Advertising is an ever changing industry with captivating content at its very core. Here at OFFSET we’ve looked through our archive and created this playlist of OFFSET talks from some of the world’s leading ad agencies. Sit back and watch as they share the creative processes and insights behind some of the most successful ad campaigns in recent history. Firstly though, get up to speed with the How To Get Into Advertising Panel from 2014’s Second Room.
1. Mother London | Restrictions come in many forms.
A rarity in the advertising world – a company that has scaled, expanded and yet remained in their own words, “fiercely independent”. Mother have taken on the biggest and most corporate of clients since the company was formed around a kitchen table in 1996, but they never lost their cool, their edge or their drive. Mark Waites shows us that over the years they’ve been responsible for some of the most memorable campaigns for IKEA, Coca Cola, Stella Artois and tons more. They’ve also become a sort of cultural hub, with regular gigs, exhibitions and newsletters that both contribute to, and comment on, art, design and creativity. An agency other agencies want to be.
2. Iain Tait | Talk leads to doubt.
One of the themes of the weekend that emerged, ‘hacking’, was something that Iain Tait, the then Executive Creative Director at Google Creative Lab hammered home: use and shape what’s around you to create great things. Yes sir!
3. Ji Lee | Why do we do what we do?
Ji Lee also talked about “hackiness’ and having joy in your work, entertaining the audience with his personal projects, which arose from his frustration of working within the advertising industry.
4. George Lois | Learn how to use your own head.
George Lois has a reputation of being among the greatest innovators in advertising: he put MTV on the map with the ‘I want my MTV’ campaign; brought the Tommy Hilfiger brand to international attention; and renamed Stouffer’s frozen foods products, Lean Cuisine. Despite these successes, his iconic covers for Esquire remain his best-loved works.
5. Gavin O’Sullivan | Advertising exists to sell stuff.
A Creative Partner at the top of his game, working in (give or take) the largest Irish advertising agency, DDFH&B, Gavin talked about ideas, where they come from and, close to a first for OFFSET, writing.