Peter Friedman joins us for an exclusive interview this month. He is a living legend in the ad world and has headed up production in some of the best creative agencies in the world.
Peter was also Nike’s first head of global TV production and is the author of “I’ll Get the Tip” (a must-read if you’re a fan of great stories).
He gives us a behind-the-scenes look at what makes Nike storytelling so special, the secret to a fifty-year ad career, and what it’s like working with pop icons.
You can watch the full interview over on our YouTube channel.
In a career spanning 50 years, how has the creative process evolved? And what has stayed the same?
Creative is still King. But if you look at what’s on TV these days, you can see that the creative product has become less effective.
You still need to start with a brief. Something that the client wants, right? I don’t care if it’s written in shorthand or hieroglyphics, you still have to start with a brief.
And then you need creative. You need people to take that brief, understand that brand, and turn it into an idea.
Unfortunately, there are fewer good ideas in the advertising world today. Not because the teams are less talented, but because they have much less freedom. Let’s not forget that advertising is entertainment.
What was the most challenging campaign you’ve ever produced? Any advice from that experience?
Nike was very difficult in many cases because of the timeframes. The athletes were not available. And when you can finally lock an athlete in, you have two hours. What do you mean we have two hours? We have 22 shots with Kobe, we can’t do that in two hours!
But you make it work. You get a double, you shoot from the back, you figure it out.
Those were difficult, but incredibly rewarding because you really had to work with the agencies.
Do you have a favorite spot that you worked on during your Nike years? Why?
I think the Black Mamba spot, which we turned into a seven-minute film. Radical Media produced it and did a terrific job. Kobe was amazing. Bruce Willis was in it. Kanye was in it.
We had a major amount of talent, and it was seven nights of shooting. That was an amazing shoot.
How does the review and approval process look for history-making TV spots like Black Mamba?
Well, I can only talk about the time I was there. I know things are different now. That’s normal. Time erodes.
But the approval process at Nike was so spectacular, it was so different than anything I’d ever worked on. I’d worked on campaigns for Pepsi and other things, and it was belabored. It was a process. The budget was drawn out and the approvals. And the creative was tested and beaten to death before you even got out there.
Nike was amazing. I remember for “Fun Police”, sitting in a room with Chris Zimmerman, who was the Head of US advertising, and a few of the other Nike guys. They say they’ve got this great idea, it’s called “Fun Police”.
This was during the basketball strike. And Jamie Barrick gets up on the table, and he turns on some music, and he starts singing and dancing. He’s pitching the idea about the “Fun Police” through a song that he wrote. We sat there in awe.
Now tell me something: How could you test that?
What’s your advice for working with people, especially living legends?
Firstly, we’ve got to remember one very important thing about a producer. If the commercial turns out great, you had nothing to do with it. It was a creative idea. It was the director.
If the commercial turns out to be a stinker, you’re going to hear “God, that producer was terrible”. But that’s one of a producer’s credos in life.
To answer your question, when you work with celebrities and whatnot, you have to appreciate who they are. And how they got there. They didn’t get there overnight. These people were born gifted. Most of them, obviously. And they worked excruciatingly hard to develop that talent.
And the most important thing when you’re working with living legends is to realize that the biggest fear is that one day they’ll wake up and they won’t have “it” anymore.
How does storytelling in a book differ from storytelling in TV commercials? Or are many of the techniques and principles the same?
The biggest difference really is that in a book, you have an unlimited amount of time to write it. It can be as long as you want. And when you’re dealing with the editors and publishers, they’re going to bring you back down to earth.
In a commercial, you have 30 seconds to tell a story. And you have to be a brilliant writer to be able to get your message across in 30 seconds. You have to keep it simple. Don’t try to sell five ideas in 30 seconds. It’s not going to work. It has to be one idea.
How does the review and approval process look for history-making TV spots like “Failure”?
There was something magical about it because the idea was simple. The location was simple. We were at Soldier Field in Chicago. We were shooting in the winter, which was brutally cold. There’s no heat. You’re in the bowels of a football stadium.
Just finding a location that was perfect was hard. It was just a wall. And one guy standing at the door. And Michael. What would he wear? Would he come in wearing a coat?
Those discussions are so simple and minute. But on a commercial when you’re one guy for 30 seconds and it’s slow motion? Everything has to be perfect. So, we did it and rehearsed it so many times.
What separates an award-winning campaign from a merely effective one?
Well, let’s start by saying that award-winning campaigns don’t mean they’re good commercials. You can have a great campaign that was terrific for the creative people, because now they’ve got it on their reel, and they’re going to get a better job.
But did it sell more product? No. Most people don’t think about that.
In your work as a mentor, what’s one piece of advice you always share with emerging creatives?
It is different today. The process for agency folks is much more complicated in most cases. It’s much scarier now that everything is data driven. There’s no emotion anymore. You can’t test an emotional idea.
AI and automation have rocked the advertising industry in the past few years. What impact do you see that having on creativity?
To be honest, I’m not optimistic based on what I hear. It depends on how it’s used – whether it’s used as a crutch or as an aide to help you create. But if it does the work for you and takes the creative element out, the human element out, then it’s not good.
What makes advertising special is the human part. It’s a team. It’s not a director. It’s not a writer. It’s everybody.
Smoking a cigar with Michael Jordan
I’ll sign off with one final story from Peter. When I asked about memorable moments in his career, smoking a cigar with Michael Jordan was one of the highlights.
Thanks for reading!
Stay tuned for next month’s issue. And be sure to stay tuned for Peter’s exciting new podcast coming soon!
