Chicago: Don Hoeg; Making The Difference

Don Hoeg, founder of Chicago post/production house Radar Studios [pictured above, left, with Radar EP Graham Gangi], has always seen light in the dark, but as his city enjoys a cultural and creative renaissance, emerging from New York and LA’s shadows, it seems his positivity for Chicago’s ad industry ain’t just wishful thinking

The stock British response to overt enthusiasm is, in general, cynicism. We Brits are often distrustful of positivity and constantly search for the crack of darkness in any story of light. Not sure why. Probably to do with the weather; most things seem to be. But if you didn’t already know there’s an air of unbridled optimism circulating through the offices of Chicago’s advertising industry, then a few minutes in the company of Radar Studios’ Don Hoeg will clarify this for you, making even the most skeptical Brit’s cynicism start to crumble.

Radar founder and director Hoeg is a man for whom the glass is never less than half full. His enthusiasm for the work his company does, and the industry as a whole, is infectious. Like Leo Burnett’s Susan Credle, it’s not that he’s blind to the issues the advertising industry in Chicago still faces, but he chooses to be positive about those issues and see them as challenges to be overcome rather than insurmountable obstacles.

Size doesn’t matter

Even Radar, a studio of directors, editors and animation and VFX artists, was initially formed from a sense of positivity. Hoeg started his career in effects animation and experimental film, working for brands such as MTV. After working for a few companies in Chicago he decided to open his own studio. “Radar was started just out of excitement to do my own thing,” he says, “for the excitement of doing the kind of work I love. I just went in [to work], resigned, and the next day started this place and was blessed when clients started hiring us and giving us a chance.”

That was back in 1999, and the company has gone from strength to strength since its first weeks of opening. Hoeg’s plan was to align the worlds of production and post production and create a better synergy between these two elements of the creative equation. Radar encompasses both things, though it also works on separate areas of a project when a client calls for it. Making a creative difference is Hoeg’s goal and he’s keen to point out that if his company doesn’t manage that, even if they deliver exactly what’s asked of them, then they’ve been unsuccessful.

“We start with the bar here,” he states, holding his hand at head height, “but if that’s as far as the bar ever goes, then we’ve failed. You know, we never miss a deadline, we never break a budget, we do all those things absolutely professionally and as you’d expect. However, that’s as it should be, that’s the base level of things. Of course you have to do it in a way that let’s you keep the doors open, but we’re really looking to be inspired by the kind of work that we’re doing.

“I remember,” continues Hoeg, “a small job came in and one of our guys who is now our creative director, Steven Gray, was going to design it. Somebody else said something critical about the size of the job, something like, ‘Well it’s not like it’s Nike’, and Steven replied, ‘This is my Nike’.

“The brand isn’t what makes the job great, the spot being on during the Super Bowl is not what makes the job great and the budget isn’t what makes the job great. It’s taking something and making it into something of quality, that’s what really makes it exciting and we have a team that thinks that way and that’s what I love. There’s no ego or attitude about being better than the job at hand, it’s like, your job, our future and our enjoyment comes from making the best out of each opportunity and finding ways to attack these things.”

Hoeg is even more positive than usual right now because he feels that Chicago is having a creative resurgence and other companies’ successes can only be to Radar’s benefit. “In the last five years it seems like it’s gotten more exciting [in Chicago]. More work is here, more companies are here and they are doing good work, and I think that if the company down the street succeeds it’s going to be better for us, it’s going to be better for our community. We’re then going to develop an even stronger production community and a stronger art community for everyone to draw upon.”

One town that won’t let you down

It’s not just the improving level of work that Hoeg thinks is attracting more – and better – creative people to Chicago, but the city itself. “We are attracting people from New York because when they come here they are like, ‘Whoa, this place is a lot like New York.’ I would say we are, as a city, much more similar in feel to New York than we are to LA. And lifestyle-wise, I mean what you pay for cost of living and rent and quality of life here versus the cost of living in New York…” he trails off with a shake of the head at the thought of New York’s prices.

“We see a lot of freelancers looking to come to Chicago from New York because they like that there’s a solid community here. And they’ve got all of the culture that they can get in New York here in Chicago. We’ve always been in the shadow of New York, LA and London, but Chicago is a great place and is a real creative hub.”