Chicago Panel Lifts Lid on Windy City's Creativity

This week sees the release of the new issue of shots, issue 152, which is our Chicago special. In it we talk to a host of Chicago ad men and women to lift the lid on the creative renaissance which seems to be taking place in the city.

To precede the issue, last month shots hosted, in partnership with The Mill Chicago and Whitehouse Post Chicago, an event in the Windy City which brought together four of the city's most respected creatives to discuss how and why Chicago is challenging the established US creative hubs.

Chaired by shots editor Danny Edwards, the panel included Vincent Geraghty, EVP and executive director of production at Leo Burnett Chicago; Matthew Wood partner and editor at Whitehouse Post Chicago; Jared Yeater, MD at The Mill Chicago, and Rick Hamann, SVP The Onion Labs.

Over the course of the discussion the panel looked at what has sparked such a creative impetus, why the city should be favourably compared to New York and LA and how a city itself can have an impact on its creative businesses and the people working in it. 

Above you can view a 20 minute edited version of that discussion and, below, is a separate clip of the audience Q&A from the night. 

The new issue of shots, issue 152 [below], with further Chicago coverage, plus interviews with Grey London's Nils Leonard; W+K New York's David Kolbusz; Park Pictures' Nathan Price and a special report on wearable tech, is out this week. If you'd like to subscribe to shots and receive this issue, please click here.