Advance Jordan

Q: Introduce us to yourself and your company.
My name is Eric Jordan. I am the Chief Creative Officer for 2Advanced Studios, an interactive design studio based out of Southern California. 2Advanced Studios was born in 1999 and since its inception has completed well over 600 projects for various clients including AOL, Ford, Activision, EA Games, Google, and many more.

Q: Interactive Producers come from all walks of life, they are a hybrid of talents, tell us about your background and how you got interested in digital production?
I originally wanted to be a comic book artist. I used to scan my ink illustrations into the computer for the purpose of coloring them in Photoshop. Eventually I found myself designing fliers for electronic dance music parties and dabbling with HTML. At some point, I found myself creating these screen-by-screen animations in PowerPoint where I would line up various designs, attempting to string it all together into a kind of story-driven animatic. Suddenly, Flash came along and it changed everything. I was right in the middle of the revolution when it hit. That was the start of it all.

Q: How do you stay on top of emerging technologies and keep your team informed and motivated?
I have a lot of close relationships with the right people in the right places. This helps me stay on top of new products and technology coming out. Our relationship with Adobe is great. We often get to meet with the Flash team to provide insight into how our studio operates, how we use Flash in production, and how we think the technology could be improved. Everyone stays motivated on their own, so I do not typically have to get them hyped up on raising the bar. We only hire designers and developers that are highly self-motivated and WANT to take things to the next level on every project.

Q: What does your ideal client/project look like?
The ideal client/project is one where the focus is a product or service that we can get excited about and where the client will allow us as much creative freedom as we need to properly do our job. Sometimes a project can lose momentum if the client tries to reign in our creativity and doesn't let us find the sweet spot. Projects typically go smooth and successfully when we are given room to explore and break new ground.

Q: How do you educate your clients and set realistic expectations for a project?
Having successfully delivered 600+ projects, we try to help our clients understand where we are coming from when we try to steer them in a particular direction. It might be surprising to many that, although we are considered a "Flash" studio first and foremost, we often do not push Flash as a solution. Most clients would not benefit from a Flash solution and so we try to educate them why their project would best be married to a different technology. Sometimes this proves to be an uphill battle, but we wouldn't be doing our jobs if we didn't at least try to help the client understand our position and our recommendations. Simply going along with what the client tells you they want would be irresponsible and could ultimately end up causing a project to fail miserably. We've seen it happen on more than one occasion.

Q: What was the best project you have ever worked on?
The best projects are always our internal ones, mainly the 2Advanced website. The whole team gets together and brainstorms like crazy, living on Redbull and loud techno for weeks at a time, often sleeping under desks or not even sleeping at all. It's always an intensely creative time where everyone is working in both synchronistic harmony and utter chaos at the same time. It's always a surreal and rewarding experience.

Q: How many projects are you comfortable producing at one given time?
The team can typically handle around 5-6 projects at any given time without blowing a head-gasket. We've done away with the typical red-tape and bureaucratic processes that typically weigh companies down, so we're pretty streamlined and we are able to work rapidly while maintaining quality. We try to limit the amount of projects we are working on because quality is a big factor for us, and we never want to see that fall by the wayside.

Q: What does your dream production team look like?
A team of multi-talented people is ideal. It's great having people who specialize, however there are times when their skills might not be in high demand because the types of projects we are working on may be skewed in another direction. It's not very beneficial to the company to have people twiddling their thumbs in a corner. To have people who can morph and transform based on the types of projects we have going helps keep everyone productive and engaged in what is going on. It is not out of the ordinary for us to have a programmer working on 3D animations, for example.

Q: How do you ensure that your client's best interests are met?
First, we make sure that our side understands what the client wants to achieve and that everyone on our team has a clear understanding of how we are going to get there. Projects can often miss the mark if there is miscommunication or if someone doesn't understand the big picture. Even if someone is just doing a button design in Photoshop, they have to know all about the project, the client, and their ultimate goals. Making sure that everyone involved, from point A to point Z, understands this is key.

Q: What is your vision of what the next phase of our industry is going to look like?
I think we will see the Flash platform being extended to other devices and other industries, particularly set-top boxes, airline seat screens, and mobile devices (such as Flash for iPhone). Skilled designers and developers will have a whole new market open to them, without being cornered into the niche of web development. They will be able to apply their talents to a whole new range of mediums.

Q: Please share a snippet of wisdom that you would like to impart on our readers.
If it's a "job", you aren't doing what you love.

Barcinski & Jeanjean

Q: Introduce us to yourself and your company.
We are Barcinski & Jeanjean a two man gang based in Amsterdam. We specialize in cutting edge experiences. That includes websites, installations, games. Anything goes, as long it's cutting edge and there is something to experience.

Q: Interactive Producers come from all walks of life, they are a hybrid of talents, tell us about your background and how you got interested in digital production?
we both started as HTML coders/designers then we moved to hard core backend coding for a while until we discovered Flash. That opened up a lot of new creative worlds for us. We started experimenting with design, interaction and motion, and use our coding skills to create the impossible.

Q: How do you stay on top of emerging technologies and keep your team informed and motivated?
We don't want to do anything twice. In order to keep us motivated we are always looking for something new. Emerging technologies or traditional techniques from other disciplines such as film and animation are great sources of inspiration and fun. We spend a lot of time looking for new challenges and when we can't find them we simply create them ourselves. Look at Vectorvision, we created this one because we wanted our text to look good in 3D.

Q: What does your ideal client/project look like?
Most of our ideas and solutions come during the creation process. The ideal client, therefore, would be one that can accept not knowing exactly what the end result will be. That requires a lot of confidence on both sides. The client needs to be confident that what we do is right and we need to be confident that the client will be able to understand what we are trying to achieve.

Q: How do you educate your clients and set realistic expectations for a project?
We try to be very clear about what can and can't be done. We believe anything is possible, one way or the other, given sufficient time and budget. So it usually comes down to how much a project is worth to the client.

Q: What was the best project you have ever worked on?
Our own website. We were totally free to do whatever we felt was right. And since there was no deadline we could spend as much time as needed on finding the best solutions and giving attention to detail. And we feel that really shows in our website. But there's also a downside to not having a deadline. As we are both perfectionists we had to draw a line at one point and say "Now it's finished", otherwise we would still be working on it today.

Q: How many projects are you comfortable producing at one given time?
Many, but we usually try to do only one at a time. That allows you to really focus on a particular project and give it enough thought to maximize it's potential in all aspects.

Q: What does your dream production team look like?
The dream production team consists of wide range professionals that are both specialized and "broad". In other words each of the team members is not only a genius in his own discipline but is also genuinely interested and inspired by the talents of others. Team members should work together more in an "artists collaboration" style rather than in factory style processes.

Q: How do you ensure that your client's best interests are met?
We are not trying to sell our clients anything, we work with clients that come to us because they like our style. We will do everything not to disappoint them and be honest about what they want. For example, sometimes clients express the explicit wish for a 3D website while in some cases it's far from being the best solution. As much as we love doing 3D websites, it's important then to convince the client to let it go.

Q: What is your vision of what the next phase of our industry is going to look like?
It's a very interesting time right now, just when we though that our industry had matured we got caught by surprise. The economic crisis, the exponential growth in mobile markets, the growing casual gaming market. It all forced us to reconsider our priorities and focus. We see many opportunities along the way.

Q: Please share a snippet of wisdom that you would like to impart on our readers.
"Only those who attempt the absurd will achieve the impossible" - M.C. Escher

Champagne Wishes and Digital Dreams

Q: Introduce us to yourself and your company.
Champagne Valentine is a creative digital agency devoted to expressing interactive and beautiful experiences across all applications. The creative visionaries are Anita Fontaine and Geoff Lillemon and at the moment they are depending on a close circle of friends and fans for production and support such as myself, Dexter Randazzo

Q: Interactive Producers come from all walks of life, they are a hybrid of talents, tell us about your background and how you got interested in digital production?
One day I went to Boston on a sales trip and Geoff and Anita came speeding towards me on a machine and we went swimming in Walden Pond and I have been enticed with the digital experience ever since. It is them and their aesthetic that inspires me to work in this medium, no the medium itself.

Q: How do you stay on top of emerging technologies and keep your team informed and motivated?
I talk to people who are smarter than me

Q: What does your ideal client/project look like?
It's creatively open and financially rewarding.

Q: How do you educate your clients and set realistic expectations for a project?
Starting from the beginning with a clear creative object, schedule and budget is always the way to manage expectations.

Q: What was the best project you have ever worked on?
Our current website

Q: How many projects are you comfortable producing at one given time?
Depends on the project. But I would say 3 - 4 comfortably.

Q: What does your dream production team look like?
Again, depends on the project but Ideally I like to have the creatives overseeing, not executing. And a good production team so no one is over worked. I believe that everyone should have one role and the production should be seamless and streamlined.

Q: How do you ensure that your client's best interests are met?
By maintaining their expectations from the beginning and also making sure there is streamlined communication. I'm also a firm believer in going a little bit above and beyond all of the time.

Q: What is your vision of what the next phase of our industry is going to look like?
I think it's going to be a confusing shuffle for the next year but that more and more the industry needs people who can handle all aspects of production. And our industry needs people who can relate to an audience and reach them in a way never seen before.

Q: Please share a snippet of wisdom that you would like to impart on our readers.
Get away from the computer, buy some flowers, sip some bubbly, enjoy life.

Open to Change

Q: Introduce us to yourself and your company.
I am Jason Sutterfield with The Martin Agency where I function as the Director of Technology and Production. My primary responsibilities are management of our digital production studio, and assisting in new business and cross training within our Integrated Production and Design group which includes all mediums of advertising.

Q: Interactive Producers come from all walks of life, they are a hybrid of talents, tell us about your background and how you got interested in digital production?
I started my career in adverting 13 years ago as a developer. During my development years I worked within a lot of developmental silos including front-end and back-end development, game/lingo development, Shockwave, Flash, server management, production design, etc. I moved into a role of project management/producer approximately 8 years ago. I truly enjoy having my hands in all aspects of project life cycle.

Q: How do you stay on top of emerging technologies and keep your team informed and motivated?
Having a strong, tight-knit group that loves to share is key! Google Reader has become a great asset to our team. We all follow our own RSS/blogs and then with the stroke of a key are able to share with each other a story or topic and then continue the conversation with our points of view. Between everyone in the studio I guarantee there isn’t a topic covering technology, production or advertising we’re not aware of. Twitter has also become a way of life of ours: not only to communicate with each other, but also to more broadly share key topics that might benefit the agency as a whole.

Q: What does your ideal client/project look like?
It is our responsibility to lead the client in whatever endeavor we approach them with. It is our job to help them understand the limitations of a technology or advertising exercise. The ideal client is one that is open minded to new ideas that might have not been executed before, and also one that will consistently push us to drive the idea further than even originally imagined.

Q: How do you educate your clients and set realistic expectations for a project?
The agency’s relationship with the client must be trustworthy: period. If it is, you’re then able to carry on a realistic conversation and set expectations throughout the project accordingly.

Q: How many projects are you comfortable producing at one given time?
At any given time our group is juggling upwards of 50+ projects in different phases of the production lifecycle. We attempt to level our producers in a way that they’re able to focus on the quality and delivery of the end result.

Q: What does your dream production team look like?
A team that is nimble and agile in response to the consistently changing demands of the project. If we’re able to keep our teams small, informed and focused we’re able to produce amazing work.

Q: What is your vision of what the next phase of our industry is going to look like?
Integration among our offline production partners is key! Integrated campaigns are a way of life now and we need to constantly drive to find efficiencies across all mediums to provide world class work.

Q: Please share a snippet of wisdom that you would like to impart on our readers.
Be open to change; perhaps even daily change. Our industry is evolving so quickly we must be open to new ideas; new leaders; and even more importantly, new client demands.

The Future is Friendly

Q: Introduce us to yourself and your company.
My name is Catherine Eve Patterson and I am the VP of digital production for McCann. We are a small, but growing guerrilla outfit in a large, monolithic agency endeavoring to do great digital work with our clients. In the last six months we have produced apps, sites, campaigns, animations, platforms, the works. I'm really proud of the progress we have made.

Q: Interactive Producers come from all walks of life, they are a hybrid of talents, tell us about your background and how you got interested in digital production?
I was born in San Francisco, moved to NYC when i was two months old, Vienna when I was two years old, and India at seven. That started me on a long road of trying to make sense out of various cultures with varying degrees of mayhem. It certainly introduced me to the concept of relative morality. I arrived at boarding school as an American teen who had never lived in America and got busy making and producing weird art of all kinds. This took me to NY, London, Paris, Nice, SF, Spain and Brooklyn. I worked as a producer, writer and developer in theater and independent film, migrated into gaming, then streaming video/mixed media/experiential stuff, always kinds of interested in the convergence of tech and art and the ways people used these elements to create community and narrative.

Q: How do you stay on top of emerging technologies and keep your team informed and motivated?
It helps if you're an insatiable data junkie. I also recommend having smart creative geeky friends and colleagues who like to freak about cool new things and blog and spam the hell out of each other with inspirations of all kinds, especially unexpected ones. For team building, I regularly take my team out for cultural outings to see important art films like Quantum of Solace and Fast and Furious. We also go see Buckminster Fuller shows. We work around the clock more or less, often in multiple countries, projects and languages--so we relax as much as possible when the opportunity to do so arises.

Q: What does your ideal client/project look like?
What's so cool about working with digital clients, where budgets are sometimes still quite lo-fi, is you all get to be brave and problem-solve in very creative ways. You really have to come up with some bootstrap solutions which can yield amazing results. An ideal client for us would be one who had a great brand and was open to and eager for the chance to develop a true digital platform around the work-this might take the shape of any media--broadcast work, video, experiential, apps, you name it. The idea is to find a way to translate a super cool idea across a bunch of existing and emerging media channels

Q: How do you educate your clients and set realistic expectations for a project?
Structure is our friend. We are big fans of the conservatory model of art school-you have to learn and understand and apply structure to be able to break it. We use it to define process, flow, deliverables, the works. This way we have a baseline to map back to if it all starts going horribly awry at any point. We also help clients get oriented in the digital market space by looking at what's out there with them, and trying to help with what we think a road to success might look like. Whether they take our advice or not is a different question. But all is love.

Q: What was the best project you have ever worked on?
Producing digital work for The Phoenix Mars Lander Mission with Principal Investigator Peter Smith from the University of Arizona, Jet Propulsion labs and NASA. Those guys really know how to produce some amazing s***.

Q: How many projects are you comfortable producing at one given time?
Depends on the scale-usually no fewer than 3, no more than 12 or so. From tiny tiny to very large, enterprise stuff, with a team of like-minded producers.

Q: What does your dream production team look like?
Like the one I have, with a couple add-ons from old haunts. Smart, funny, fearless, unstoppable, patient and kind.

Q: How do you ensure that your client's best interests are met?
We try to show them that we're in it for the long haul with them. Clients are understandably nervous making forays into new digital digital ventures, so we try to baby-step stuff as needed, always trying to work with them to produce best-of-class creative digital that has "legs", to use the old-school phrase. Stuff we can build on instead of throw away. It's been a pretty successful model thus far.

Q: What is your vision of what the next phase of our industry is going to look like?
Some day people will create analog selves and doppelgangers to get away from the full transparency model we're headed into. Until then, as walls to media erode, and full transparency gains, it'll be the non-stop narrative we produce for. I am looking forward to producing work for smart fabrics, homes, digital bill boarding of all kinds, dirigibles, hand-held media, customized apps, robotics and digital assistants of all kinds.

Q: Please share a snippet of wisdom that you would like to impart on our readers.
The future is friendly.

Interactive Aristocracy

Q: Introduce us to yourself and your company.
My name is Heather Reddig and I'm the Executive Producer at Your Majesty Co. We're a creative agency founded by Swedes and based in New York, dedicated to excellence in advertising, design, and communications. Your Majesty has quickly been established as a well-known interactive agency, partly because of the reputation of the staff but also because of numerous award-winning productions for clients such as Cisco, American Express, Yahoo!, Vitamin Water and The New York Times. 

Q: Interactive Producers come from all walks of life, they are a hybrid of talents, tell us about your background and how you got interested in digital production?
When I was a child, I was sulking about not having an Atari when all my friends had one. To shut me up, my dad taught me how to build my own games on a Tandy 100, using BASIC. I signed onto prodigy.net  around 1990, and I was totally sucked into bulletin boards, and I've been stuck on the internet ever since.  I graduated with an English major and film studies minor, and just kicked around at various jobs - from waitress to record store girl to insurance broker to animal caretaker intern at a zoo. The first job that was pure internet was working as a web project manager for an insurance company. I did the PMP/Six Sigma thing for a bit, but really wanted something way more creative. So I moved to New York and got into digital advertising. It seemed to be a natural fit for me - I got to be surrounded by creative people, interested in the same things I was, and essentially nerd out all day.
 
I'm going back to school this Fall, I've just been accepted into the Masters of Media Arts program at the New School. It will be tough sometimes, I'm sure, to balance work and school, but I think it's going to be rewarding. I'm excited to learn about media from a theoretical perspective rather than a business/production perspective, and I'm looking forward to a cross-disciplinary focus across all types of media - film, audio, digital, social, etc. 

Q: How do you stay on top of emerging technologies and keep your team informed and motivated?
We're a pretty small group, and we're constantly passing things around to each other through emails, etc. We're also an eclectic bunch, with all sorts of different interests and talents, so our inspiration is not just limited to emerging technologies, but music, fashion, design, art, film, books, politics, ad campaigns, history, current events, economics, stupid online videos, photoshopping eachother's faces into ridiculous photos. I also have a huge mess of RSS feeds that I try to keep up with. And finally, my friends - word of mouth is key. 

Q: What does your ideal client/project look like?
I like clients who know what they want and are looking to take risks. I also like the projects that involve a bit of everything - video, audio, 3D, post, mobile, installation, etc etc. I also like informationally-heavy sites, where information architecture and user experience is very important. Being in a small agency, I get to be a part of pretty much every project from start to finish, which is great, because I get exposed to all sorts of stuff that I wouldn't necessarily be aware of in a big agency.
 
Q: How do you educate your clients and set realistic expectations for a project?
This is why project documentation and communication is so important. I author or co-author almost all of the project documentation, from proposals to SOWs to detailed project plans to functional requirements and IA to technical specifications. Some clients are familiar with all of that, others, who may be working on their first web project, don't know what to expect. I make sure that every client understands the documents that they're approving, and if they have any questions at all, to please please please ask me. My goal is to make every client feel comfortable asking me any question, even if they think it's dumb, because it's so much better to be over-communicative than under. 

Q: What was the best project you have ever worked on?
I'm not trying to avoid playing favourites here, but tend to like whatever I'm working on now the best. I'm happy to have a job where I get to do something new every day - it's the nature of the digital space. 

Q: How many projects are you comfortable producing at one given time?
It really depends on the project. I like to have a lot of stuff going on at once, as I get to be exposed to more clients, products, ideas and technologies. You also become more efficient in the day-to-day stuff, and sometimes the snap judgements you make are the best decisions of the project. But slowing down and concentrating on fewer projects is nice too. 

Q: What does your dream production team look like?
If I could add a few people I've worked with over the years to the team I work with right now (creative and development), that's it.

Q: How do you ensure that your client's best interests are met?
I think what defines a producer is the ability to critically assess a project, to be able to identify and manage not only the when and what and how, but also the why. Understanding why a project is being undertaken is the link between not only the producer and the client, but also the producer and his/her internal teams, and also ensures that no one loses sight of the big picture.

Q: What is your vision of what the next phase of our industry is going to look like?
If I knew that, I'd be rich already. But I like to think I'm prepared for anything.

Q: Please share a snippet of wisdom that you would like to impart on our readers.
Always look for that one thing in every project to learn from. 

Studio Blirp

Q: Introduce us to yourself and your company.
Hi, my name is Andrés De Mula. I’m the creative director of the Studio “BLIRP”. I’m a graphic designer and animator. I have always had a passion for animation and design and I think the best way to combine both is by the motion graphics.

BLIRP was founded by my friend Rodrigo Díaz and I. We specialize in character and concept design as well as in motion graphics.

Q: Interactive Producers come from all walks of life, they are a hybrid of talents, tell us about your background and how you got interested in digital production?
The first film which surprised me when I was a kid was Tron jajaj. I found it so odd, it’s so typical of the 80’s that I think it would be in fashion nowadays. I went on watching cartoons until I met Totoro by Miyasaki, and then I discovered the world of the anime and I ended up in Tokio some years later. There I visited de Gibli Museum and also Toei. Then I decided that was what I wanted to do. At the same time my taste for the Bauhaus and typography grew more and more. Nothing better than motion graphics as an answer to the mix I have inside me.

We love Studio 4C and Lobo, it’s so good what they do!

Q: How do you stay on top of emerging technologies and keep your team informed and motivated?
Watching a lot of material all the time. At the studio on Fridays we do something we call “blirping”: we invite friends who are designers or just people interested in the subject and we watch motion pictures and motion cartoons and a lot of Stash. By the way I tell you that number 55 will show the studio and our work.

We also watch, read and know about the latest news thanks to the Internet. We don’t need much motivation since we all love what we do, but we think that we still have a long way to reach where we want, but we are just starting and we hope we’ll have more opportunities to achieve better things.

Q: What does your ideal client/project look like?
The ideal client for us would be MTV and Cartoon Network because it seems they give you freedom of expression. They are our favourite channels.

The project we would like most is to make an animation movie in which the character design, backgrounds and story are created by us.

Q: How do you educate your clients and set realistic expectations for a project?
We live in Mendoza, Argentina. Our client is absolutely unaware of all the axial work involved. Every time we do a job we have to explain why it takes so much time and how we do it. We generally explain everything in meetings before beginning to work.

Q: What was the best project you have ever worked on?
At present we are working in two top-secret projects which we love, with two studios in Buenos Aires: with Pepper Melon and DGPH. They make fascinating vinyl toys and they have asked us to make an animated piece for Cartoon Network or Nick, (not decided yet) but it’s top, top-secret: so shhhhhh...!

Q: How many projects are you comfortable producing at one given time?
It depends on the complexity of the project. Some times one, two or three, but not more. I like to supervise every piece of work, the others do, too. We are obsessive with that.

Q: What does your dream production team look like?
We all get on very well and it’s so pleasing to work in BLIRP that I think I already have my dream team, but it would be better if we were more. But it’s difficult to find qualified people to work in the studio because Mendoza is a small city and there are not places (schools, colleges) that prepare for it.

Q: How do you ensure that your client's best interests are met?
We give the best of us in all occasions encouraged by the passion for what we are doing.

Q: What is your vision of what the next phase of our industry is going to look like?
Since technology is becoming cheaper and easier to work with, I think that talent and the studio style will be the most importat. In this world which is so globalized everything looks alike and that’s a bit scary. In my opinion, originality in the production methods and aesthetics will be looked for.
On the other hand, virtual reality is also something worth exploring: I imagine myself designing worlds in a not far away future.

Q: Please share a snippet of wisdom that you would like to impart on our readers.
Cheer up! It seems impossible to think that animation studios can appear in remote places of the world (if you knew where I live, you would know what I mean). My advice is that you have to be enthusiastic and persistent, read a lot and watch all kinds of movies, learn and experiment without fear. We have only one life and we must be happy.

180Producer

Q: Introduce us to yourself and your company.
My name is Paul Sutton and I run Interactive projects out of the Integrated Production department of 180LA. We are part of the Omnicom network and were created by 180Amsterdam about two years ago. Our clients include Sony, adidas, Bombay Sapphire, and Boost Mobile.

Previously I started the Interactive Production group at Crispin Porter + Bogusky and worked on Volkswagen and truth at Arnold Worldwide.

Q: Interactive Producers come from all walks of life, they are a hybrid of talents, tell us about your background and how you got interested in digital production?
I initially wanted to get into the creative side of advertising – first a designer and then a writer. My background was always in digital since I started learning HTML out of a book years ago for my very own Geocities page. I was really fond of advertising and specifically Arnold Worldwide’s work for Volkswagen in Boston so my pursuit led me to their office.

The only position available was as an Assistant Producer in their Interactive Production department and I took the job in the hopes of eventually jumping to the creative side.

I quickly realized that my creative abilities would have a long way to go to catch up with anyone there, and found digital production to be a fun challenge on its own.

Q: How do you stay on top of emerging technologies and keep your team informed and motivated?
By reading a lot of blogs on an array of topics – technology, cars, politics, and food – often times I find content that applies to a project I’m working on in the most unlikely of places. Also, comments and discussions relating to a topic are very valuable and can explore similar topics tangentially.

To keep strong communication with my team, I get out of e-mail and passive discussion methods. Speaking with someone in person brings up a lot of questions that neither of you may have realized even existed. It also gets their heads out of a complex spreadsheet, ActionScript project, or burgeoning e-mail box.

E-mail or IM best serves the purpose of resolving the nitty gritty issues of a project but it’s still important to understand the bigger picture – why are we doing this? Is there a simpler solution? Are we maintaining a strong creative product for the client with the decisions we make?

Q: What does your ideal client/project look like?
A lot of people I talk to or interview say they would love to work on a brand that makes “cool stuff”. For me, however, it’s all about the clients. A flexible client who gives you room to work and create the best message for them is more important than the actually product that’s advertised.

For example, a brand perceived as boring might have some great clients who are actually looking to elevate their brand. In this case the agency can go beyond a typical campaign and can get involved in retail placements, product research and development, and PR. At that point the relationship is truly two ways and extends beyond simply replying to a campaign brief.

Suddenly, a boring product no other agency really wanted to work on can become popular or innovative as a product of the relationship.

Q: How do you educate your clients and set realistic expectations for a project?
In the past I have seen some producers try and hide things from the client – either in a 35 page deck of wireframes or small print in a Statement of Work – that is sent through by the Account Service team. It’s important for the producer to walk clients through estimates, wireframes, or SOWs and lay things out clearly in a conversation.

Thus, the producer can go over potential areas where client involvement will be key or certain decisions will be necessary. Often when this dialogue is represented by a chain of forwarded e-mails the importance of the message becomes diluted.

I feel more confident my point of view is relayed accurately when I’m able to directly express it to key clients.

Q: What was the best project you have ever worked on?
I worked on a Volkswagen project to introduce the new GTI – it pushed me into areas I had little experience. In about a month the site had to be produced to include digitizing a GTI, creating 3d renders of every available accessory in several angles, casting and shooting for a multiple path video, and pulling together an engine that would let users customize their car and watch a corresponding customized video.

Working on a time sensitive project (the launch tied in with the Olympics) with a high-profile for the client allowed me to get quick decisions made and put me in a situation where I had to learn all about 3d scanning, rendering, and retouching on the fly.

Q: How many projects are you comfortable producing at one given time?
It’s best to be busy – projects range in scope, of course, and tighter timeline projects eat up hours and time quickly. The most I have worked on at one time was 9; I would have been comfortable with about half of that.

Q: What does your dream production team look like?
People who are smart and flexible are ideal. Some producers who have worked for a while come in with institutional inertia preventing them from looking at projects objectively. These producers scoff or shoot down ideas that they have not worked on before and seem foreign to them without taking the time to do any research.

The best producers I’ve worked with refuse to say “No.” They offer alternatives and can manage the uncertainties of production without discomfort.

Q: How do you ensure that your client's best interests are met?
Communication is key. Ask the hard questions that everyone in the room is thinking but no one wants to say – “What’s the plan if this campaign doesn’t go viral” or “Is this campaign best served by producing so much work?” Decisions need to be informed and agreed to as a group.

If at any point your team and client is not aware of a certain path the project is headed towards the producer has an obligation to relay that information.

Q: What is your vision of what the next phase of our industry is going to look like?
It’s been headed towards a content based model for a while now and will continue to head there. We’ve gone from beautiful animations on microsites to 140 character twitter feeds. From a client’s perspective, I think the projects that are coming out now better suit their needs than using technology for technology’s sake.

There will always be campaign specific content on sites; the longer term process of evolving a client’s website with utilities and content that a consumer is looking for will have greater importance.

Q: Please share a snippet of wisdom that you would like to impart on our readers.
Production is production is production. Less so lately, but it seems that Interactive Producers are seen as magicians who work behind closed doors. Great producers can achieve some level of success in this model as work still gets produced, but less experienced producers will often go down the wrong path at some point and leave the client feeling burned.

It’s these experiences that subject Interactive jobs to greater checks and balances, and with good reason. To avoid this, watch how broadcast or print producers work. The communication is all open – pre-production meetings with the client and the vendor on the same phone. Or a shoot where the client sits next to the agency and decisions are made together.

Interactive Production has to be more transparent; waiting weeks between client reviews tends to indicate to me that something is wrong. Prototypes and pre-vis can be shown; or music, sound, or copy. It’s ok to disagree with the client on decisions and explain why, but they need to be included in the process.

By doing this, the client suddenly is a more involved stakeholder and feels a greater ownership of the project. They are more satisfied with the end result and will also speak highly of the agency to the other members of their team.

Creative Cartelle

Q: Introduce us to yourself and your company.
Cartelle is a creative unit formed by Johnny Slack & Stevijn van Olst based in Amsterdam. We aim to deliver high quality interactive experiences.

Q: How do you stay on top of emerging technologies, stay informed and motivated?
Blogs & magazines are a good resource for new technologies. Inspiration can come from just about anything if it applies: games, movies, every day life

Q: What does your ideal client/project look like?
Our ideal projects are for brands/clients that are looking for something new or innovative. We like making things that are entertaining and useful.

Q: How do you educate your clients and set realistic expectations for a project?
Educating your client is very important in the interactive industry, the trick is to take a few steps back and be able explain all the details that are common knowledge to us.

Q: What was the best project you have ever worked on?
Nintendo Europe was one of the more interesting projects, this was a redesign for the Nintendo Europe platform which is quite a beast. We incorporated very interesting filter mechanics and embraced the Nintendo fan culture through blogs and user generated content.


Q: How many projects are you comfortable producing at one given time?
At this point 1 at the time, since its just 2 people. We like to take our time to do things right, the process gets complicated and stressful as more projects and people are involved at the same time. We aim to produce quality creative work and that's nearly impossible if you juggle too much at the same time.

Q: What does your dream production team look like?
That would be our current combination of an Art Director/designer and Creative Programmer. We would like to add a good motion graphics artist, and a producer would be nice over time.

Q: How do you ensure that your client's best interests are met?
By working hard and staying humble.

Q: What is your vision of what the next phase of our industry is going to look like?
Interactive displays moving more into public spaces, for informational or entertainment purposes. So more agnostic interface design that can be scalable and applied to multiple types of screens. Mobile is also finally starting to unfold.

Q: Please share a snippet of wisdom that you would like to impart on our readers.
"You really can do whatever you want if you put your mind to it."

Jetting Upward

Q: Introduce us to yourself and your company.

My name is Brent Gairy and I’m a project manager at Off-Site Services. We are a web development studio that partners with all manner of creative agencies to create great online destinations. I’m also a partner at SalientDrift.com, which specializes in creating websites for music and marketing clientele.


Q: Interactive Producers come from all walks of life, they are a hybrid of talents, tell us about your background and how you got interested in digital production?

I got my first start in digital production subtitling Japanese anime tapes back in 1996 as a means to make a few dollars in high school. I went to college to do computer animation but once I saw Photoshop and Authorware I changed majors to multi-media and never looked back.

After college I interned at Domani Studios and then freelanced for a number of years doing a lot of work in the music and fashion industries. Over the years I transitioned from design, then production, and now I’m firmly entrenched in the project management side of things.

Q: How do you stay on top of emerging technologies and keep your team informed and motivated?

I’ve always been fascinated by emerging technologies and I tend to consume all manner of information pertaining to new trends. Therefore, I would be lost without Google Reader, Evernote, and Twitter. I’m blessed that my team is always ready and able to learn a new API or application; it makes my job slightly easier.


Q: What does your ideal client/project look like?

My ideal client is someone who has:
A vision for their project/brand.
A realistic budget.
Someone who is willing to learn about the web.
Is open to challenging the status quo.


Q: How do you educate your clients and set realistic expectations for a project?

I feel developing a relationship is paramount. If your client doesn’t trust you and believe you have their best interest in mind; the project will not go smoothly. Sometimes, I’ll show a client a competitor’s site and explain the pros and cons of that website and how it can be improved. I often send clients emails of interesting articles or websites that might be helpful. Most importantly I try to be available to answer any question a client may have.

Managing expectations sometimes means telling client things they sometimes don’t want to hear. In those cases I have alternate solutions to soften the blow. Saying “no” sets the stage for bruised feelings. It all comes back to the trust thing again.

Q: What was the best project you have ever worked on?

I have worked on quite a few great projects. However, I would have to say the portfolio site I worked on for Little x was a high-water mark for me as a producer. I got the opportunity to work with my college mentor, as well as, several childhood friends. Even today I get compliments from people in the music industry when they find out I worked on it.


Q: How many projects are you comfortable producing at one given time?

I would say about 8 projects at a time. I’m often working on two large sites, including various smaller projects on a daily basis. 


Q: What does your dream production team look like?

It would be a multi disciplinary team that has worked with one another for a number of years. Working with people where I am knowledgeable of their thought processes, helps me to focus on the client and get their deliverables completed.


Q: How do you ensure that your client's best interests are met?

We are in a service industry. This means always informing the client of the big picture goals along with where we are in the development process. At the end of the day their work isn’t a portfolio piece, its their livelihood. 


Q: What is your vision of what the next phase of our industry is going to look like?

I recently saw Microsoft labs 2019 video, and the way the internet seamlessly blended into reality struck me. We need devices and services that disappear and let people become more productive and creative. I can’t wait to see the technological cross pollination that will make this future a reality.

Q: Please share a snippet of wisdom that you would like to impart on our readers.
Interactive is more than technology, its closer to a bespoke tailoring. People should be able to see and feel the attention to detail in your projects.

One Hundred Fifty Percent

Q: Introduce us to yourself and your company.
Hello! I’m Erinn Farrell, and my role here at space150 is as the Lead Project Manager – essentially I have the privilege to not only be involved on Client specific projects, but I’m also part of an amazing group of people who are committed to success across all of our clients and improving the role of Project Management in relation to our clients and internally.

The project management team is just one of many cogs that makes our company, space150, so successful. space150 is the first hybrid agency to join the best practices from art and design to science and technology, thus combining ad agency creativity with software company adaptability.

We maintain this harmonic blend of design and technology in order to create meaningful digital relationships. space150 utilizes a multidisciplinary team of strategic, creative, technology, usability, and media professionals who will collaborate to create user experiences that are consistent with your brand position and business objectives. Check us out at: www.space150.com

Q: Interactive Producers come from all walks of life, they are a hybrid of talents, tell us about your background and how you got interested in digital production?
Prior to joining space150, I worked as a consultant for Accenture Consulting with Oracle Systems and Best Buy. During my tenure, I had the opportunity to lead the testing and development effort on various large-scale retail product launches, including call center, item and warehouse management, and point of sale solutions. In addition to myself, other members of the space150 PM team have come from traditional advertising, photography production, and technical development.

Q: How do you stay on top of emerging technologies and keep your team informed and motivated?
At space150 we are blessed to have so many disciplines and team members that keeping up with technologies is so easy because a ton of information comes to us! Our teams are eager to learn & experiment, so if an opportunity arises we are sure to do some investigation and then work with our teammates to determine how to utilize the technology or process.

Q: What does your ideal client/project look like?
Our most successful relationships have been with Clients who are interested in partnering to determine not only how a website looks & performs, but also what the business needs are & what solutions are most intriguing while being appropriate, and who are most committed to keeping an open mind!

Q: How do you educate your clients and set realistic expectations for a project?
The more communication up front the better! We are sure to include an explanation of our process, time lines, milestones, etc. in our initial conversations with all Clients and work to create documentation that supports our process while conforms to the Clients needs as well.

Q: What was the best project you have ever worked on?
Honestly, I have had the opportunity to work on so many great projects it’s hard to choose! I did however truly enjoy the rebuild of www.starz.com – this project included everything thing from strategy, design, requirement definition, and a ton of development – the entire project was about a year in length but it was a blast all the way through!

Q: How many projects are you comfortable producing at one given time?
It obviously depends on size and scope, but I’ve found that the number of projects matters less than the number of clients. I try and assign around 5 Clients per Project Manager – allowing them enough projects per Client to really understand not only the Project deliverables & but the larger Client goals as well.

Q: What does your dream production team look like?
I already have it; my dream team is space150!

Q: How do you ensure that your client's best interests are met?
Communication with the client and internally; a high level of visibility for all members involved, and frequent check-ins/meetings/reviews to be sure the client & space150 relationship grows along with the project.

Q: What is your vision of what the next phase of our industry is going to look like?
I think the next big challenge is going to be how do we do more with less. Monetarily with the economic client, but also physically with size of mobile devices – the challenge will be how to remain as creative, as cutting edge, as agile, as opportunistic with less space, money, and often time.

Q: Please share a snippet of wisdom that you would like to impart on our readers.
You need to let the team determine the leader you are going to be, not vice versa. The most successful teams and relationships I have built are those informed by the people around me. By being open & understanding of personalities, working styles, and pressures I’ve been able to adapt my leadership style to what is most necessary for that particular Client/Project/Team.

Also, you need to know that success is different for every situation – so be prepared to define what success means and what you can do to ensure it happens.

Sterling Silver

Q: Introduce us to yourself and your company.
Hello all, my name is Harry Crane and I head up the newly created Television Department at the Sterling Cooper advertising agency.

Q: Interactive Producers come from all walks of life, they are a hybrid of talents, tell us about your background and how you got interested in digital production?
I originally started off as a media buyer until I was recently appointed the head producer of Sterling Cooper's newly formed television department. The department is pretty small right now, it originally consisted solely of me until I expanded the department by adding a script reviewer.

Q: How do you stay on top of emerging technologies and keep your team informed and motivated?
Well since its initial launch in the U.S. in 1940, TV commercials have become one of the most effective, persuasive, and popular method of selling products of many sorts, especially consumer goods. We are still in the pretty early stages of TV and there is a long way to go before we start to see what this square box can do. For now I watch tons of commercials and even try to think of ways to adapt what some of those folks in Hollywood are doing on the big screen for the small screen. Its pretty neat if you think about it.

Q: What does your ideal client/project look like?
My ideal client would have to be a brand that is willing to think outside of the box and take a risk on putting more of their campaign dollars into television or broadcast as we call it in the industry. A client who can see past the obvious limitations of what the current state of Television is and realize that as early adopters it is we who are now pushing the envelope and who will take this new platform to the next level. Trust me when I say that it will be the innovators in this new platform, the clients who take a chance, who will adapt to it quicker and ultimately be ahead of the game when everyone else jumps on the band wagon.

Q: How do you educate your clients and set realistic expectations for a project?
Well not many people really know what the Television is truly capable of in terms of being a new platform for advertising in more robust and creative ways. Sure print is great, but TV has so much more punch. What I try to do is to give them a bit of a background as to what the technology behind Television is all about but then I give them a glimpse into the future! That is when they get excited. True perhaps I do set some pretty high expectations but I am just so darn excited about creating content for an emerging platform.

Q: What was the best project you have ever worked on?
Well I must say I am a bit biased because it was the project that landed me in my new position. It would be the Belle Jolie project I worked on with a copywriter here at Sterling named Peggy Olson. The reason this was an ideal project is that I took the risk of proposing to a representative of Belle Jolie that the cosmetics company sponsor a controversial viral television drama. The rep declined, but Bertram appreciated my initiative for forward thinking and let me start our new Television department.

Q: How many projects are you comfortable producing at one given time?
I would say about 3-4 at any one given time. I am a department of one so for now we send the creative out to a production team outside the agency who will then pretty much do whatever we ask. They are pretty quick with this stuff and have all kinds of cool editing equipment, I sometimes like to go watch, they love it when I show up!

Q: What does your dream production team look like?
Well that is pretty simple, it would start off with Don Draper who is one of the most mysterious men I ever met but no one in this industry can get into the minds of the consumer like Don. Then I would probably want Peggy Olson on board because the stuff she comes up with is golden, that girl has a real knack for copy writing. Salvatore Romano is a must have because what team would be complete without an art director? I would definitely want to include Ken Cosgrove who is a great account executive that manages the client in a way that keeps them out of our hair. With a team like that you cant lose!

Q: How do you ensure that your client's best interests are met?
Well, I will tell you a little secret, its the scotch and cigarettes. What we do is we kind of get ourselves going at around 11am, the stress level gets pretty high at around 3pm but we just take things up a notch and a few doubles and a good pack and a half smoked usually keeps us pretty calm. Our clients actually send us cartons and cases for the office, it keeps us creative folks calm and lets us think clearly when we are coming up with ideas.

Q: What is your vision of what the next phase of our industry is going to look like?
Oh there is a lot on the horizon. I think we have only scratched the surface of where Television is going to be in 20 years from now. I go to conferences and hear a lot of the chatter about new channels that have more content to advertise against. But these channels will be special, they will have a niche purpose to cater to specific audiences, imagine that. We can advertise directly to demographics that we are able to target through these niche channels. Its a long way off but innovations are being made every day. GE is actually working on something called Porta-Color, apparently all TV screens will be in full color but I think it will be a while before signals are actually broadcast in color. I know that there was a group who had developed a color system that was compatible with existing black and white sets and they recently passed FCC quality standards, with RCA developing the hardware elements.

Q: Please share a snippet of wisdom that you would like to impart on our readers.
Well I have to say that my wife has been instrumental in motivating me to be more ambitious at work. She says that advertising is a growing industry that will explode pretty soon. So I try to listen to her as much as possible and stay focused on my new department. I never get discouraged and know that my time to shine will come soon. So stay focused.