The Age Of The ‘Rock Star’ Ad Creative Is Over - Teamwork Rules!
26 Apr, 2024
In his latest column for MAD//Insight, Rich Denney, joint Chief Creative Officer at St Luke's, says that the industry needs to celebrate the fact that you need an army of people to achieve success and why we should draw inspiration for this from the likes of Emma Stone and Michael Jordan.
So much is said across our media landscape about those at the top of their game, whether it's industry leaders, musicians or actors, when it comes to lauding their triumphs or applauding their work.
Yes of course, they’re the ones with their heads above the parapet to get it in the neck when they fail, but rarely do they truly acknowledge the team surrounding them when they take the accolades of success.
Team mates only seem to get namechecked in the same glowing tones as their leaders in the sports world when it comes to winning. For example, look at the plaudits showered on the likes of Keira Walsh, Leah Williamson and Lauren James after the Lionesses’ recent Euros qualifiers victory over Ireland - along with manager Sarina Wiegman.
That’s why actor Emma Stone’s speech after winning Best Actress at the Academy Awards last month struck such a chord with me.
Talking as she picked up her Oscar for her role in Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Things, she explained that if she were to win, the director had told her: “Please take yourself out of it.”
Speaking to the millions watching around the world from the stage, she continued: “He was right, because it’s not about me. It’s about a team that came together to make something greater than the sum of its parts. And that is the best part about making movies, is all of us together. And I am so deeply honoured to share this with every cast member, with every crew member, with every single person who poured their love and their care and their brilliance into the making of this film.”
I’m not surprised that Lanthimos gave her that sage bit of advice, which might have surprised some, given he's very much known for making films with his rather singular vision.
Because the Greek filmmaker used to be a professional basketball player before he decided instead on a career behind the camera. I’d like to think that the ethos and values he learned from his time with a team on the basketball court have stuck with him.
He is very much a director who finds the best team in the business and keeps them with him, including actors like Stone who he’s worked with repeatedly - she starred in his previous Oscar winning movie The Favourite, and takes the lead in his next one Kinds of Kindness, out in June. As Lanthimos said: “It makes it so much easier to have someone there who trusts you so much, and who you trust so much.”
As one of the best basketball players of all time Michael Jordan has said: “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.”
Lanthimos has this team-focused philosophy running through his core, as does another recently garlanded filmmaker who cut his teeth in the creative industry, The Zone Of Interest director Jonathan Glazer. Glazer also always works with the same team, including editor Paul Watts, who he’s been working with for more than 20 years, and sound designer Johnnie Burn, who started working with Glazer 25 years ago when they started out together making adverts. Glazer has been working a similar length of time with Chris Oddy, the Zone Of Interest’s production designer.
Glazer and Burn first worked together way back in 1999 on Glazer’s first commercial, the famous Guinness Surfer advert - and Burn just won the Oscar for Best Sound for Zone Of Interest, alongside the movie winning Best International Feature Film. Glazer gives them all the credit and elevates their voices with every project they work on.
It’s something the creative industry should always not just heed and acknowledge, but celebrate more - that you need an army of people to achieve success. And that it goes beyond mere collaboration.
I’m a big believer that the best craft across all elements of any campaign is born out of trusting all those you work with, and bringing the best talent onboard whether externally or internally so that you know you’re working with people who get it right. Then, like Lanthimos and Glazer, sticking with, respecting and nurturing those who bring the extra fizz to that winning formula. You have to support these talents, or they’ll go elsewhere and the sparkle will vanish with them.
Thankfully, the age of the ‘rock star’ ad creative is over, because in those bygone days, it was seemingly forgotten that every actual rockstar only became famous because of the musicians behind them, but also the songwriters, managers, roadies, press people, record company staff and more. It’s the assembled talent around them that means they top the charts.
It’s the same in our industry. It’s pretty obvious that unless you’re the only employee in your business, the success of your agency relies on the team around you, from the person manning reception or cleaning the offices right up to the top brass. It’s the whole team that makes a campaign and we need to celebrate each individual’s part in any success and cherish them, whether we’re collecting a shiny award or not.
As another legendary basketball player LeBron James said: “I think team first - it allows me to succeed, it allows my team to succeed."
When it comes to what we do in the creative industry, it’s a philosophy that’s surely a slam dunk.
Rich Denney will be writing regular column for MAD//Insight throughout the year.