Rob Schwartz

CCO, TBWA\CHIAT\DAY Los Angeles

Claim To Fame: Named “Leader of The Year” by the Los Angeles Advertising Agencies Association

Rob Schwartz is the Chief Creative Officer of the Los Angeles office of TBWA\CHIAT\DAY. During his tenure the office has experienced unprecedented growth to both its creative reputation and bottom line. In fact, the LA office was recently placed on AdAge’s prestigious “A-List.” An honor that coincided with the naming of TBWA\ as both AdAge and Adweek’s 2008 “Network of The Year.”

Rob has been the key creative leader on the Visa “go” campaign; Visa’s first-ever global campaign. He has also lead new creative efforts on Pepsi’s most recent “refresheverything” campaign, Nissan’s global, long-running SHIFT_ campaign, and pretty much everything else that comes out of the LA office.

Rob has recently been leading the charge to merge traditional and digital creative at the Los Angeles office. And was recently a judge at the prestigious One Show Interactive.

A writer by trade, Rob’s work has appeared in every major advertising award show as well as Adweek’s “Best of the Decade.”

Rob was recently named “Leader of The Year” by the Los Angeles Advertising Agencies Association (now known as ThinkLA).

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Are big ideas relevant anymore?

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Good ideas are relevant and I think if there’s a good idea that’s true to the world and people connect to it, it becomes a big idea. I think the days where you have an idea and then you just put it into every single media channel you can afford in a budget – those days are gone. That’s not gonna’ work anymore but a good idea is going to find its way to a lot of different places.

What role does technology play in the future? Does the future belong to specialists or generalists?
Technology is what drives us. I think in this specific here, what we’ve been talking about is the classic Bernbach writer, art director structure, and then there’s this third person. Maybe they are a creative technologist. Maybe they are really a straight kind of tech beast. And I think what’s really changed is that it’s no longer a two person game on the ideas. You actually need a third brain in the room that is tech savvy.

Is the recession feeding creativity?
I’m seeing fewer pieces in the world. Fewer ideas, fewer pieces of communication in advertising, but the good ones are better. Because the clients are more precious with the dollars, we’ve got to be more smart and do better things with the ideas. And I think if you just think back to a few years ago where we were spending like drunken sailors and the market was going crazy and everybody had money, you didn’t have to be that good. But now the audience wants great work and we have a limited budget. So, with those limited dollars you have to have more impact. I think we have to start with, instead of this is what it costs, we have to say if you make this marketing and communications investment this could be the return.

Do award shows matter any more, and who is qualified to judge work?
At their best, they show the creative that is the furthest out. It’s the highest bar. It’s the lighthouse for a lot of people, and that’s where they serve their value. It is in the sense of this is the best of the form.

What keeps you up at night?
Part of it is keeping up. Do I know enough? Am I reading the right things from the right people at the right time. That’s a big part of it. The other thing that keeps me up is do we have the best talent? And I think talent in our business has changed so much and I think it’s a reflection of who you’ve asked to look at the show. It’s different skill sets. I’m really wondering do we have the best talent, and if we don’t, where are we going to find these people?

Rob Schwartz

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