2014 in Review with... John Matejczyk

Co-founder and executive creative director of San Francisco-based agency MUH-TAY-ZIK | HOF-FER, John Matejczyk, looks back over the year and comes to the conclusion that successful brands are getting consistent, one-to-one social engagement right, that Old Spice is still rocks, and that Oculus Rift isn't the future. Yet.

Do you think that 2014 has been a particularly good year for global creative advertising?

The big hits only become classics with time. In years past, it was easier to look at a year and see industry-shifting works of greatness. We could point to single creations like Three Little Pigs for the Guardian [below], Lamp for Ikea, Noitulove for Guinness, or Dumb Ways to Die

. We could also point to dramatic brand makeovers like the unrelenting greatness from Wieden for Old Spice, or Goodby’s rehabilitative work for massive brands like HP and Hyundai.

This year, the victories are smaller, more frequent, more individual, and more short-lived. They happen in that one-to-one space we’ve all been talking about with the rise of social.

With people glued to their mobile and the “big screen” referring to a laptop, the victories are in the day-to-day, consistent voice of brands that can keep it up. There are social victories like Oreo, Samsung’s Oscars selfie [below], or adidas #allin.

Yet, in a way that’s just us in the industry trying to make big deals out of small deals. “Look at how Ellen DeGeneres set a record for retweets!” we all exclaim. It was a big deal, but only in the aggregate. Advertising creatives are good at dreaming up the shareable ideas, but there’s really not much creative we can actually look at and call it brilliant.

And how about in the US; has its creative output been of high quality in general?

It’s always so hard to judge it when you’re still in the thick of it. Old Spice is a clear standout, and I love the Dress Normal work for Gap.

When I think back to years past, though, work that made my jaw drop was industry-shifting stuff. Crispin was making the business work in new ways for Mini and BK. Wieden was causing us to slather ourselves in every Old Spice product we could find. Fallon made films for BMW. Goodby made us love huge brands we don’t care for. Skittles made our brain explode with Taste the Rainbow.

There were tons of great things made this year but I’m hard pressed, save Old Spice, to name much that dramatically caused us to rethink how brands operate.

What campaigns or pieces of work have stood out for you this year and why?

Old Spice just continues to keep up the greatness. Momsong and Dadsong [below] are examples of not just using a new voice, but creating a new voice over a few years that allows you to do things like that. I think that if the very first thing Old Spice had done had been Momsong, we would have all just scratched our heads. But they’ve succeeded in creating their own vernacular, almost a new narrative style that allows them to speak this new language of their own making.

Another standout as a brand is Rapha, the cycling enthusiasts. They bucked every accepted norm of the hyper-testosterone (literally, as we found out) industry and embraced the romance and art of the sport in a way that translates across everything the brand does from product to advertising to social to retail experience. Brilliant.

Technologically speaking, this year seemed to be the year of Oculus Rift; would you agree and will it be even more prominent in 2015 and beyond?

No. Oculus Rift is pretty cool, but no way is penetration at a level that we could call it a fundamental advancement in marketing communications. As it gains mass appeal, there is no shortage of creative technologists who will make it continually more amazing, for continually more people. It will be fun to watch.

The technology that people really interact with at a mass level? GIFs, 6-second videos, vanishing videos. People like snacks.

What work achievement are you personally most proud of from this year?

Our proudest moment was creating the spoilers site for Netflix. By releasing entire seasons at once, the company has fundamentally changed how we consume, and therefore discuss, entertainment. The water cooler conversation now begins with “wait, what episode are you on?”

That’s why Netflix hired a sociologist to look into the new conversation around spoilers. Are they all bad? What they found was that spoilers serve a useful human need, and in fact, actually make people more likely to watch a programme or film.

Far from helping people avoid spoilers, we created an opportunity for people to self-select and spoil themselves. Users hit a button marked “Spoil me.” They get another button asking if they’re sure. Then they are served, randomly, the key spoiler scene from a significant film or TV series.

Users are able to keep hitting the button for another spoiler, and they did; nine million times in the first week the site was live. It hit the front page of Reddit with two different posts and was serving 60,000 video views an hour.

My favourite press quote: “Screams could be heard throughout the TIME newsroom!”

What do you think is the most important thing you’ve learned over the course of 2014?

Make stuff, make stuff, make stuff. Historically this business has been; plan, plan, plan, and attempt to create a single masterpiece.

Now as a result of both shrinking budgets and the rise of content needs in the age of social, we have to be fast, funny, witty, insightful, inexpensive, and beautiful, every day.

It’s bittersweet. I love shooting for the masterpiece. But it’s also a blast to be making tons of fun stuff. Our young creatives are turning over their books in six months. They make art, memes, videos, GIFs, microsites… and they’re good.

What are you most excited about for 2015?

The need for content is only growing. “Conversations” with customers go stale fast until you add some great stories to the conversation. That’s when it gets interesting.

I am looking forward all the micro-stories that will be told and how they’ll be told.

What do you think the big talking points or changes in the industry will be next year?

It will continue to be difficult for large, entrenched organisations to be as reactive and nimble as the new marketplace demands. This goes for clients and agencies alike.

The ones who figure it out will see gains. The ones who don’t will see missed opportunities.

What are you asking Santa for this Christmas?

For years, I’ve been asking for a way to have our DVR, television, Apple TV, and sound system all work together. I’ve never gotten it.

What will be your new year’s resolution?

Help instil more professionalism across our organisation. We’ve always believed that a creatively driven culture depends on a more buttoned-up pedestal of reason and discipline, not less.

If all this fast, wonderful creative work really can help brands succeed and give the market what interests them, the truth of reason and true professionalism are on our side. Let’s embrace it.