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.