This week we chat with Rance Randle, early morning-man and L.A. all the way. He's an Art Director at TBWA/Chiat/Day/LA, the ad agency that launched Apple, made Pepsi the Now generation and wires up the Grammy awards with tech-fantastic every year.
You're born and bred on the west side, right? Where did you go to school and what sparked your interest in advertising?
Yes, straight out of Compton. Just kidding. Inglewood to be exact. I was fortunate enough to have an amazing art teacher in high school who raved about Art Center and lo and behold that's where I ended up going.
Sounds like a nice teacher. Who is your favorite mentor and why?
I actually have a few. Seems like to manage the mean streets of advertising you need more than one guide. I've been fortunate to have three guys who are always available and willing willing to break it down and help me through the ad game. Dennis lee, Hal Curtis and Ryan O'rourke. Those guys take the brunt of my life- threatening ad questions. Next time I should be truthful and tell them the reason I'm asking them for advice is to be better than them and send them into early retirement.
So what's it like working in an ad agency that houses over 800 people and has its own town square in the middle of the building?
Reaching my fourth year here I've become a little desensitized with the size of the place. However I'm easily reminded when visitors walk in and their jaws drop. But the air is filled with a lot of great things going on so its almost like being in Wonka's factory. The Gene Wilder Wonka not Depp.
I know you've been all sorts of integrated layers of campaigns already, so you'd be the guy to ask - What's one thing that excites you about the future of advertising?
That's easy. Technology. Ten years ago we weren't really talking about social media executions and twitter. Who's to say what the next five to ten years will bring. Technology influences the ad industry immensely and there is a new piece of tech that hasn't been thought up and a fresh new creative idea to go along with it.
What piece of advice do you wish someone had told you when you were starting out?
I wish someone told me to prepare my stomach for the amount of drinking that goes on. Or how fat late night dinners can make you. At one point I dubbed myself the Black Marshmallow man. You know the one from the Ghostbusters. I also wish someone would have told me that I need to enjoy the process far more than outcomes. As a creative you create a lot of ideas and less than 10% of that gets produced. Our love for creativity and being able to come up with cool shit non stop is what fuels us. I've learned to relish in that. The production of those ideas is the just the icing on the cake.
What work are you most proud of?
Probably the Nissan Heisman House work. I've done TV before but nothing that warranted me sharing it with someone. I'm also a huge college football junkie so to be able to work on the project was right up my alley. Not to mention it was a full campaign TV, Print, Digital, and Experiential. A creatives dream is to do a real live 360 campaign. When you get to work on one its like giving birth to a Unicorn.
When you get stuck in a creative rut, how do you shake it?
I usually listen to some Kendrick Lamar mixed with a little Stan Getz while watching ESPN highlights and something hits me.
Art direction. What work have you noted for the art direction execution alone recently?
Actually I've recently seen a few spots for DICKS Sporting Goods. The gritty feel is amazing and very cinematic.
Dick's Sporting Goods - Every Snap - (2013) :60 (USA)
What's the unexpected thing that we don't know about you?
I use to be a Fedex Driver. That job was way more intense than any assignment I've been given in advertising. People apparently want their package on time, and navigating a 40 foot truck through LA ain't easy. But I enjoyed parking in middle of the street and in the red.
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