name: scott mcclellandd.o.b: 23 may 1972ish
what you do: stuff
p: what kind of stuff?
sm: i’m a creative consultant to advertising agencies and i create messages to make people like brands and what they sell.
p: consultant, hey, isn’t that a fancy word for unemployed?
sm: i wish it was - i’d get to sleep more.
p: where are you?
sm: i’m 11,000 meters up, somewhere between melbourne and singapore. i still get amazed that i can be moving at 766km/h and not even spill my drink, let alone be emailable. i quite enjoy flights as it was always a good chance to have a little quiet time but unfortunately you can’t even up here now.
p: and before?
sm: my last grown-up job was creative director of the advertising agency, bartle bogle hegarty, in tokyo where i worked on campaigns with the likes of levi’s, tanqueray, virgin atlantic and ntt dodomo. before that i lived, worked and played in melbourne, singapore, cape town, johanesburg and amsterdam.
p: tell us about amsterdam.
sm: my recollections are a little blurry.
p: tell us about tokyo then.
sm: it was like being a kid again. i had to relearn so many things. we tend to get comfortable and lazy and just accept things for how they are. we don’t question things enough. when you travel, as i particularly found in japan, things that you would normally take for granted present new challenges. you’d think by my age i’d have the toilet thing pretty much down but when you’re presented with a toilet that not only has buttons and switches but also a remote control then you are taken out of your comfort zone. i had fun working it out though.
p: and working there?
sm: it was nice being in a place where i didn’t know the rules as it afforded me a lot of freedom. i didn’t know what i couldn’t do so i just did stuff. i was able to work on a lot more things outside of the traditional channels of advertising. in the name of making people like our client’s brands, we threw parties, did art exhibitions and produced a couple of music cd’s - not of my own music as anyone who has shared a karaoke booth with me is thankful for.
a good example of what we did was the originals campaign for levi’s. to reinforce the message of them being the original jeans and to illustrate the originality of the wearers themselves, we used a really, really big scanner to capture images of levi’s wearers. we threw parties, put it in clubs and levi’s stores and scanned hundreds of interesting people – from celebs to people off the street. each person was given a life-sized original poster of themselves and these images were then used through print, poster, in-store, ambient, web and tv. not only were the people original in what they did, each ad itself was an original with no two ads appearing twice. we also released an album of original songs by different bands who had been on the scanner.
p: sounds like fun.
sm: it was great in that lot’s of people got to connect with the brand in an intimate way. we were pulling people in off the street and dragging people back in the middle of the night from clubs. there were a few images not really fit for print, though.
p: you like to travel?
sm: for my father’s generation the only way to see the world was to join the army. i only had to join advertising. fortunately the only shooting i’ve had to deal with is for television commercials.
i love to travel as i love to observe people. not in a freaky, stalker way but i love seeing the how popular culture bounces around and influences each other. i love seeing how people take things in and make them their own, whether it be design, music or what they wear.
p: and what are you wearing?
sm: a smile.
p: weren’t you once spotted dressed as a tiger on a podium at zouk in singapore?
sm: tigers aren’t spotted, leopards are. i believe there was a beaver too. that was part of the ‘party animals’ guerilla campaign for a website called www.onday.cc. it was a great way to build a client’s brand while getting very drunk.
p: don’t you also work in a supermarket?
sm: probably very soon but in the meantime, i work on various art projects with my side entity, supermarkart. it’s art meets crass commercialism and i hook up artists with brands and hope they both end up smiling. we’re currently putting together an exhibition and book based on my dog, cookie, with contributions from lots of arty farty people around the world.
p: so what’s next?
sm: i’m quite excited about where the industry is heading as i believe there’ll be a much stronger emphasis on creativity. we can no longer rely on traditional media channels to engage people. we have to be invited into their lives. we have to reward them for listening to our sales pitch, captivate them, entertain them, enthrall them, educate them.
some guys lip-synching on youtube are being seen by more people than your very expensive commercial. we’ll have to find more entertaining ways to connect with people and that’s where the fun bit is. unfortunately we’re not curing world peace here. we’d best at least entertain and inform people as we make them feel good about the brands and things they choose to surround themselves with.
oh, but first i think i’ll have another drink.
scott is currently based in melbourne but works with brands all over the world. in the last year he’s done projects with heineken in amsterdam, johnnie walker in shanghai, renault in australia and nokia in singapore. he should really spend more time at home with his lovely partner and their rather cute dog though.
he’s far more handsome than he looks, funnier than he sounds and usually drunker than appears.
