“I’m an intuitive creative”, started Pat Baron.
“I like to feel my way through an idea as much as think my way through an idea”.
Describing himself as “only an ad guy”, Pat is the Chief Creative Officer for McCann Melbourne.
His philosophy for advertising, he says, is “Say it straight, say it great, make it great.” What’s the problem, what is the idea, and how are you going to do it?
“We’ve ended up with a homogenised way of answering the problem. The tendency for agencies is to be a little lazy,” he said.
“If we think radio ads are dull and traditional, is it because radio is dull or traditional, or because we are?”
Pat worked on the ‘Dumb Ways To Die’ song, a piece of work for Melbourne’s Metro Trains, which was a viral hit on YouTube in 2012, being viewed 30m times.
He also played a number of award-winning radio and audio advertising (click the links to lkisten).
Pedigree’s K9FM – an entire radio station launched in New Zealand that the dog food company launched just for dogs.
KFC Man Meal was an example of how to underline that KFC is for everyone, not just for big, burly men.
Dove A Mothers Body was played as one of many examples from this cosmetics brand to re-think body image.
Guns not Groceries, a new and novel way of challenging the gun control laws in the US.
The Berlin Wall of Sound was a seven-minute piece of work for the 25th anniversary of the collapse of the wall, embedded in sounds and frequencies ‘to make you not just remember the events, but feel them’.
“You don’t have to do boring advertising,” he concluded. “You won’t surprise anyone if you can’t surprise yourself.”
Reporting: James Cridland
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