shots Iconic Covers: Olivier Altmann

Three years ago former Publicis Conseil co-chairman and chief creative officer, Olivier Altmann, was interviewed by shots with the resulting piece appearing in the pages of the magazine as our The Way I See It feature for issue 137.

For his creative portrait, the creative exec chose to present himself in two different lights with his professional side and more relaxed character coming through in an amusing bedroom-based situation.

Since the issue was published, Altmann has left his role and responsibilities as the creative head at Publicis Conseil to co-found agency Altmann+Pacreau after over a decade with the group. Below he tells us about the story behind his amusing portrait series to continue our coverage on some of the iconic covers marking 25 years of shots. 

How did you come up with the idea for your portrait for shots 137?

Honsetly I don’t remember. I think Hervé Plumet, the photographer, proposed the idea of shooting in a bed.

Maybe I thought about a way to show my passion for advertising, and one idea that come to my mind was showing my real life at home. Me at night, still answering my professional emails and watching shots on my laptop, while my wife is already asleep, as she wakes up early to take the kids to school.

Where was the image shot and whose bed are you in, is it a hotel?

It was shot at Hotel Balzac. A luxury hotel near the Champs Elysées and close to my previous agency, Publicis Conseil.

Tell us about the two characters and how you struck the different poses?

As I said, the Olivier Altmann’s working character represents the passionate and workaholic part of me. The other one is maybe more reflecting of my more sensitive and human, friendly side. Maybe it’s more an egocentric thing as an analyst would say: me loving myself.

Did you have much involvement in the production of the images?

Hervé Plumet (voted best advertising photograph last year in French advertising magazine CB News) did all the work. All I had to do was select with him the best attitude shown in the shots.

How did it feel to wear a ladies nightgown?

Quite funny in fact. I think most of the men have tried once in their lives to disguise themselves as a woman. By wearing a wig or high heels. 

And tell us more about the shoot day, did you enjoy it and any interesting memories?

Nothing special I’m afraid. We didn’t have much time so Hervé did all the lighting before I joined the shoot. I was the model and the creative director at the same time so we were both searching on the set for the better ideas, props, etc.

How well do you think the images fit with the feature?

Quite well I think. The feature is about knowing more about me so going to the intimacy of the bedroom makes sense.

Did you get any interesting feedback when the issue was released? Tell us about that…

I had a lot of feedback, either by text messaging or social network. People react positively about the fact that even if I was at the time, the worldwide creative director of Publicis, I didn’t take myself too seriously. Even some big clients joked with me about it. Good PR thanks to you.