Face to Face with... Ben Clark

Multi-disciplinary company ACNE has recently opened its doors in London. The Swedish-born agency/production company/design studio/fashion label has always had its fingers in many pies and former agency executive, Ben Clark, is charged with bringing ACNE's unique outlook to London as ACNE London's managing director/exec producer. Here Clark discusses the company's opening, his path to overseeing the London operation and the current state of UK production.

Why has ACNE decided to open an office in London?

The main reason would be that London produces great work and that we would love to be a part of it. Another important reason is that our business is based on creativity and relationships and sometimes it can be hard to make long distance relationships work.

Today's projects have a more organic way of developing (especially on the digital side of things). This means that you have to be flexible while remaining efficient. We think this is best achieved if everyone works closely together from the start. Face to face meetings makes it a lot easier to understand and work through potential issues, ultimately producing better creative output.

But apart from the obvious advantages of being local, we also thought we could add something to the mix. Today’s advertising campaigns are becoming more and more complex, with a wide range of different components to them. ACNE has spent the last couple of years working hard on integrating the different disciplines within the production company, so it just seemed like a timely and relevant offering.

The ACNE brand is famous for its diversity; will the London office have a similar mode of operation?

That is part of the ACNE DNA. We like to constantly develop ourselves. Even though we’re focusing on establishing a production company (the fashion side of the ACNE brand has been present in London for a while) we are always open to new ideas. Hopefully, new ventures will spring out of the London office as it grows. However, we are not trying to replicate the Stockholm office, but rather to let each office develop according to the particular conditions and strengths.

I think that it's important and healthy for companies to be diverse and offer more than just a single solution. ACNE as a company has a proactive and collaborative attitude which means that we relish challenges and try not to revert to the obvious and "known" solutions; this entrepreneurial spirit and pro-active approach is essential in the industry today and is something that I think that most agencies and brands will appreciate.

How did you get involved with the company?

I've known the guys at ACNE for several years and have always been impressed with their approach and at the quality and diversity of their output. I've always wondered why they didn't have an office in London, so when they found out that I was looking for a new challenge it didn't take us long to realiSe that we were aligned in our thinking about the "future" of advertising production.

What do you think ACNE can bring to the UK production scene?

As well as having a very talented and varied roster of directors we have an exceptional team of digital creatives, developers, art directors and producers who are all very used to working in new media and on different types of projects. ACNE is a truly integrated production company that can give agencies access to a multitude of "experts" and specialists who approach every project with enthusiasm, confidence and an ambition to challenge things and solve problems. Due to the unique way in which the company is set up we are able to draw on our expertise within commercial, film, TV, digital production and gaming.

You’ve moved from agency-side to production; why did you decide to make that change?

I've thoroughly enjoyed working on the agency side and have been privileged enough to work with some excellent directors and production companies, but the opportunity to be involved with such an interesting, creatively motivated integrated production company was too much to resist.

Do you think that the production scene is fundamentally altering in the way it works?

It's changed a lot over the last few years and that it will continue to do so as the way that clients and agencies continue to evolve. The UK production scene in both film and digital if overflowing with extremely talented people, for me it's imperative that these disciplines work together from the start on projects. Working in this way will produce better, more integrated results, which will give better synergy to projects whatever the end platform.

I personally think that it's a fantastic time to be involved in production; bright, creative people who love solving problems are essential to the creation of great work and we have lots of them in the UK. Also digital and multiple platform production means that more "things" need to be made, as long as production and producers adapt to this then the future is extremely bright.

Will you be looking to bring in any new directors to the roster?

On the film side ACNE has a great and very varied roster at the moment, from comedy specialists, to interactive experts and visual guys with plenty in between, so we can cater for pretty much anything, although for me it's very important to have local talent. ACNE London will be a special blend of what's great about Sweden and what's great about the UK so I'm definitely on the lookout for relevant local talent, be that on the film or digital side.

Do you think that UK creativity is as strong as it can be?       

The UK is world renowned for being extremely strong creatively and is respected across the world because of this, but as with anything there is always room for improvement. For me and for ACNE it's about thinking a little differently when presented with briefs and challenges and making the most of every opportunity.