OAAA President and CEO Anna Bager interviewed Mark Tutssel (former executive Chairman – Leo Burnett Worldwide)  last friday as part of the OAAA’s lunch break series.  Some of the highlights.

What is the real value of out of home?

When I first got into advertising I worked at Saatchi and Saatchi in London.  And the first lesson I was taught was when you have an idea, a big breakthrough idea…create a poster.  Create a piece of outdoor.  Because when you start to apply an idea to that particular medium you’re forced to distill and your forced to reduce and your forced to have a single minded point of view about the brand…And it’s an incredibly hard discipline.  But once you create that poster it is the purest form of the idea you have…I’ve always said to everybody, what’s the poster?  Because the poster is more than simply just a piece of information.  The poster is the heartbeat of an idea.  And some of the best ideas in the world have originated on posters…That’s why I’ve always been a far of outdoor and I’ve always thought it’s the one because it is the most difficult.  But when you get it right it’s absolutely pure genius.

On the need for good creative.

When you think about outdoor there’s so much wallpaper out there…When I talk about outdoor I’m talking about the 1%/5%…that really does inform you, inspire you, motivate you…most of the stuff you don’t see because it’s just wallpaper.  It washes over you.  Every day, our work…must be irresistible.  And it must be more interesting and more valuable than anything that people are searching for.

A great out of home campaign

Let’s take the Economist…the red background which is synonymous with the economist…Instantly branded.  Intelligent.  Treating people with intelligence…That headline and that sub-headline is the essence of what reading the Economist is all about…Captures in five words…is the essence of the brand, and it’s visually arresting.  It stands out.  It must be read…

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