July 6, 2010
Profile
Talking shop
Originally published in NZ Marketing March-April 2010, page 15
Josh Lancaster and Jamie Hitchcock, two of the country’s most-awarded advertising creatives, have just opened their own ad agency. Jamie details the minutiae of life in a new business and explains the rationale behind the decision to create it
Awake at 6.30am. The kids are up already. Did they actually sleep? Fire up the computer, check emails and calendar, make breakfast and then the kids’ lunches for kindy. Love raisins but those little packets don’t like my sausage fingers. Out the door for a walk as the wife comes in from hers at 7am. Thinking time. The day is planned.
Officially, we opened Josh & Jamie on 1 February. Unofficially, it started the day we left Colenso BBDO in December. Thank God for wireless and thank God for cafes like Deus ex Machina and Shaky Isles. Good coffee and big tables. Still, being without an office for a month-and-a-half has already saved us a few bucks. And that’s a good thing.
Shower and shave, meet Josh, my ‘day-wife’, head off to Hirepool to pick up wet-dry vacuum cleaner. Arrive at new office to put first coat of seal over concrete floor after we acid washed it until 10 the night before. It takes an hour for the first coat.
There’s a lot of talk about fragmentation of big agencies; of clients tired of not having contact with key people; of too many layers of suits; and the money, always the money
If we don’t make this business happen at every level, no one else will. And we’re not going to die wondering. Last year, the global economic meltdown changed things—like our house values, the communications industry and the need to swap my old Range Rover for a motorbike.
Money became scarce and clients clenched their bums so tight you couldn’t get a bus ticket between them. However, for the multi-national agencies, the profit ratios couldn’t and didn’t change. Fair play to them. They have shareholders to answer to. But to maintain that profit ratio, costs had to be reduced. And the biggest cost? People.
We vowed never to be seen as a ‘cost’. So we decided, as we watched our good mates being made redundant, the ‘only way to get some control is to go right out and take control!’ (Chapter 10: Go Geddem’ Tiger! by Tony Robbins)
Head to Toybox to view grade for some commercials we shot two weeks ago. Looks good. Coffee and emails and phone calls about another job we are shooting next Monday, the day before we move house.
It’s been interesting where our jobs have come from so far—the landscape is changing. In addition to contact from clients directly, we’ve had referrals from media companies, production companies, hell, even other agencies.
There’s a lot of talk about fragmentation of the big agencies; of clients tired of not having contact with key people; of too many layers of suits; and the money, always the money.
There will always be big agencies and we hope they continue to thrive. Change is inevitable and it’s not hard to see which big agencies are embracing it. And, equally, those big agencies that aren’t (call us and we’ll tell you who’s hot and who’s not).
After sitting across the desk from each other for 12 years, longer than the combined time we’ve been married to our wives, we agree on a lot of things, like Coronation Street being brilliant, that Josh needs to break out of his ‘folksy’ guitar playing and ‘rock it up’ a bit and that we love coming up with great ideas that connect with New Zealanders
Pick up a message asking if we can meet today with a client to present scripts. Yes, but not until later. It’s in the diary. Head up to Liquid Studios to listen to the first demo for ads. Sounds great, couple of tweaks, more aggression and we’re there. Phone rings, it’s the office furniture place. The chair we ordered with arms doesn’t come with arms. It’s gonna be another $77.35 for the next one up. Can you deliver Tuesday afternoon please? We can only promise a four-hour delivery window and our driver doesn’t carry a cellphone. Who should I send the invoice to? We’re Josh & Jamie.
Important thing, a name. It’s got to say something, mean something. Something cool like Special, Sugar or Shine; something random like Mother, The Jupiter Drawing Room or Glue Society; or something with a lot of letters like BBDO, DDB, Y&R or TBWA. What about just calling us what people already call us? Josh & Jamie.
We jump into the car and head out to record an audio track of the All Blacks at training. Good sorts and all done quickly. Back to office. We’re meeting the photocopier guy and the sparky to figure out boring stuff like cabling and exciting stuff like where to hang one of Josh’s awesome paintings. And to put the second coat on the floor. Watch the step, sorry about the smell. Probably gonna need a third coat. Or not. Off to Fletcher Steel in Penrose. Need to order some galvanised pipe and fittings for the boardroom table we’ve designed. Total cost $383.00. Guy from the computer shop phones. Let’s meet tomorrow at three. By the way, he says, I like your website and the ads you’ve done. So does my girlfriend and she’s the spender.
After sitting across the desk from each other for 12 years, longer than the combined time we’ve been married to our wives, we agree on a lot of things, like Coronation Street being brilliant, that Josh needs to break out of his ‘folksy’ guitar playing and ‘rock it up’ a bit and that we love coming up with great ideas that connect with New Zealanders. And it’s probably because we’re from New Zealand. Auckland and Hamilton to be precise. We are not from Britain, or America, or Australia or Romania. Although we have been to those places (watch out for the wild dogs in Bucharest). Therefore, our ads unashamedly reflect our ‘Kiwiness’.
Butch rings. He’s our foundation client from 3 Wise Men shirts. The guys want to change a line on that print ad. Too controversial. Need it done now. Okay, give us 15 minutes. What about this? Yep, that’s good. Fire it off to designer. Check emails. Two new business leads have come through from the website. Phone straight away. Act now. Don’t procrastinate. Lock in the meetings.
We’ve always done our best work when we can talk directly to the person making the decisions. An agency is only as good as its clients. Anyone in advertising will tell you this. A function of big agencies is that they inevitably work on the bigger clients. That means more layers on both sides, which doesn’t always work. We guarantee the best ads made in any agency are, without exception, made with clear direction from the client who actually makes the decisions. So if you are one of those, thank you. You are gold (and you are who we want to talk to).
Grab a sammy on the run. Cheese and onion from the gas station. Not quite Prego. Not quite edible. Meeting to present scripts at another agency in town. Good people. Good job. Goes well. Beer? No thanks. We’re off to Newmarket to choose boardroom chairs. We choose the coloured ones. And we get $500 off. That’s our mobile bills for a month. Nice. Phone rings. Sorry mate, excuse me, just got to take that phone call. PR company. Are we available to do some brand work for an alcohol client? Let’s talk.
Over the past 12 years we’ve worked on some of New Zealand’s biggest brands, including Fly Buys, ACC, NZTA, L&P, Steinlager, Lion Red, AA, Air New Zealand, Tip Top, GlobalPlus, Fisher and Paykel, Mainland and Kapiti Cheese, picking up over 100 local and international, creative and effectiveness awards along the way. And the thing is there are thousands more fantastic Kiwi businesses, big and small, run by talented and passionate people who want and value creativity to sell their products, services and ideas. That excites and drives us.
Checklist time before we separate for the night. It’s after seven. You do this mate, I’ll do that. Cool? Good. Talk to you later, no doubt. Home for bath time with the kids. How was your day guys? Read us a story Daddy. Kisses goodnight. Finally say hi to my wife. Cook stir-fry chicken together for dinner. All done and dusted by 8.30pm. Fire up computer. Check emails. Write scripts, write up ideas we worked on last Friday for the first review with a new client the next day. They feel good. Email them to Josh. He emails back the scamps he’s drawn. He’s happy. I’m happy. Bed at 11.48pm. Better get some shut-eye. Tomorrow could be a busy day.
Find them at joshandjamie.co.nz
