Brent Anderson: Harnessing the next wave

Beginnings 

“I go back to the middle school version of myself, when my adolescent confidence was tied up with my artistic abilities: I always knew I could draw my way to attention! I’d draw these mash-ups of Sesame Street with Nightmare on Elm Street, Lego characters who’d been shot in the chest – my teacher probably thought I was disturbed. I’d mash things up and people would pay attention. I’ve always loved that – mash-ups that create something new.” 

Training ground 

“I went to Brigham Young University. They now have arguably the best advertising programme in the world, but I graduated way before that. I left with one print ad in my portfolio – a Stephen Wright joke for the local ice creamery. So, I wasn’t prepared. My real training ground was in Portland, Oregon, in a little shop called JohnsonSheen. I was hired as a studio art director just as the dot.com bubble burst in 2001. It was a brutal time to start. 

"[I] was convinced it would win in the Rosies, Portland’s local awards show. I was so crushed when it didn’t even make the shortlist!”

My first campaign was for a b2b company called First Insight, announcing a new software suite for managing optometry clinics. I poured so much effort and craft into that campaign, and was convinced it would win in the Rosies, Portland’s local awards show. I was so crushed when it didn’t even make the shortlist!”

Above: TBWA\Media Arts Lab's Global CCO, Brent Anderson.

The big break 

“It was a campaign we did for Brooks running shoes, an animated Flash from 2004 that still holds up, I think. That was what got me properly acknowledged at award shows. And that was what brought me to Chiat, in 2005. 

"It’s interesting how awards shows still allow those opportunities for work to pop and people to take note."

It’s interesting how awards shows still allow those opportunities for work to pop and people to take note, for us to identify talent and for talent to distinguish itself.” 

Early mentor 

“My first mentor was my professor at college, Bryant Marcum. He was four years ahead of me, but he’d won a Gold Pencil at the One Show, and I remember thinking, man he has arrived. What I learnt from Bryant is that some of the best mentors are a few years down the line from you, not too far away, doing things at a level you wish you were at, and you can see how they got there.” 

Above: Anderson spends a lot of time surfing and skiing with his family.

15 years with Lee Clow 

“I’ve had a 15-year relationship and mentorship with Lee Clow at Chiat and at Media Arts Lab. I consider myself one of the lucky ones, one of a whole host of creatives he’s influenced and shown the way to. Lee has a ton of friends, a ton of people who will attribute their trajectory in the business to him, and not one enemy – and that’s rare in this business. 

“Everyone in every role is using their creativity to solve problems.” 

He’s committed to the purity of a simple idea, always the one listening the most. This is the second time Apple has been awarded, the first was in 2019. It’s an esteemed honour to have helped contribute to it and an indication of the totality of the work we’ve done for Apple. It means that what we’re building together with Apple is working, that everyone in every role is using their creativity to solve problems.. Over those 15 years, I’ve often asked for perspective and insight from the advertising industry’s Gandalf.” 

Creative Marketer of the Year  

“This is the second time Apple has been awarded, the first was in 2019. It’s an esteemed honour to have helped contribute to it and an indication of the totality of the work we’ve done for Apple. It means that what we’re building together with Apple is working, that everyone in every role is using their creativity to solve problems.

It means that we can promise people that they can make the best work of their lives here at TBWA\Media Arts Lab (MAL). It’s a clear indication that we have a brave and unrelenting client with phenomenal taste and instincts in [Apple's Vice President, Marketing Communications] Tor Myhren’s leadership and the AdTeam in Cupertino and across the globe. Apple has always been committed to creativity, simplicity and humanity, and we’ve been able to help them stay true to those objectives.”

Above: Apple's spot promoting privacy on the iPhone; "the definition of a perfectly crafted expression and story."

The weight of the past 

“We all recognise we stand on the shoulders of giants, people like Steve Jobs, Jony Ive, Lee Clow, Jay Chiat, a whole bunch of creative leaders that came before me. All who have gone before us set such a high bar that it’s daunting, every day, and it’s daunting for everyone who works here, because it’s bigger than we are, and it’s more pure than we are. 

"There are easier paths to take, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.” 

All we can do is see if we can add to it with something that can reach the pantheon. There are easier paths to take, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.” 

Some Apple highlights 

“Introducing Immersive on Apple Vision Pro was an unprecedented collaboration between Apple's marketing team, MAL and the Vision Pro Group at Apple. It was a really unique coming together to do something we hadn’t done before. And it was an entirely new mode and method of storytelling. 

Flock, promoting privacy on the iPhone, is the definition of a perfectly crafted expression and story. And our most recent AirPods film Someday, with Spike Jonze and Pedro Pascal, it’s so fun to see the internet just grab a hold of that.” 

Above: The recent Apple spot, Someday, featuring Pedro Pascal and directed by Spike Jonze. 

Reshaping the future 

“Technology and the different iterations of AI are going to reshape all industries, and it’s going to reshape the creative industries, but it’s not going to displace the best creatives. It’s going to reward those who adapt well to it. 

"There’s something about that salt water that puts everything into perspective. It always demands your full attention. You have to be really there in order to not just get worked over."

We all need to spend a lot of time with it, learning how it can benevolently benefit the creative process, and the value creativity has to a brand. But where it’s going to go, nobody knows, and it needs to be approached with humility, with restraint and some deference, and that’s hard with the velocity of its development.”

Riding the wave of permanent change 

“We’ve been in LA for the past 20 years, and I’ve spent a lot of time surfing and skiing with my family. I often pull analogies from those two experiences, surfing particularly, for work and life and creativity and leadership. 

There’s something about that salt water that puts everything into perspective. It always demands your full attention. You have to be really there in order to not just get worked over. I draw a lot of my perspective from that.” 

Above: Apple Heartstrings, which won gold at this year's shots Awards The Americas in the Direction (up to and including 60 seconds category).

What the ocean will teach you

“Nothing will put you in your place more than the ocean. I don’t go out in the massive waves, but I’ve been out on big enough days to recognise that if you put yourself in the right position, you can harness that wave, you can leverage that, but if you’re in the wrong position it’ll eat you up. 

"Creativity and the impact upon one another is going to be amplified somehow. I believe in humanity’s ability to adapt and to protect itself."

To catch a wave you have to move at the same speed the wave is moving, and it’s really hard to match the current speed of technology because it has such incredible velocity. I think the only hope is trying to put yourself in position.” 

Welcome to the bio-machine 

“I’m optimistic that humans equipped with AI will be capable of incredible things in the future, things we simply can’t even conceive at present. Creativity and the impact upon one another is going to be amplified somehow. I believe in humanity’s ability to adapt and to protect itself. It’s just really exciting to me. 

At present, AI still struggles with strategic thinking, with brand nuance, with emotional intelligence, with taste and originality. The bottom line is that the creative thinkers in our industry will continue to survive by co-creation, using AI as a tool. To unlock speed, to unlock inspiration and variation, while maintaining a really clear, strong point of view based on brand values.”