Archive for October, 2010

King St. Q&A with Nicholas Bond/Aimal Arbab

Friday, October 29th, 2010

Nicholas & Aimal Clowning Around

Nicholas Bond & Aimal are one of the new creative teams at SaatchiNY. Nicholas is Junior Copywriter and Aimal is a Junior Art Director.  You can have a look at some more of Aimal’s work on his website. And don’t miss one of Nicholas’s recent projects we featured here on Hudson/Houston last week. Below, they answer the King St. Q&A, including a few new and improved questions!

Photographs were taken by Photographs taken by  Beth Galloway, VP, Management Supervisor.  If you’re interested in seeing more of her work, please check out her website.

What do you do at Saatchi & Saatchi?

Work hard while still managing to have a good time.

Current desktop picture?

Aimal:


Nicholas:

What is your favorite YouTube video?

Charlie the Unicorn

Tell us something surprising about yourself:

In real life, we’re actually ravishingly handsome.

What are your Lovemarks?

Canon, Skype, Gibson Guitars.

What are your favorite childhood television show(s)?

Looney Tunes, ThunderCats, Airwolf, Knight Rider, MacGyver, The Joy of Painting.

What’s your favorite creative pursuit?

We both agree that the greatest creative pursuit of all time has got to be the work of Wile E. Coyote.

What do you do for fun?

Eat. Sleep. Love.

What blogs, magazines, books, papers or websites can you not live without?

Google, TED, vimeo, wikipedia, netflix, bing, fwa, icanhascheezburger.

Have you ever won a trophy?

We hope to win an Oscar for Best Costume and Best Penguin Impersonation in a Documentary.

Book that you’re currently reading:

Anything but manuals. We flat refuse to read them.

What do you think the greatest invention is in your lifetime and why?

The Internet is the greatest invention in my lifetime, because Al Gore is the greatest inventor of all time.

Favorite artist/musician/designer?

Justin Bieber/The Beatles. Have fun figuring out who likes which.

If you weren’t at Saatchi & Saatchi, what profession would you most like to try?

We idolize Knox Harrington, the video artist, but it would probably be some kind of performance-related endeavor. Or lounge coat tester.

(Ed. Note: Knox Harrington is a hilarious character from The Coen Brothers’ The Big Lebowski)

My best/favorite Halloween costume was:

A Stegosaurus. With tail.

Category: Creative, King St. Q&A, Lovemarks, Our People

Feeling the Love

Thursday, October 28th, 2010


Roberts Says Brands Must Make Emotional Connections
Uploaded by Bloomberg. – Up-to-the minute news videos.

Last evening, our CEO Worldwide Kevin Roberts gave a 15 minute interview with Bloomberg’s Pimm Fox on his show Taking Stock for a segment titled “Making Consumers feel the Love.” On the show, Kevin talked about Lovemarks, the “New New” & his work on the client-side of things before joining Saatchi & Saatchi in 1997.

Other notable topics discussed include the future of television (it’s sticking around), advertising in the participation economy (check out the T-Mobile ad out of Saatchi London) and the end of consumer’s obsession with all things new (it will be replaced by a demand for quality content across all mediums). You can watch the entire interview in the video at the top of the post.

Category: Brand Building, Film & Television, Our People

St. Luke’s Thrift Shop

Thursday, October 28th, 2010

Glassware & Knick Knacks @ St. Luke's Thrift Shop

The corner of Hudson & Houston has been home to SaatchiNY since the agency arrived in America almost 25 years ago. Over the years the location has become a part of our identity. Two of the SaatchiNY creatives, Jessica Raddatz & Jaclyn Marinese, put together a book about the local neighborhood to celebrate that connection. This is the fifth Hudson/Houston feature from the book. St. Luke’s Thrift Store is located @ 487 Hudson Street (between Christopher St & Grove St).

MORE THAN A THRIFT SHOP
Around 30 years ago, the parents of children attending the St. Luke’s school began a thrift store. The shop, located 487 Hudson Street, is run mostly by volunteers now. “The St. Luke’s Thrift Store helps a lot of poor and homeless people in the neighborhood,” said Rita McCarthy, one of the shop’s two paid employees. “Just this year alone we gave out $2,000 in vouchers so people could come in and get clothing.”

St. Luke’s Church was founded on October 22, 1820, by a small group of residents and was named after St. Luke, the physician evangelist, in recognition of the Village’s role as a refuge from the yellow fever epidemics of the time. Since then St. Luke’s has remained a place of refuge for the neighborhood’s less fortunate. One example is the AIDS Project of St. Luke’s that has served Saturday dinner and weekend teas to over 35,000 persons with AIDS since its founding in 1987.

I FEEL LIKE I’M COMING HOME TO FAMILY
It’s clear when you walk around that this is more than just a thrift shop. It has a homey feeling and is clearly a special place where people go for support and comfort. “When you look at the people who come into this shop, you get a sense of the whole community,” adds McCarthy. “People come in, say hello, or just check out what’s going on…People feel comfortable here to just have a conversation and relax without buying anything.”

Marj Zeller is one of those people. A 35-year customer to the shop (and SaatchiNY employee), she’s an avid thrift shopper, with a longtime passion for fashion design using classic materials. “The clothing is more classic, a higher quality [than other local thrifts stores] and I feel like I’m coming home to a family,” says Zeller, who currently designs her own line of antique pillows called Hearts ’n Flowers. She says she gets a lot of her inspiration and sometimes even materials from places like the St. Luke’s store. “It’s like a mom and pop feeling, and the price is right.”

Category: Lovemarks, New York

Artist Watch – Mario Lombardo

Wednesday, October 27th, 2010

Some of Mario Lombardo's work on display

Artist watch is a new feature we’ve put together for Hudson/Houston. Much like some of our earlier Sisomo Roundups, each of the artist roundup posts will highlight exciting, engaging artists that are attracting attention from the SaatchiNY team. For our first installment, SaatchiNY Head of Design Camilla Flesche Kristiansen offers her thoughts on Graphic Design Artist Mario Lombardo’s new book “The Tender Spot.” Enjoy!

MARIO LOMBARDO

Mario Lombardo

Mario Lombardo (apologies, but the site is in German) is a graphic designer with an amazing ability to fuse classic, old-school design elements with new, fresh and innovative ideas. He’s worked for a ton of big-name clients, and is the perfect example of the advertising industry pushing design as an art form.

Born in Argentina, but raised in Aachen, Germany, he went on to work as the art director of the music and pop culture magazine Spex from 2001-2005.  In 2004, he founded his design office BUREAU.  If you haven’t seen his work, it’s seriously worth checking out. It will be influencing designers for the next few generations to come.

THE TENDER SPOT: The Graphic Design of Mario Lombardo
Out on October 19, 2010


If you like the work you saw on his website (above), his new book, The Tender Spot, is worth every penny of its $60 cover price. It’s the first complete monograph of Mario’s work, and was only recently published.

The collection covers his graphic design from between 200-2010, including subjects ranging from music & fashion to photography and architecture. What I especially like about it is that it features both client work & personal work, which allows you to see the difference between the two types of creative content and how they play off of each other.

If interested, you can purchase it through the publisher’s website.

Category: Creative, Our People

Healthy Weight Commitment

Tuesday, October 26th, 2010

Scott Buckley is EVP, Global Equity Director at SaatchiNY. Below he shares details on a new partnership between SaatchiNY & The Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation. For more info on the new campaign, be sure to check out the NYTimes piece from yesterday. Above Image from The Daily Mail.

A NEW PARTNERSHIP
When have you ever had a chance to start a movement for social change? Well, that is just what the food & beverage industry has entrusted Saatchi & Saatchi to do. This week we kicked off a great partnership with the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation, a food industry co-op dedicated to helping create a generation of kids who lead active healthy lifestyles.

DIGITALLY DRIVEN
Our strategy for creating social health activism is rooted in digital content that promotes “energy balance,” helping people understand the relationship between what they eat and how they expend energy. Currently, the majority of people don’t understand this relatively simple concept.

The perfect example of the problem: research shows that many of the “at risk” populations for obesity don’t have an understanding of what a calorie is.  We want to help the food & beverage industry engage moms and households within these populations to grasp basic-knowledge info like this. Doing so will be the focus of our digital campaign. For more information on the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation, be sure to also check out their Facebook page.

Thanks to our team, Shel Kimen, Mark Sherwood, Micki Boas, Rick Dow and Laura Sammartino, for the great work on this project.

Category: Digital & Interactive, New Business

Trick or Treat for UNICEF

Monday, October 25th, 2010

This week, from October 25–29, SaatchiNY will be collecting donations to support the 60th anniversary of the Trick or Treat for UNICEF campaign.

FOUR WAYS TO DONATE

  • Buy breakfast or lunch in the cafeteria and donate $1 from your card to UNICEF with just the push of a button
  • Donate your spare coins in any of the collection boxes located in elevator banks on the 14ththrough 18th floors
  • Purchase an item at the 16thfloor Atrium Café and drop your change in the UNICEF box provided
  • Bring cash or a check to a special Trick or Treat for UNICEF happy hour in the Atrium Café on Friday, 10/29

WHAT IS TRICK OR TREAT FOR UNICEF?
On Halloween night 60 years ago, America’s children changed the world. Costumed and committed, they took to the streets in neighborhoods all across the nation and they spread word of their mission. They were kids helping kids by Trick-or-Treating for UNICEF. Through the small change they raised door-to-door, they were going to make a big difference for children everywhere, helping UNICEF to provide nutrition, medicine, education and the things kids need to thrive.

WHAT IS UNICEF?
UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) is an agency devoted to the welfare of children and cooperates with the World Health Organization in immunization programs.  UNICEF was established in 1946 and currently has over 200 offices in 115 developing countries. The current focus is on establishing long-term human development and on providing emergency relief and rehabilitation assistance when needed.

PAMPERS & UNICEF
Pampers joined with UNICEF in a multi-year, multi-million dollar initiative to support UNICEF’s efforts to eliminate Maternal & Neonatal Tetanus. Through the Pampers “One Pack = One Vaccine” campaign around the world, Pampers makes a donation to UNICEF equivalent to the cost of one tetanus vaccine for each pack of specially marked Pampers sold.

The generosity of parents and other participants in the 2009 North American “1 Pack = 1 Vaccine” program has been astounding. Purchasers helped Pampers provide funding for over 31 million tetanus vaccines, helping UNICEF protect mothers and their newborns in less industrialized nations from this devastating disease.

Join us to collect and celebrate our fundraising efforts at a special Halloween themed Keg Friday happy hour on October 29th from 4-6PM.

Category: Our People, Sustainability

King St. Q&A with Juli Cola

Friday, October 22nd, 2010

SaatchiNY's Juli Cola

Juli Cola is a senior Art Director at SaatchiNY. If you’re interested in more info on her and her work, please check out her LinkedIn page.

Julie’s photos were taken by SaatchiNY Account Director Amy Carlstead. You can see more of her lovely work on her website.

What was your first job?

Working in a stationary store helping people pick out their wedding invitations. I was only 14.

If you weren’t at Saatchi & Saatchi, what profession would you most like to try?

The makeup counter at Bergdorf Goodman.

What motivates you most?

My two kids and husband.

What blogs, magazines, books, papers or websites can you not live without?

NY Times, Adweek, Agency Spy, The Cut, “It was good but” (My [coming soon] blog with Daniel Mailliard) and TheSuperficial.com

What are your Lovemarks?

Apple.

What’s your best “nothing is impossible” story?

When I first got to SaatchiNY I was working on a huge presentation and I was told that it couldn’t get done in time. In response, I simply pointed to the sign painted on the wall that read “Nothing is Impossible.” Thanks studio!

What is your favorite place in the world?

Italy – Positano. Why? Food, beaches, people art.

Who do you most aspire to be like?

My daughter – she’s almost six but she’s awesome.

If stranded on a deserted island and you could bring only one thing, what would it be?

My iPhone.

Tell us something surprising about yourself.

I can do a killer Stevie Nicks but don’t ask me to.

What is your favorite creative pursuit?

Doodling.

What led you on the path you’re on today?

Right after college I interviewed with the head of Media at Saatchi & Saatchi at the time, Alan Banks. He yelled at me and told me I was on the wrong floor and should be a creative.

Do you have a motto?

My mother always said – just do it! But then Nike stole it.

What do you do for fun?

Love to have dinner parties at our place in Park Slope.

What’s your favorite client story?

My first client meeting someone threw a table in the air and screamed at everyone. My creative director cried. The next day he called to apologize and said that’s showbiz folks. I was hooked.

What’s your favorite thing to do in NY?

Everything.

Who is your favorite artist/musician/designer?

That’s like Sophie’s Choice.

When’s the last time you gave a standing ovation?

Every time I watch Glee.

Category: King St. Q&A, Lovemarks, New York, Our People

SaatchiNY Cares

Thursday, October 21st, 2010

SaatchiNY hard at work at last year's NY Cares Day

This Saturday SaatchiNY staffers will be waking up, donning their work clothes and meeting at PS 297, Richard Stockton Elementary School in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn.  The Saatchi Cares team will spend this day of service helping to repaint murals in and outside of the school, clean and organize libraries and art storage closets, and planting flower bulbs for spring.   It has been estimated that the volunteer work done at a single school during New York Cares Day amounts to around $1 Million dollars of aid to the school.

This is SaatchiNY’s fourth consecutive city-wide day of service with New York Cares.  Previously we have painted playgrounds and cleaned up parks in Harlem, repainted hallways at Mott Hall Middle School and repainted the fences and light posts at Tompkins Square Park. Our continued relationship with New York Cares is the backbone of our robust “Saatchi Cares” volunteerism efforts, which also include monthly trips to the NYC Rescue Mission, support of the NYC Coat Drive and Winter Wishes Programs, as well as various internally based collection and community involvement projects.

GIVING BACK
Our work with New York Cares is at the center of our robust “Saatchi Cares” volunteerism efforts. Other aspects of the program include monthly trips to the NYC Rescue Mission, support of the NYC Coat Drive and Winter Wishes Programs, as well as various internally based collection and community involvement projects.

All of these initiatives fall under our True Blue sustainability efforts – encompassing four pillars of sustainability: environmental, economic, social and cultural. More info on sustainability’s role in business can be found at Strategy for Sustainability. For New York Cares, 7,000 volunteers paint murals in classrooms, organize libraries, and brighten up playgrounds for 100 public schools. The work you’ll put in is worth well over $1 million in service to the NYC Public School system

NY CARES DAY AT A GLANCE
New York Cares Day is an incredible day of service that supports the 11,000 volunteer projects New York Cares runs year-round. This weekend, volunteers will fan out around the city to help public city schools by lending a hand to the following:

  • Paint playgrounds— Encourage purposeful play, increase motor skills, and get kids moving with line games like hopscotch.
  • Paint murals, classrooms, and school exteriors — Transform drab spaces into bright, colorful, inviting places for children and community members to enjoy.
  • Organize libraries— Encourage a love of learning by making it easy for students to access books.
  • Plant flowers— Make outside spaces more welcoming and teach children about nature and the environment.
Category: New York, Our People, Sustainability