The Creative Stickup

In the creative business you always hear about hiring people that are better than you. Or more appropriately, hire those who scare the bejesus out of you. I had no idea what that meant until I met Ben Little some 12 plus years ago.

I met Ben my first month in London, he was in his mid 20’s and already a charismatic force that both attracted and created game changing ideas and talented people who wanted to work on them.

His company, Fearlessly Frank that he runs with his partner Wayne Guthrie, offers the perfect mix of stellar creative and inspirational business leadership. They do everything from start ups to multinationals.

Ben and I talk about how the agency got started, found their independence, and how he took this notion of being Fearlessly Frank with clients into becoming one of the largest innovation consultancy's in the UK.

Check them out

fearlesslyfrank.com

Write Way Round. Tom Hodgson has a story to tell.

I’m in London this week and was lucky enough to cast some pod with various creative types and gangsters that I’ve worked with over the years. There was no one better to catch up with then the screenwriter Tom Hodgson. Giving him that title has a long time coming, as Tom has wound his way through film development, copywriting, strategy, digital content directing and finally and most fittingly, to becoming a writer. Tom’s second feature film, The Hippopotamus, adapted from the Stephen Fry's bestseller, is screening next week and will be out in the US next year.

Check Tom out here: www.corhampton.com 

Follow him as well Twitter (@thodgo)

Punk Rock Post

If DIY is the Punk Rock ethos, then rukus is the kind of production house that breaks out and builds a t-shirt wearing cult following by making great music and working their asses off. Celebrating their sixth year in business, Michael Hurst talks about being thrown in the deep end and surviving, evolving into an Executive Producer and his observations on the state of the St. Louis Ad Scene as he wraps up his Ad Club Presidency.

Look out for their Anniversary Party coming soon.

The ruckus reel:

http://rukuspost.com/project/showreel/

Music by Flaming Death Trap

The Ministers of Sound - Mark Bartels of 90dw and Mike Radentz of Antidote.

Sound, I would argue, might be the most overlooked, vitally important, and very mysterious aspect of any production. Yet, when it's done well, it can take something good and make it a thing of beauty. Mark and Mike talk to Jeff about their craft, their tricks, favorite movies and go to sound effects. Enjoy the finest sounding podcast of all time!

Music by John Williams as played by Mark Bartels, Mike Radentz and Flaming Death Trap.

Peace, Bread and Social Enterprise.

'A-ha' moments can arise at any time, anywhere. For Markey Culver, it was when she found herself hungry while walking back and forth between her house and the school where she taught English in a small East African village. Markey tells the fascinating story that led her to create The Women's Bakery - a vocational school that teaches the women of Rwanda and Tanzania to bake bread for themselves and for profit. Have a listen to how this remarkable social enterprise got started.

http://www.womensbakery.com/

Meet the Method Ad Man.

The longer Wade is in the business, the more he wants to stay close to the work. As a founder of the agency Grenadier in Boulder (named after the elite senior troops that led the great armies of the last century), Wade and his colleagues are operating against the age old agency principle: As soon as you become great at creative, you get bumped up to management and stop doing creative. They all still get their hands dirty.

Wade talks to Jeff about his journey from Lawrence, Kansas through LA, St. Louis (at Core) Boston and now Boulder. We touch on creative account people, young 'writers' who don’t want to do the work, how Core taught him to be a Method Ad Man and advice on starting your own shop.

Check out his shop here:

http://www.grenadierco.com/

Music by Flaming Death Trap

SPACE RACE. Matt Homann is fixing your sucky meeting.

Too many meetings. It’s on everyone’s short list of things we complain about at work. Start late. No agenda. Somebody with a 167-slide deck trying to show how smart they are. The last hour, wondering if you stabbed yourself in the eye with your pen, would that be enough to end the meeting? Please, stop the torture.

Matt Homann and Filament, believe they have the answer. With 10,000 square feet of inspiring meeting space on 15th and Washington, they want to change the way meetings are designed by helping facilitate your meetings outcome.

http://www.thefilament.com/

http://www.thefilament.com/manifesto/

https://invisiblegirlfriend.com/

The Data Whisperer. Jenny Dibble knows your KPI's.

In a world full of data, those who can make sense of it have the advantage. Jenny has made a career of doing just that. From building and selling her first agency in Seattle, to her stints at Amazon, Coolfire and Brighton, to her new venture, Creative Anvil, Jenny tells Jeff about SaaS tools, vanity metrics and how to use data to make better decisions.

http://creativeanvil.com/

http://www.readybuild.com/

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/notetoself

Kay Cochran is Smoking.

One of the original RT'ers, she was employee 006, Kay tells Jeff about the agency as it approaches 20 years, working with up and comers and what goes into a great campaign.

Links to stuff we talk about

https://vimeo.com/142153758

Music by Flaming Death Trap

Creative Disrupter. John Dames brings in the big guns.

There aren’t that many creatives in town that I truly have portfolio envy over. John Dames is one of them. From being CORE number 001, to directing and designing epic videos, to helping Special Forces do their jobs, John tells Jeff about firing clients, doing it all wrong and having the balls to create without limits.

Here’s some links to stuff we talk about

Gucci

https://vimeo.com/14949511

Custom software

https://vimeo.com/15271957

Malice

https://vimeo.com/55460671

Balls Video

https://vimeo.com/27382812

Ambient Content Series

Cats

https://vimeo.com/5300322

Paintings

https://vimeo.com/5246399

Dancers

https://vimeo.com/5246256

Angel

https://vimeo.com/15289803

Playground

https://vimeo.com/15290235