowWolf, Complex Con and Brunch Con.

2) As more and more brands are working directly with experiential specialists like We’re Magnetic (as opposed to general agency partners), we’ve worked to ensure that we can deliver against all of our clients’ experiential related opportunities without relying on outside partners. This year, we’ve invested in a broad array of talent ranging from architects to engineers and lighting designers, and in the process also expanded our services and capabilities to include a wider range of specialties including motion graphics, video and digital production.

3) We produced a number of projects in 2017 that I’m extremely proud of. One highlight was working with Netflix on our “FYSee” experience with the goal of rethinking the courting of Emmy voters, as well as highlighting Netflix’s strengths as a network. As a true disruptor in its category, it was fitting for Netflix to show up and highlight its broad range of content in an unusual way, and disrupt the “For Your Consideration” screening approach in the process. We built a 24,000 square-foot experiential playground, including interactive sets, larger-than-life props, 21 live panels and unique installations which generated a ton of social buzz among fans and voters. Netflix stood out during the Emmy’s voting period as a forward-thinking brand and garnered 91 Emmy nominations for 2017, up from 54 in the previous year.

Another project I’m particularly proud of was for our client Sony around their new high-end Bravia TV product. By integrating the product to create a mind-bending installation, we created an event that not only attracted the right audience, but gave them an unparalleled product encounter during Freeze in NYC. Over the course of four days, hundreds of guests witnessed this cutting-edge technology and immersive art experience.

4) As marketers continue to ask themselves, “what is the most impactful and effective team of partners that I can enlist to reach my goals?”, I think the entire formula of partnerships and roster agencies is going to change significantly in 2018. There’s great opportunity for companies that are set up to partner differently and that are adaptable from a strategic, talent and compensation model standpoint, to meet their clients’ changing needs. Most importantly, the companies that are true specialists in their fields and able to create real results and lasting connections to consumers will become the most valued partners.

Separately, as the digital landscape continues to flourish, consumer content creation and consumption appetites will continue to grow too. We’ll see more properties like the Color Lab, Samsung’s 837, and Netflix’s FYSee dominating the attention of consumers. And more brands transition from the traditional consumer model to a more experience-based engagement focus, as Toy-r-Us, Lululemon, Airbnb and Cadillac have done recently.

5) The biggest resolution we have as a company is to continue to foster the growth and advancement of our employees, and to create an environment where they can truly flourish as ambassadors for experiential marketing. Together, we are leading a charge across the industry to help better educate all brands on how to best design and execute experiential. We believe that the more we can educate and lead the industry in how to properly integrate experiential, the more it will help us do the same and unlock new opportunities for brands.

1) Constant change is the new normal, that seems to be the accepted overall trend. But what was interesting to me this year was a bit of the notion that as things change the more they stay the same. As new media like Facebook, Snapchat etc., became expected staples in the landscape, many big brand leaders began to question their effectiveness and ROI. When that happened good ol’ fashioned film, TV and storytelling re-established their importance. They aren’t going anywhere. The most memorable pieces of work every year by real people, not the industry, are stories. And agencies that are not traditionally storytellers desperately want to be all of a sudden. TV and film are not everything obviously. They are just a part of a bigger multi-media idea and integration, but TV isn’t quite the dirty word it was. And that is good.

2) It is a big year for Grey with the arrival of John Patroulis from BBH. It’s early still but he is an incredible fit. A lot of change and energy and his ambition for the place is extremely high. Not just for the day to day creative standard but for Grey’s place more broadly in the industry - the largest truly creative run agency in the world. He is inheriting a strong foundation and now has the freedom and power to see it through. It will be exciting times.   

3) Right now I’m most proud of the work we’ve been doing on Febreze. It is one brand that is consistently living up to Famously Effective. Our Super Bowl program last year shortlisted several times at Cannes, big on social and earned, while sparking a huge increase in sales. It single handedly got one product moving off shelf, and pushed another product to new heights. That positive growth has been kept alive with our insightful “Odor Odes” campaign through the spring and summer. And we have another go at the Super Bowl. Hats off to the client for regularly taking chances as well as coming up with innovative ways to get to brave work quickly.

Fingers crossed on 2018’s Super Bowl that we keep the momentum going.  

4) Data, data, data, data. I still don’t totally get it all and alot of it seems like a bunch of googly moogly. But we are starting to wrap our heads creatively around this simple notion;  data inspires ideas, data can be used to implement them.

Data has been hot for a few years, but it now seems that creatives are starting to better understand how to fit into it all. Work that doesn’t take advantage of the massive amounts of research and info we have at our fingertips seems like a missed opportunity. And data that doesn’t have a creative or emotional spin, is just plain boring. They need each other. Oh and media too. Love me some media people. Get in there too.  

5) Be a better 4th grade basketball coach. I suck. I have all these big thoughts about our offensive philosophies; spread offense, ball movement, lots of screening. I fancy myself as the Gregg Popovich of CYO. And then I miss practice because I’m here, and it all goes to hell.

Second. Get to ideas faster and get to market faster. Try things in market even if they are not 100% perfect. Most campaigns don’t start out 100% perfect. But we should get it out there and keep tinkering with it. Like a new TV show, the pilot is never as good as season 3. But they get it out there and improve on it, tweak the tone, tweak the messaging, the balance and get it right. Getting work produced faster is on us the agency. We have to be quicker to ideas and quicker to produce them. But getting work to market faster and not overthinking it to the point of paralysis is on the client. And for some of them they are literally killing their business by letting personal opinion, subjectivity and ego keep them from being relevant in market.