Ad Chat - Rob Schwartz

We're starting (reviving) a new series here on Adland.tv called Ad Chat. Each Monday we'll share responses from the ad world's leading peeps.

To kick it off, we talked with Rob Schwartz, Chief Creative Officer at TBWA\CHIAT\DAY.

1. What's your favorite funny story about yourself?
I once pitched some jokes to legendary comedian Rodney Dangerfield. He told me to worry about the ads and he'd worry about the jokes. Mine were funny.

2. What piece of art (movie, book, music, painting, etc) has influenced you most? How or why?
"Catcher in the Rye" is the book that influenced me the most. The intimate style. The breeziness. The ability for words to leap off a page.

3. Who was your favorite mentor and why?
Lee Clow. Because he's, well, Lee.

4. What's one thing that excites you about the future of advertising?
The one thing that excites me about the future of advertising is the observation that people seem to really like ads when they're good. And they share them.

5. If you could meet with anyone in history (dead or alive), who would it be and why?
I love Mel Brooks. I'd love to go to Nate 'n Al's and have a bagel and coffee with him.

6. What’s your favorite website/blog, and why?
I like https://www.notcot.com/ A cornucopia of good ideas and awesomeness.

7. What's your trick to break out of a creative block?
Go someplace else. Physically. Mentally.

8. Who is your advertising hero and why?
Bill Bernbach, Howard Gossage, Jay Chiat, Lee Clow. All disruptors and people whose ideas connect with and move people.

9. What piece of advice do you wish someone had told you when you were starting out?
Success is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. I had it the other way around when I started.

Keep up with Rob at his blog Metal Potential or on Twitter at @Schwartzie14.

And thanks Rob for kicking us off!

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Other Ad Chats:
Keith Ruggiero Synth loving composer and sound designer at "Sounds Red"
Jill Spradley Associate Creative Director at 160over90
Brian Bronaugh President at Mullen, Pittsburgh, PA
Bo Hellberg, Swedish ECD in France, at Brave and Billington Cartmell, Paris
Jane Goldman Creative Director/Copywriter & Strategist, Boston, MA
Jonah Otieno - Executive Creative Director 5ive Ltd, Nairobi
Anne-Cécile Tauleigne ECD at JWT Paris
Esther Clerehan, Headhunter, Sydney, Australia
Ad chat: Manuel Bordé Creative copy at BBDO Dubai
Rance Randle Art Director at TBWA\Chiat\Day\LA
Åsk 'Dabitch' Wäppling the force behind Adland
Dave Trott creative mischief chief
Arnie DiGeorge Executive Creative Director of RR Partners
Andy Kinsella Innovation Director at Glue Isobar
Koert Bakker Director of Strategy at Victor & Spoils
Evan Brown, Sr. Copywriter at TBWA\Chiat\Day
Dena Walker, Digital Strategist at Irish International in Dublin, Ireland
Bernie Watt, copywriter at Make, in Sydney, Australia
Ron Smrczek, Executive Creative Director of TAXI Europe
Vincent Vella, Creative Director - Grey Paris, Euro RSCG and Publicis.
Gideon Amichay, Creative Chairman of Shalmor Avnon Amichay Y&R Tel Aviv
Richard Tseng, Freelance Copywriter at CP+B
Claudiu Florea, Managing Partner - Wunderkid, Romania
Snorre Martinsen creative at Saatchi & Saatchi Oslo
Laura Jordan Bambach, Executive Creative Director LBi
Simon White Creative Lead from Rapp, London
Richard Gorodecky Executive Creative Director at Amsterdam Worldwide
Ray Page Creative Director at Tribal DDB
Adam Pierno of Off Madison Ave.
Edward Boches of Mullen
Dirk Singer of Rabbit, UK
Gareth Kay of Goodby, Silverstein and Partners
Tim Brunelle of Hello Viking
Rob Schwartz of TBWA\Chiat\Day

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