Face to Face with… John Matejczyk

John Matejczyk has garnered a reputation as a rare advertising creative who knows how to tackle business problems for brands. With vast agency experience including stints at 180 LA, TBWAChiatDay NY, BBH NY and Goodby Silverstein & Partners, in 2009, he helped launch California-based independent agency MUH-TAY-ZIK | HOF-FER, where he now acts as co-founder and executive creative director.

With a move to new office space imminent and exciting work for New Amsterdam Vodka set to launch soon, the agency has just released a new video, 17 Minutes (below), for Do.com, which follows on from its previous films for the app client, Gordon for President and Gangsters, and sees a terminally ill patient use the Do app to organise his ‘going away’ party.

Below the ECD talks about life as an indie agency in today's climate, biking through Vietnam with his family on a recent break away from work, and preparing to die with limited time...

Tell us about the new video for Do; was it fun to work on and has it been enjoyable making ads for apps?

Do.com has been a fantastic collaborator. They are part of Salesforce, for whom we do a lot of work. They came to us and showed us all the new-app-idea launch videos that all the Silicon Valley startups are doing. They are all identical, cheap looking, illustrated explanations. Do simply told us, “we don’t want this".

So we've told stories in ways that brought the app to life. We think of them as being half commercial, half demo. After launching with Gordon for President and following up with Gangsters, it became time to tell a simpler story of just how Do helps you get stuff done faster within groups.

Tell us about starting the agency and how the past few years have been in terms of business…

Starting an agency is something I’ve always wanted to do. I would dream about what kind of place it could be, how people would love working there, and be able to do their best work.

But the realities of life (three kids, tuition, Bay Area mortgage) and the generally great experiences working in large agencies kept me from taking the leap. The best step towards opening the agency was when I went out on my own and started doing long-term stints as visiting creative director to top agencies; nine months at BBH NY, five months at Chiat NY, six months at 180 LA.

We got going in 2009 and stepped up to a more aggressive stance in 2010 when Matt Hofherr joined. We’ve made some great creative strides with work like Slavery Footprint, iMeet, and the ‘Pizza’ video for Google Mobile. Interestingly, we got a lot more attention for some of that work in the popular press than we did in the advertising press. Important wins have been New Amsterdam Vodka, Shellback Rum (both from Gallo), F’real Milkshakes, Do.com and some really exciting stuff we can’t talk about yet.

What are your views on running an independent agency in the current climate? Are you optimistic for young blossoming indies?

Well, it has been fantastically, beyond description, difficult. I’ve used and developed parts of my brain I never thought I had. That’s not to say I’m not optimistic though; quite the contrary.

We have every reason to hope for a great, growing future. We’re extremely diversified across client type, from tech startups to tech titans, from spirits to milkshakes, from sports to entertainment.

As for being independent, we love it for now. I’ve spoken to others in our situation who have sold and appreciate the breathing room it’s given them. But for the most part, really significant clients are coming to us, often from holding companies, knowing they are getting much closer attention, from the very top of the agency.

And what about your mission statement, of being 'creatively driven professionals in the industry formerly known as advertising'? Can you expand on that?

Mainly, I just didn’t want to define the agency by whatever the hot thing was on the day of our founding. I think about all those so-called “digital” agencies that have such a hard time swimming upstream now.

The point is, the industry isn’t going to stop changing any time soon, and we want to always be clear that we are there to stay on top of, and when possible, lead that change.

We also find that clients lean on us for so much more than ‘advertising’. Why take this creative band of thinkers and limit them to ad briefs? We do product development, and strategic work that leads to companies sometimes rethinking their mission.

It all starts with cracking the code of a brand, and executing wherever possible.

And what was it like to get a nod from Barrack Obama for Slavery Footprint?

It’s interesting. As a creative, after a lot of years you do a lot of work. Lots and lots. But there ends up being relatively few pieces that end up as juggernauts. I’ve never come close to being able to predict which will and which won’t.

When Slavery Footprint launched, it just went crazy. We actually started with a rather arcane set of economic data referencing the imputed slavery input in various consumer items. Our fear was that it would be abstract, like a carbon footprint. So we set out to connect people to the supply chain in a very practical manner. Hence, “How many slaves work for you?” The original iteration was “How many slaves do you own?” but the State Department wouldn’t touch that one.

Interestingly enough, when the president referenced the work, it had already gone around the globe so we were a little surprised he hadn’t already. Particularly since the notion originated in the State Department.

Speaking of the globe, you've just got back from Vietnam; how was the trip?

My sons are hooked on BBC’s Top Gear. They did an episode on riding scavenged motorcycles through Vietnam. Meanwhile, my wife is a master trip planner and a lover of Asia. The kids started begging for a motorcycle trip there, and remarkably, she obliged.

I have to tell you, it was easily one of the coolest things I have ever done. We had guides who took us on homestays in the mountains with Hmong tribes-people. We all loved it, but my wife didn’t understand how dangerous it was. When we finally got off the bikes for the final time, she literally kissed the ground.

We were rather early parents, with three kids by the time we were 30. So it’s fun to be able to do stuff like that with them now while we’re in our 40s.

What are your hopes for the rest of the year, and for the agency in the long term?

My hopes are to be able to make significant work. Sometimes I think that all advertising basically operates in a tiny little segment of the bandwidth of what’s possible. Tiny. Merely stepping out by two or three degrees is sometimes enough to leave a lasting mark.

The tricky part is that being “creative” isn’t half the battle. First, you have to add in the hardest part; taste. That’s the hardest to come by. Then you have to build the business case for it, the people skills to take people along with you, the financial management, the project management (we’re talking about months of intense development in many cases) and you have work with a client who wants to do something great.

So that’s my hope for the agency; that every single aspect of it is lined up and buttoned up to make something significant.

As for the rest of the year, we’re very excited to be moving into new space. We’re taking over the top two floors of a 1920s high-rise. I hope it is all we hope it to be. We’re also launching a lot of new work very soon. I hope it leaves a mark. I hope it makes the world just a teensy weensy bit more beautiful.

If you got told you had 17 minutes left to live, how would you spend the time?

Holy cow. Family, family, family. Our eldest is at University in Scotland. We just dropped our daughter off at RISD. We have our youngest still at home. I don’t know how we’d be able to get together other than video chat, but that would have to do.

One of my biggest regrets is already that I have worked way, way too hard. Yet I still can’t seem to figure out a way around it. I am passionate about what I make, and it’s not easy. I also get to do it with utterly fascinating people.