A extremely awarded and impartial firm within the coronary heart of Atlanta, Georgia, Dagger is a full-service, inventive company with a state-of-the-art, in-house manufacturing studio. Albert ‘Al’ Patton is the company’s chief inventive officer and has led the group’s inventive route since becoming a member of in early 2019, bringing with him over a decade of expertise within the inventive route from his time at prestigious corporations corresponding to R/GA and Tribal DDB.

As he approaches his fourth 12 months as CCO, Al sat down with LBB’s Ben Conway to debate his profession journey up to now, the philosophies that affect Dagger and its inventive output, and the way “entertainment thinking” ought to be a extra outstanding driving issue within the trade. During the dialog, Al reveals why stand-up comedians are his inventive and management heroes, he discusses his proudest items of labor at Dagger, and even teases one thing that awaits on the horizon for the company.

LBB> What inventive content material impressed or you most while you have been rising up? Do any TV exhibits, movies and advertisements stand out to you?

Al> I used to be a baby of the ‘80s and a teen of the ‘90s so John Hughes made a lasting impression from a film standpoint. I may actually hold the world record for viewings of the original ‘Weird Science’. SNL was large TV-wise, notably that unbelievable solid for the ’86-’87 season. Every Monday at recess my mates and I’d rehash the skits from that weekend, doing our greatest to re-create the characters and grasp the voices. I used to be influenced by promoting throughout these years too however most likely much less consciously so. ‘Where’s the Beef?’ for Wendy’s, the ‘Speed Talker’ for FedEx, these campaigns have been memorable. But truthfully, the advertisements that made the largest impression on me have been ones the place one thing appeared actually tousled. Like that Folgers business the place the child comes house from school and his dad and mom have slept in so he has to wake them up with the scent of the brewing espresso… your child’s coming house from school for the primary time – set an alarm!

LBB> When did the potential of working within the promoting world seem to you? How was your journey into this trade?

Al> After school it took a couple of 12 months’s price of ‘career experimentation’ earlier than I discovered my manner into the company world. I didn’t know there was a career the place a 23-year-old may dwell in New York City, spend their days writing and doing inventive issues and nonetheless not starve. But after I realised such a factor existed… signal me up! A good friend of a good friend was a copywriter at Saatchi and was good sufficient to have me over in the future, present me what a inventive portfolio was. He supplied some recommendation on get my foot within the door at an advert company, so I adopted it just about to the letter, and it led to me getting my first job.

Early on, a inventive director I vastly admired summed up a profession as an company inventive this fashion: ‘If you have some talent and you try really, really hard, good things tend to follow. Not every time, but you’ll be busy with tasks that curiosity you, and a few of these tasks may very well be a whole lot of enjoyable’. I’ve discovered this to be true of my very own profession.

I’ve all the time simply tried my hardest and I’ve been fortunate that some good issues have adopted. It’s nonetheless how I strategy issues and it’s what I attempt to instil in my groups; that the hassle you set in is (as a rule) proportional to what you get out of it.

LBB> When did you be part of Dagger? What have been your expectations earlier than you joined? And what have been a few of your foremost objectives with the company from the beginning?

Al> I joined Dagger in February 2019. What excited me as I acquired to know the company was that its genetic code felt completely different, it felt recent. Equally thrilling was that its DNA was nonetheless very a lot within the technique of being written. I felt what I may deliver would weave properly with the strands that already existed right here, and over the previous 4 years, it’s been actually cool watching our genome take form. 

We’ve all the time had fairly bold objectives and I feel if something these objectives have gotten extra bold over time. Have they been achieved? It is determined by the way you take a look at that. We’ve been an AdAge Small Agency of the Year twice previously three years so I assume it’s been achieved on some stage, however our complete mentality is that there’s a lot left to do and so many different methods we will develop.

LBB> Who are your inventive heroes? And who or what conjures up you as a frontrunner?

Al> Stand-up comedians are my inventive heroes. Not simply the nice ones – I imply anyone who does it. With any act of creativity there’s an inherent vulnerability – you create one thing out of nothing and put it in entrance of others to both like or dislike. I don’t suppose you would depart your self as defenceless as while you’re doing stand-up. It takes actual braveness since you’re permitting folks to guage you instantly. If you make a portray, folks will decide the portray, however for those who’re on stage telling jokes, folks aren’t actually judging the fabric, they’re judging you. Very few artwork kinds require the artist to obtain the approval or disapproval of their viewers so instantly or instantaneously like that. 

That type of braveness conjures up me as a frontrunner too as a result of a lot of being a inventive chief helps your groups discover the heart to take possibilities and put themselves on the market. But you need to dwell it your self. When your group sees you doing it your self,  even for those who fail – and possibly particularly for those who fail – hopefully, it conjures up them to do the identical.

LBB> You say folks ought to ‘start infusing some entertainment thinking’ into their ad-making mentality. Can you elaborate on this? 

Al> Engaging the viewer by means of humour, emotion or adrenaline is likely one of the elementary components of advert. What’s new is the extent to which at present’s client insists that advertisers obtain this, and I feel it’s a results of mindset shifts that occurred in the course of the pandemic. For lots of people, the pandemic caused an amazing re-prioritisation, not simply in the best way they spend their time (extra time with family members, much less time in visitors, for instance) but additionally of their attitudes towards media consumption. When folks have been extra remoted than they’d ever been, the significance they positioned on their favorite leisure properties skyrocketed, because the exhibits, films and streaming content material they love turned like lifelines for them throughout that window of isolation. 

Naturally, folks turned much more irritated by the advertisements that interrupt that leisure – if folks had little endurance for advertisements earlier than the pandemic, now they’ve even much less. So if advertisers need to seize even a sliver of client consideration, not to mention construct model affinity, they’re going to have to satisfy the buyer nearer to the place their new bar for engagement is. 

Ads that don’t entertain in a legit manner are principally invisible now. They weren’t tremendous seen earlier than the pandemic however now they’re simply vapour.

LBB> How do you recommend folks go about infusing this leisure considering into their advert making?

Al> I feel the quickest and most direct manner for businesses to do it’s to rent creatives who’ve an entertain-first mentality. Historically, company creatives have began with a product message after which they discover a option to wrap a narrative, or a joke, or one thing inspiring round it. Creatives with an entertain-first mentality begin extra from a spot of engagement. The process turns into making the product message work inside one thing that grabs the buyer’s consideration in a simpler manner. Instead of ‘this dishwashing liquid cuts through grease, what kind of jokes could fall out of that?’ it’s ‘what from an engagement standpoint is going to make this dishwashing liquid ad cut through the clutter, and how is the message then going to come through?’. When you ask the latter query the reply tends to learn by tradition and, usually, meaning you’re in the suitable house.

‘Let’s not give you the same old advert company stuff’ is a factor my groups hear me say lots. Brainstorms are much less about making an attempt to tug jokes out of product options and extra about what’s occurring in tradition, what persons are speaking about and what’s going to really feel recent. I’m not saying an concept by no means begins with the product at Dagger, however extra regularly it’ll begin with how that product pertains to one thing or somebody in tradition. When you come at it from these angles, it tends to yield much more (and extra attention-grabbing) methods to ship details about a product. 

LBB> What tasks have Dagger created just lately that lean into this leisure considering?

Aflac – ‘Aflac Duck vs Gap Goat’

The target market is school soccer followers so we’ve acquired probably the most entertaining particular person in soccer, Deion Sanders, paired with the largest title in school soccer teaching, Nick Saban. That dynamic of two soccer GOATs enjoying reverse one another is fairly participating, however we additionally noticed a possibility to clean up the best way the duck entertains in Aflac’s promoting. By introducing a brand new animal character, an precise goat, the Aflac duck now has a rival and that’s a assemble we will draw a whole lot of humour from. The query wasn’t what’s humorous about supplemental insurance coverage, however moderately who our viewers is curious about, and what it might take from an leisure standpoint to deliver newness to the long-lasting Aflac duck.

Holiday Inn Express – Breakfast Any Way You Like It

Another instance is a marketing campaign we have now working proper now for Holiday Inn Express which promotes their free breakfast. The breakfast itself presents numerous choices so we leaned into the perception that everybody does breakfast in their very own manner. Creatively, the motive force here’s a tune – a contemporary remix of the acquainted traditional, ‘Express Yourself’. The tune supplies a framework that’s inherently entertaining, permitting us to be very centered on product and buyer expertise with our movie, and really centered on perception with our VO. 

LBB> What work are you most pleased with throughout your complete profession? 

Al> On the company aspect, everytime you get an opportunity to work with non-profits and charitable foundations, that work tends to carry a particular place. We’ve finished some good work with Boys & Girls Clubs of America and the American Cancer Society at Dagger and I’m pleased with that. We’ve additionally had an amazing partnership with an organisation right here in Atlanta referred to as Love Beyond Walls. Back in New York, I used to work with organisations like City Harvest which feeds the hungry and Safe Horizon which helps victims of home abuse and different forms of violence. Being capable of apply your skillset to assist folks instantly is a present and I’ll all the time be thankful for the chance to associate with teams like that.

LBB> What is a latest undertaking in your new position that has been notably thrilling, momentous, or studying expertise? 

Al> What has me further excited lately is an apparent reply for me, nevertheless it’s going to be a tease. We’ve had one thing within the lab at Dagger for slightly bit now, a brand new division of the corporate that I’m tremendous enthusiastic about launching. I can’t say an excessive amount of about it but aside from it additionally exists within the leisure house and it’s a very, actually completely different type of factor for an company to do. I do know that’s imprecise however we’re planning to launch it publicly earlier than the top of the 12 months – so keep tuned on that one.

LBB> What is one thing from wider society and tradition proper now that you simply speak with folks about lots? Do you’ve a pet peeve that you end up ranting about or maybe a new-found curiosity? What do you are taking from that into your work?

Al> This isn’t all that faraway from my work life however so far as a new-found curiosity, I’m fairly obsessive about these AI-powered picture turbines everybody’s studying use. I don’t suppose a day has handed in a month the place I didn’t have not less than one dialog with somebody about DALL-E, Midjourney or Stable Diffusion. As a author, it’s fairly mind-blowing to have this complete new manner to make use of language and have it produce one thing you by no means thought you’d be capable of make. 

I by no means thought I‘d be able to produce a portrait of Gary Busey where his hair has been replaced by squid ink linguine, but now I can! There’s one thing very thrilling about that to me. The trade is simply beginning to get its head across the impression this expertise goes to have which might be why it makes for such attention-grabbing dialog.

LBB> And lastly, what do you do to unwind and encourage your work creatively?

Al> I like taking up DIY house enchancment tasks that require not less than 9 years to finish. I’ve a couple of of these happening. And I don’t actually do something particular to hunt out inventive inspiration, I simply preserve the receptors open and the world normally has a manner of offering it. 

For instance (and this isn’t a bit), final week I used to be stopped at a crimson mild and on the automobile in entrance of me there have been two magnets – one mentioned ‘Please Be Patient – Student Driver’ and the opposite mentioned ‘Baby On Board’. Something like that may get my thoughts turning for hours. My first considered course is: ‘brave baby!’. But then I feel, may it probably imply that the infant is the coed driver? (Conjuring pictures of a child executing an ideal parallel park.) Or that the infant is the driving teacher? (More pictures of child with clipboard, clip-on tie and occasional thermos.) Or has this specific driving college made the colossally irresponsible resolution to have a take your youngster to work day? What was the assembly like the place that concept was greenlit? Anyway, issues like that are likely to preserve the inventive components of the mind turned on.