DC Report on Magnet Creative Conf. in Chicago.
Drake Cooper affiliate agency network, Magnet Global, recently assembled at the Hard Rock in Chicago, hosting creative leaders from the Martin Agency, Cramer Kresselt, and The Concept Farm; and Drake Cooper was in attendance.

This year’s theme, ‘The Craft of Creative’ kicked-off with The Martin Agency’s Bob Meagher, enlightening Magnet agency creatives with very cool insight on his work on the Geico account. Bob shared the gorey details of shooting the ubiquitous ‘but I do have good news...’ spot series and the ‘paid celebrity interpreter’ campaigns to boot -- including some sweet backstory on shooting with Burt Bacharach, Little Richard, and managing the artistic demands of Miss Butterworth.

Next, Bill Hallgren of Cramer-Kresselt featured a case-study on launching the Rozerum sleep-aid brand on the shoulders of Abraham Lincoln, a talking beaver, and random scuba diver dude. Rozerum’s “Your Dreams Miss You” campaign is a perfect case study on how bold, weird, and oddly familiar (see title) creative truly gives clients more bang for their buck -- being outspent 2-to-1 by pharma competitors and, ultimately, netting a higher brand ranking and exceeding sales goals for Rozerum.
Our final guest slots featured Jesse Coane and Rich Browd, both affiliated with The Concept Farm in New York. One a director/editor cutting his teeth with ESPN sports and BMW motorcycle; the other a renaissance artist leading branding and merchandising for MTV, along with any other creative muse which strikes his fancy. Here, the great takeaway for those in attendance was the completely open landscape for the next generation of creatives and the many paths available to anyone with a creative itch (Browd developed his own line of women’s underwear in the 8th grade).

All in all a most excellent gathering with DC’s fellow Magnet creatives, including great discussion, the sharing of ideas, and even a little friendly competition -- where DC won one of three awards for our new Northstar Cycle Courier campaign. Our thanks to Magnet for providing such a cool and stimulating forum for creatives. Looking forward to next year.

Labels: Drake Cooper, Marketing