James Tomkinson Looks At The Highs & Lows of 2015

How would you describe and reflect on 2015 for the industry, creatively speaking?

The year started with the epic The Joy of Storage for Ikea. Mid-year was marked by the euphoria surrounding Lexus' Hoverboard, but for me the outstanding piece was the beautifully crafted HSBC Lift (below). On the experiential front, I loved M&C Saatchi’s Clever Buoy for Optus where their extensive mobile network was used to warn lifeguards of the impending arrival of sharks via some clever sonar technology.

Now the year is drawing to an end with some great humour on our screens. Jeff Goldblum certainly delivers in the Spare the Act This Christmas campaign for Currys. As does Joseph in the Mulberry Miracle spot where he presents Mary with a rather nice hand bag, then some shepherds and kings make an appearance to share in the wonder. Also, we have Mog the Cat in the calamitous spectacular for Sainsburys.

What about your company’s creative performance; how much do you think you’ve grown this year?

Nexus has had a strong year with Grand National Outsider for 4Creative, Dropbox Creative Freedom for 72 & Sunny, Umpqua Bank The Seed for CAA and Sprout Boy for the BBC. 

We have pushed ourselves creatively and technically with Felix Massie’s immersive animated story Rain or Shine for Google Spotlight Stories, a narrative format for 360⁰, interactive stories. Using everyday smartphone technology, the user holds their own phone and can choose where to look and how to follow the story. 

Nexus Interactive Arts’ (NIA) Made with Code website for Google, which was designed to inspire girls to code had some dazzling developments. The take up with the website prompted Google to commission additional projects, this time with real world outcomes. Firstly, the ability to code their own design of Christmas tree lights - in fact 56 Christmas trees - all with individual programmable lighting installations for the 92nd Annual National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony at the President’s Park in Washington, launched by President Barack Obama. Secondly an LED dress, again programmable from the Made With Code website (below). The dress was designed by Zac Posen and worn by Coco Rocha for the opening of New York Fashion week.

What has your own best personal achievement been in the past 12 months and why?

We moved office this year after a prolonged period of jamming in a lot of artists, animators, developers and producers into way-too-small a space. And then, two spaces. But now, we have our new office taking our new studio up to around 200 seats. We thought we could breathe again however, within two months we were at 98 percent capacity. Luxury problem!

And looking ahead to 2016, what are you most excited about in terms of the industry and advertising?

I am excited about what the developments in VR and AR will be - I know we will see a lot more interactivity. But how brands embrace real-time animation mixed with artificial intelligence will be incredible. The challenge - as ever - will be to use all of this tech in an engaging and talked-about way.

Give us an example of a strategy/approach from a brand you’d like to see more of in 2016…

Brands taking responsibility is always a good thing and that‘s what we see in AT&T’s It Can Wait, where a beautifully crafted film discourages us not to drive-and-glance-at-your-phone as No text is worth a life. 

From a man who has done exactly this, I take heed. Fortunately my experience was without such dire consequences, just a dented Prius bumper. And before you say it, no he didn’t deserve it for driving a faux good-for-the-environment car, he was a very nice man and he took it very well, even after a long day at the office.

Which campaign, piece of work or moment will you remember this year for and why?

I love the Tena Men ads (below). The idea that a male panty-pad can be championed by a cravat wearing man with slick-back hair and an upper lip festooned with a trimmed facial thatch who is ‘in control of all aspects of my life’ including his pet lion, but not his ‘urine leakage’ is the epitome of great comedy. All medical, pharma and hygiene products should take note of AMV’s genius work for Tena Men and Jeff Low’s brilliant execution.

How do you think your region has performed this year in comparison to other leading markets?

I think in the UK we have seen some strong scripts, but for volume and scale the US is still a tour de force.

What’s your new year’s resolution, workwise or other?

Everybody says I should wear a bicycle helmet, perhaps that should be my New Year’s resolution?

What one piece of advice would you give to the industry to take with it into 2016?

Watch out for in-house agency production departments. They are designed to satisfy the low-budget quick-turnaround work that does not require the skills of a regular commercials director and their production company. However, increasingly these in-house agency production departments are doing bigger and more creative projects that would normally have gone out to tender to all the independent production companies.

By going to the open market you end up with best creative solution for the best price and so keeping these projects in-house is not serving the client’s best interests or the creative department. For production companies, we are losing a core training ground for our up-and-coming directors which will have a knock-on effect of eroding tomorrow's talent. So we all lose.

What do you hope you’ve achieved by this time next year in terms of work?

In terms of experiential it would be amazing to have produced a live broadcast using an ‘intelligent’ real-time animated character.

On the live action front this time next year I am sure Kibwe will be on everyone’s radar. His new Guinness spot will definitely help. Jack Cunningham and Nicolas Ménard are going to have a good 2016 off the back of their work for The California Sunday Magazine / Google Play animated interviews, with Rashida Jones and Jack Black (below) respectively. And the outrageously funny After The End by Sam Southward will endear all the best creatives!