A couple of years ago, when advertising
agency Beacon Communications eliminated its creative department, the
copywriters and art directors made a forceful presentation to Alejandro
Lopez, their Creative Director and leader. The idea of dismantling traditional
ways of working and obliging creators to go and work in ‘Brand
Groups’ alongside the salesmen and planners filled them with angst.
“Look,” they said, “we creators are like farmers,
those others are the hunter-gatherers. We should stay apart. That is
the natural order of things.”
“But you’ve never tried it,” countered Lopes, “just
trust me and see how it works out.” The topic was never raised
again and the two tribes became teams that build brands creatively for
Procter & Gamble, Philip Morris, among other agency clients.
This March, Lopez became president of the agency, a job that in Japan
usually goes to what are disparagingly called the suits. Suits come
in the many hues of account executives, media buyers, and salesmen
all supposedly united in a buttoned down approach to the arts and crafts
of advertising. In LA, where Lopez grew up, and indeed across the USA,
there is nothing unusual in a creator leading an agency. The distinction
between suits and creatives has little grounding in the reality of
an agency that thinks about the future. From the years he spent working
in the USA, Latin America, and Europe Lopez knows that creative ideas
are not held hostage by different job titles. Very are often they sparked
simply by the little surprises and encounters in the everyday interactions
of people.
Yet, despite similarities to elsewhere, Japan has its own nuances. “Japan
has an island mentality and prides itself on a kind of isolationism.
You hear many variations on the theme that 'it is not the Japanese way,'
says Lopez. “ However, ideas are ideas and go way beyond cultural
barriers. The feelings people have, the basic ways we are human are much
the same whether in Russia, France, Venezuela, or Japan. The foundations
of ideas at a basic human level, the emotions, the insights are the same
but the colorations and tones that language, culture add to these are
dramatically different from one country to another,” explains Lopez.
Japan’s years of recession have taken their toll of the advertising
industry, but Lopez is optimistic. “We are at an upswing,” he
says. “I first came here in the “Bubble,” when Japanese
advertising was fabulous. We saw so many beautifully crafted, confident
pieces of communication that reflected so much of Japanese culture. However,
as the bubble burst agencies seemed to lose those skills. The fragmentation
of media, growing reliance on 15' commercials and famous talent were
some of the factors that made for a difficult transition to a recessionary
world. On the way, the art was lost. Now people are questioning the use
of talent, questioning the use of short commercials, and finding new
ways to engage customers with brands. We are seeing individuals, and
some agencies asserting a new voice. I am very optimistic. It is time
to regain the lost spirit of creativity in advertising.”
There is more to the challenge than simply regaining the past glories.
Today, agencies must also think about the Internet, mobile phones, 3G,
out-of-home media, in-store activities, events, CRM, database management,
and all the different ways that people connect to and experience brands. “Daunting,” says
Lopez, “ . . . but incredibly challenging and very exciting.”
There is a restless mobility in Lopez’ style, way of speaking
that remind you here is someone who treasures ideas, looks for inspiration,
and searches for insight - all qualities you would look for in an art
director, copywriter, or film maker. However, what influences have shaped
his outlook on the world and his work? “It is very easy to get
lost in this business,” he says, “to be sucked into a whirlpool
of images, fashion, trends, and cliché. But for me the inspiration
is in the little images that pass us every second and simply disappear
if we don’t open our lives to them.” An answer that manages
to be opaque, lucid, and Japanese all at once. Fans of “Tokyo Story” and
other movies by Yasujiro Ozu will know the creative power generated by
ordinary events in daily life and the insights that come from attending
to these.
Lopez describes managing a creative team as interacting with people,
developing a vision, providing leadership so too is managing an agency,
he believes. In his new role, there will be more meetings about business
plans and fee proposals and fewer about scripts or storyboards. “But
the content of the act is identical,” he says. “The content
of the act is about people, about having an idea, a vision, a goal.” Therefore,
Lopez sees nothing intimidating about his new job. In Beacon’s
management structure, all the senior people work as a team around a large,
shared table, and are never remote from the detail of each other’s
work. As part of this team, Lopez has been closely involved in the business
of managing and building the agency more or less since it was created
in 2000 by the merger of the Leo Burnett and D’Arcy agencies in
Tokyo with a 34% investment by Dentsu. This makes the transition from
Chief Creative Officer to President easier to make than it would be in
a rigidly compartmentalized agency.
Lopez sees the whole agency as creative organization. Far from dismantling
the creative department a few years ago, in reality he sowed the seeds
of the company as it is today. “I fundamentally believe Beacon
is a creative idea company. I think everyone in the company is creative,
whether they went to business school and wear a tie every day or whether
they are art directors, copywriters, media people, planners, or secretaries.
Every one of us is a consumer and we are all entitled to have opinions
and pass judgment about a brand. No matter what job people may be doing
day-to-day, their opinions and experience of brands is completely valid
and can add enormous richness to the work we do,” Lopez explains.
Harnessing the energies unleashed is the next challenge for Mr. Lopez,
both as a creator and manager..
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