The MCA Prodcast – Détails, épisodes et analyse

This week on The MCA Prodcast Pat Murphy talks to Global Managing Director at RSA (Ridley Scott Associates) Films Kai-Lu Hsiung. From reception to Production Assistant, Producer, and then Managing Director, Kai is a shining example of production meritocracy so is the perfect person to talk to about nurturing talent and developing creative careers. Now as Global Managing Director, Kai ensures that RSA maintains its place as one of the world’s leading production houses, and continues to create some of the most culturally transformative and influential creative across every medium. 

In a world now dominated by AI and modern technology, what role do storytelling and human creativity still play? Kai shares her thoughts on this evolving landscape, using iconic advertisements like the Hovis Boy on the Bike campaign and the Samsung S23 film ‘Behold’ to illustrate how traditional storytelling meets cutting-edge technology. She recalls how the Samsung ad was shot entirely on a phone, but the production still required skilled craftspeople to ensure the lighting, sets, costumes etc were exactly optimal in order to get the perfect shot. She also recalls a wonderful story of how the Boy on a Bike ad came to be; a story that starts with Ridley Scott simply wanting to borrow a camera! 

Kai explains how the Ridley Scott Creative Group distinguishes between it’s brands, with Black Dog Films being the younger, culturally relevant offering, RSA has a more over-reaching remit and Scott Free focuses on feature film work and commercials. Whilst distinct brands Kai emphasises the importance of being ‘stronger together’ and how sharing resources leads to better results of all the brands’ clients. “You'll get a better production if you can all work together to solve problems”, Kai says. 

Kai and Pat discuss branded entertainment and content; how these ideas are forged and how they are developed. Kai describes branded content as being a ‘really interesting, fluid journey’ that you go on with your client, but it always starts with a need to fully understand the client’s needs and desired platforms. 

 As Chairwoman of the Young Director Award, Kai shares her views on how we can nurture young talent in the industry, spotlighting initiatives like the Aesthetica Film Festival and Nowness. Whether you're an aspiring filmmaker or an industry veteran, Kai's experiences and advice provide valuable lessons on balancing financial constraints with creative passions.

Watch Kai’s favourite ad: BMW – Beat the Devil

Hosted by Pat Murphy

Connect with Murphy Cobb and The Prodcast:

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This week on The MCA Prodcast you’ll hear one of the brilliant panel sessions from this year’s LBB and Friends Beach at Cannes. We are all story tellers, and this panel is about the power of storytelling and how creativity can be crucial to the success of any business.

Pat Murphy chairs the session and is joined by:
·      Doerte Spengler-Ahrens - Chairwoman of Jung von Matt and President of the Art Director’s Club (ADC)
·      Upasana Roy - Global Creative Strategy Director at Reckitt
·      Philipp Schuster - Agency Management and Marketing Partnerships Director from Bayer Consumer Health
·      Sir John Hegarty – Co-founder and Creative Director at The Garage Soho & The Business of Creativity 

Storytelling is fundamental to brand success, but sometimes creativity and bravery in marketing can be usurped by fear, budget constraints or other factors. The panel discuss how brands can remain creative and how this is essential to not only sell a product, but to create memorable experiences that resonate with consumers on a deeper level.
 
Agencies often direct brands to be brands, without being brands themselves – something John argues is a mistake! By positioning themselves as brands with distinct beliefs and values, agencies can differentiate themselves from mere service providers and attract the right clients. This approach is exemplified by revolutionary ideas like Renault's e-mobility solution, which transformed the market by offering a unique value proposition. 

Our panel debate who is best suited to sell an idea to a client – is it the creator of that idea or an account manager. Presenting ideas to clients requires an understanding of their language and problems, and constructive criticism is essential for a healthy client-agency relationship. Philipp explains that he enjoys tension with agencies he’s buying from. “We try to build an environment where we, with our partners, have a relationship where we can have healthy tension”, he says. “This is the relationship, the culture of a partnership we want to build together with our agencies, because we feel that this produces the best work”.

As well as tension, the panel discuss the role of ‘fear’ in good creative work. The panellists each recall stories of projects they worked on which, at the time, they were nervous about. John recalls one in-particular where a single different decision could have ruined the outcome. Upasana says “we fear that it's going to fail, and one of the best things that we can do is give ourselves the permission to fail once in a while”. Fear is almost imperative in the constant pursuit of good work! 

Click here to find out more about John’s course ‘The Business of Creativity’ and discover how creativity can take your business to the next level.

Hosted by Pat Murphy

Connect with Murphy Cobb and The Prodcast:

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This week on The MCA Prodcast Pat Murphy talks to Anastasia Leng, Founder & CEO of CreativeX, a technology company that powers creative-decision making for the world’s best brands by helping them to measure creative efficiency, consistency, representation, and impact across all creatives worldwide.

In this episode Anastasia talks us through the birth of CreativeX and how it works to measure creativity against a number of benchmarks – providing data in both pre and post-production. “I don't think you can do one without the other”, Anastasia says. Post production data can evaluate the success of a campaign and inform content decisions going forward, whilst pre-production data ensures your content teams are all ‘marching to the beat of the same drum’.

Anastasia talks us through how CreativeX’s tech works; tagging content with micro-data, then grouping tagged content together under themes such as format, content, accessibility, suitability for certain platforms etc. This can then be correlated with performance data to see which tags led to greatest success. You could discover how many of your ads contained dogs, for example, or how diverse your cast has been, or how consistent your brand identity is across campaigns and so much more. This data can then be assessed to see how the campaigns performed in terms of building brand awareness and ultimately, increasing sales.

One element that is hard to measure is creative excellence, as the barometer or measure of success will be different for each brand. However, Anastasia says there are macro themes that tend recur across the board: “ads that have a combination of representing the brand well, cutting through with consumers and ultimately achieving business impact.”

Anastasia also shares her perspective on how the jobs market might change with the advent of AI, and what life lessons she plans on passing on to her children. An aspiring fiction writer too, she reveals how she regularly exercises her writing muscle. 

Watch Anastasia’s favourite ad: Snowbird – 1 Star 

Hosted by Pat Murphy

Connect with Murphy Cobb and The Prodcast:

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This week on The MCA Prodcast Pat Murphy talks to Melania Kulczycka, Client Director at VuFinder Studios. Melania has supported the execution of projects using virtual production technology for brands such as Beko, Bosch, Veet, Calgon, and many others. Vufinder is a virtual production studio that utilises LED screens, Unreal Engine, tracking systems, 3D environments and more.

Melania explains how her fascination with technology took her to a career in virtual production via aerospace, even working for the UK’s Ministry of Defence. She explains how virtual reality was used for the first time to train soldiers for scenarios on the battlefield. From there Melania went into business with her father to launch VuFinder Studios.

How does virtual production differ from older technologies such as green screen or back projection, and what benefits can it offer? Melania describes the enormous LED screen that her studio uses and how this provides a better end result, with a more natural performance from talent and less editing complexities such as the need to key out green-spill.

Melania explains that VP offers clients ‘absolute freedom of creativity’ because you are not limited by, for example, the laws of physics. You don’t need to obtain permissions to film as you would on location and there are no variables that can’t be planned for. ‘You are limited only by your imagination’.

Melania also talks us through the areas in which AI can help in her role; from demonstrating an idea to a client before a record, to scanning real humans into Unreal Engine so their likeness can be used – even multiplying them so one person could appear many times in the same ad!

Watch Melania’s favourite ad: Sony Bravia – Bouncing Balls

Hosted by Pat Murphy 

Connect with Murphy Cobb and The Prodcast:

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This week on The MCA Prodcast Pat Murphy talks to author, speaker, and podcaster Rishad Tobaccowala whose extensive career has covered almost every area of marketing and strategy. Rishad spent nearly four decades at Publicis Groupe, and spent time as Chairman of Digitas and Razorfish, two of the largest marketing transformation agencies in the world with over 11000 employees. He was named by BusinessWeek as one of the top business leaders for his pioneering innovation and TIME magazine dubbed him one of five ‘Marketing Innovators’.

Rishad reflects on the changes he’s witnessed in marketing and strategy throughout his career, from the shift in power from marketer to consumer, to the increased complexity of the market and arrival of hyper-personalisation. He describes the marketing industry as a fusion of poetry and plumbing; poetry being the creative storytelling and plumbing being the functional, business side. In Rishad’s view, the industry did lose an element of the poetry for a while, becoming too business-focussed, but it’s starting to redress the balance. “If you're in marketing and you aren't in the storytelling business, you're in the wrong business” Rishad says.

Rishad and Pat consider shifting mindsets between baby boomers and Gen Z; how approaches to work are changing, and how industry needs to evolve and adapt accordingly. With regards to work-life balance people used to ask ‘how do I fit life into my work-world’? Now people are saying ‘how do I fit work into my life’? 

How is AI changing production and what role will it play in the future? Rishad conducted an interesting experiment when writing his new book. He wrote a chapter, used an AI model to write the same chapter, and sent both to his publisher for feedback. The results were fascinating! Rishad also considers the human factors that machines will not be able to replicate, such as our curiosity and ability to communicate and collaborate. Rishad also explains how he learns everyday in order to ‘update his mental operating system’ and why you should do the same.

Listen to Rishad’s podcast ‘What next’

Watch Rishad’s favourite ad: Apple - 1984

Hosted by Pat Murphy

Connect with Murphy Cobb and The Prodcast:

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This week on The MCA Prodcast Pat Murphy talks to John Osborn, Director for Ad Net Zero in the USA. Originally launched in the UK, Ad Net Zero has grown to over 100 supporting companies, and now counts over 50 supporters in the US. John is leading Ad Net Zero to leverage the power of its supporters to educate, set benchmarks & standards, measure and take action to lower the carbon emissions associated across all advertising-related operations.

 The advertising industry is renowned for its innovation, and John explains how this innovation can enable advertising projects to become more sustainable. From travel and production choices, to even the food options available when catering – all these elements can be tweaked to provide a greener, more sustainable end product. They may seem like small, incremental changes but “it all adds up to something more significant”.

John explains AdGreen – a calculator tool from Ad Net Zero that clients can leverage to understand how decisions ultimately affect their carbon footprint. When in the decision-making stage of production, advertisers can use this tool to calculate the effect that different production options may have, and use this data to inform their choices.

John and Pat consider the friction that often exists between profit and purpose, and how the two do not have to be mutually exclusive – you can have both. Purposeful work delivered in a way that is engaging and captures people's attention can have a strong and powerful multiplier effect; for both the business and the planet. 

Watch John’s favourite ad: FedEx – Great Idea

Hosted by Pat Murphy

Connect with Murphy Cobb and The Prodcast:

Murphy Cobb & Associates |  The MCA Prodcast  |  LinkedIn  |  Instagram | Email

This week on The MCA Prodcast Pat Murphy talks to Nick Dodet, Founder and Managing Partner at PIG China. Over the years, Nick has produced over 800 TV commercials, including some of the biggest films in Chinese advertising history. He’s worked with iconic global talent such as Leonardo Di Caprio, Nicholas Cage, David Beckham and Jodie Foster to name just a few! 

What’s in a name? Nick reveals the story behind the rather unusual name for his business and how, over the years, the name has taken on a life of its own. Nick also explains how the Chinese advertising industry differs to Western markets that he was previously familiar with and how he needed to adapt his business accordingly. Nick was able to exploit his status as a ‘foreigner’ to bypass traditional hierarchical structures in China and achieve things he most-likely couldn’t if he were a Chinese national.

Nick and Pat discuss the shift towards AI and how brands are adopting it in China. Nick suggests take-up of these technologies is slightly slower in China but brands are moving that way. He says the demand amongst brands to adopt AI feels akin to 10 – 12 years ago when brands wanted to create apps, even if they didn’t really have a need for an app! Nick also considers the potential role blockchain technology could play in the future of IP management and control.

Watch Nick’s favourite ad: VW Polo – Protection 

Hosted by Pat Murphy

Connect with Murphy Cobb and The Prodcast:

Murphy Cobb & Associates |  The MCA Prodcast  |  LinkedIn  |  Instagram | Email

This week on The MCA Prodcast Pat Murphy talks to Jos van Oostrum, Senior Director for Mars Sustainable Solutions at Mars Incorporated. Jos is a zoologist with a passion for our relationship with life on land and below water. At Mars, Jos leads a team whose mission is to find scalable solutions to help restore the ecosystems that Mars depends on and improve the resilience and livelihoods of the communities they work with.

Jos takes us back to the start of his career in sustainability, initially working with Unilever in 1998 to develop a sustainability plan for Bird’s Eye’s frozen peas. He emphasizes the importance of purpose-led companies and how young entrepreneurs and start-ups are now being inspired to hold these values from the very start of their business. ‘I find it so brave that you're not just starting up a business, but you're doing it with such a strong purpose and such a belief that you want to do things the right way’ Jos says.

Jos takes us on a deep dive into ocean health and ecosystem restoration, discussing his work with Mars' mantra of "bees, seas, and trees." He shares the incredible story of the Sheba Hope Grows Campaign, which aims to restore coral reefs in Indonesia and spread awareness of the importance of our ocean's health. You can even see the word HOPE spelt out underwater on Google Earth! Plus, hear Jos' personal experiences and efforts to make the ocean less fearful and more accessible to people, creating ambassadors of hope around the globe. 

Watch Jos’ favourite ad: Guinness – Wheelchair Basketball

Hosted by Pat Murphy

Connect with Murphy Cobb and The Prodcast:

Murphy Cobb & Associates |  The MCA Prodcast  |  LinkedIn  |  Instagram | Email

This week on The MCA Prodcast Pat Murphy talks to Nick Johnson, Global Head of Tech, Media & Comms at international law firm Osborne Clarke. Nick is a leading advertising law and digital regulation specialist and advises the most successful brands, platforms, media owners and agencies as well as fast-growth businesses. 

Nick talks through the transformative change that AI is bringing to our everyday workflows, including at his law firm. He also outlines the current regulatory landscape, and the EU's pioneering efforts towards responsible AI usage. Nick suggests the strict regulation from the EU could hamper growth in the field and potentially prevent new technologies coming to market. We will watch with keen interest the developments in AI regulation over coming months. 

Can creative works created by machine be protected by copyright? What about if copyrighted works are used to train an AI model that then goes on to produce new artistic works - could the original copyright holder have a claim?   With deep-fakes able to replicate someone’s face or voice, could artists or performers copyright their likeness and how would they go about doing that? AI is certainly a tangled web when it comes to copyright, but Nick explains where we are now and the laws that will likely have to change to catch up with the technology. 

At MCA we’re working with Nick to develop a brand initiation program for clients around AI regulation. Please contact us for more information. 

Watch Nick’s favourite ad: R Whites – Secret Lemonade Drinker

Hosted by Pat Murphy

Connect with Murphy Cobb and The Prodcast:
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This week on The MCA Prodcast Pat Murphy talks to Efrain Ayala, Global Creativity and D&I Director at Reckitt. With more than 15 years of experience under their belt, Ayala is known for their strategic approach to DE&I, which not only elevates the conversation but also produces measurable progress. Their unwavering commitment to creating a more inclusive world has earned them numerous accolades, including the esteemed role of WFA Global D&I Ambassador and juror for the prestigious Glass Lion: The Lion for Change award at this year’s Cannes Lions festival.

Efrain examines the complexities surrounding social media and its governance; as social shifted from organic to paid reach how should governments and policymakers respond to regulate the online social space.  From social to AI, Efrain expresses his concerns around using artificial intelligence to generate representation for minority communities. Can AI really represent and benefit marginalised communities, or is creating an avatar with a minority appearance, for example, merely a tokenistic representation of supposed diversity.  

Efrain also explains his role in supporting brands with DE&I in their marketing. He describes how many brands tend to include diverse groups in their campaigns as ‘window dressing’, which can perpetuate stereotypes. Brands should instead embed diversity and equity throughout their processes in order to meaningfully represent marginalised communities.  

Efrain also talks about his role as an ambassador for the World Federation of Advertisers, bringing brands and agencies together to collaborate and share experiences to enhance DE&I within the marketing space.  

Watch Efrain’s favourite ad: AXE – Find your Magic

Hosted by Pat Murphy

Connect with Murphy Cobb and The Prodcast:

Murphy Cobb & Associates |  The MCA Prodcast  |  LinkedIn  |  Instagram | Email