New York Diary: Addison, O, Interview, DraftFCB (UPDATED 10/1/10)

Thursday September 30th, 2010

by Maria Luci

Last Thursday Jess, Sean and I packed up nearly 40 portfolios and headed to the Big Apple. We had four meetings squeezed into a tight schedule, with our first starting at 9:30 am. (This meant that our day started at 5:45 am.) We loaded up and drove straight to Addison, a branding and design firm, where we met up with art producer Marcie Heffron. Addison’s focus is on information simplification with a long list of financial clients including Wells Fargo, Liberty Mutual, American Express and Bank of America.

After making our way through the building’s catacombs we found the freight elevator that led us up to a modern office full of creative touches. Addison’s modern décor matched their creative approach to brand strategy and design. Polished concrete, a neutral palette with a few pops of bright color and stylish wood pieces made the office both fun and inviting.

We laid out about 20 books on a long wooden table. Our meeting started out slow, with just Marcie, Sean, Jess and me, since the other creatives had been called into an impromptu meeting. This was fine with us, as Marcie was very friendly and we were happy to speak one-on-one with her about our photographers and Wonderful Machine.

Once their meeting let out, the creatives poured in and we had a dozen people flipping through each book. Design director Rick Slusher seemed particularly excited that we had come. He told us that he loved our emailers and kept them for inspiration.

We got some good feedback and met some great people at Addison. Two portfolios they particularly enjoyed included Walt Denson’s and Leah Fasten’s. Many were familiar with Walt’s work and were enthusiastic about his breathtaking landscapes. They also appreciated the canvas paper his photos were printed on. Leah’s kids photography also stood out, especially for her talent at capturing natural moments.

Leah Fasten’s portfolio video:

Walt Denson’s portfolio video:

After grabbing a croissant that we’d had catered from Café Metro, we said goodbye, packed our bags and moved on to O, The Oprah Magazine. Sean and I attended this meeting in the very chic Hearst Building while Jess worked on an estimate.

The first thing we noticed as Olivia Barr, their photo researcher, walked us into the meeting was the amazing view. Their floor-to-ceiling windows gave me a bit of vertigo but it was exciting being that high up and seeing so much of the city.

The meeting at O was smaller than the one at Addison, with only the photo department present. They were almost giddy with the books we had on hand, taking many promos and even photocopying some of the pages. They cheerfully stated that they’d worked with Gabriela Hasbun before. Katherine Schad, their photo director, said that Gabriela’s work was basically what they were looking for in a photographic style—classy, with a bit of quirkiness.

A few other Wonderful Machine photographers who stood out to them were Brian Kulhmann, Chris Deford, Robert Gallagher and Andy Reynolds. Just like at Addison, they mentioned they were familiar with us and had used us to find photographers.

It was great meeting the photo department at O, but we had to bid them adieu so we could meet up with our Denver photographer Jacob Pritchard. We enjoyed some delicious Indian food and engaging conversation at Sapphire on the Upper West Side. Jake told us about his unique trip to Bhutan and his move from Denver to New York. We made sure to get a photo of Jake and his cool bike before we parted ways.

After lunch Jess and I headed for DraftFCB, one of the world’s largest communications agencies, while Sean took a few books over to Interview Magazine. The meeting at Interview was just one-on-one with photo researcher Jamie Bradley. Sean cursed my name as he pulled up to the address. He panicked, thinking I had written it down wrong, but soon found a small side door that led into the 19th century library-style office of Interview Magazine. Surprisingly, Interview had only requested still-life photographers. Sean showed a few books; our New York photographer Claire Benoist’s portfolio stood out to Jamie.

Meanwhile, Jess and I hauled two cases of portfolios, two buckets full of ice, beer, wine, and a large amount of catered food up to DraftFCB. This was our biggest meeting—a portfolio happy hour—with around 30 people attending. DraftFCB has a large and diverse list of clients, including Pfizer, Taco Bell and Boeing.

The Draft office was very impressive, with at least seven floors. Each floor had an open area in the middle where you were able to peer straight down to the first floor. Arleen D’Amico, DraftFCB’s art producer, showed us around and got us settled.

We set up in their back café, using their high steel buffet to display about 20 portfolios. We also set out mouthwatering cheeses, bread and vegetables catered from Dean & Deluca’s, as well as pony-sized beer bottles, wine and sodas. With all this food and drink on offer, the creatives started pouring in. Many oohed and ahed over the books, with particular interest in Walt Denson, Brent Clark and Leah Fasten’s work. Arleen had worked with Walt before and called him “a gem.”

A few creatives took more time with each book in search of a specific style for an upcoming project. Sean showed up from Interview and chatted with them about their photographic wants and needs. They expressed interest in the style of Jacob Pritchard, Dan Chung and Leah Fasten.

Eventually the café area started to clear out and it was just Jess, Sean and me. Arleen stopped by one last time to say thanks and goodbye. Tired but happy, we packed up and left New York with some great new connections, a very successful day behind us and a fun trip through New York rush hour ahead of us.

UPDATE 10/1/10

Our recent portfolio events in New York were a success in more ways than one. Not only were we able to show almost 40 portfolios to four influential clients, we’ve also created relationships that have already benefited both the client and Wonderful Machine.

Earlier this week Addison’s Marcie Heffron contacted me about seeing film work from one of our photographers. I sent her more information and had the photographer send me films of the style she was looking for. I forwarded all this along and told Marcie she was free to contact our photographer directly if she decided to hire them.

DraftFCB contacted us twice this week. First, Arleen D’Amico emailed asking about the availability of Jason Wallis for an upcoming project. Jason’s portfolio was not included in the event; Arleen found him on the Wonderful Machine website. A few days later, Ilona Siller called to get photographer recommendations for an upcoming project this week.

We also got a call from Olivia Barr of O, asking if our Chicago photographers would be willing to travel.

All in all, I’d say our NYC trip was a great success for the entire Wonderful Machine family.

-Maria