Emma's Gone Back To School....: Stephen Bennett

"Not Just A Visual Layer, But About Designing Solutions..."

Stephen Bennett of Juniper Park was kind enough to be this week's guest lecture for Professional Topics. Previously, Bennett was Creative Director at Grip Limited. He has also held positions at Blast Radius, Henderson Bas and MacLaren McCann.

Mr. Bennett described two types of marketing agencies. 'Pure Play' is purely digital and can be used to describe agencies such as Blue Zone, Mod7, Blast Radius, Ninedots and Henderson BAS. 'Integrated' is the more traditional agency and can be used to describe Juniper Park (as well as McLaren McCann, Grip Limited).

"Juniper Park is a place where the disciplines of strategy, design and advertising come to play."

For a company that is less than 3 years old, Juniper Park has a healthy client list of established companies (mostly US based) such as Pepsico, Sun Chips, Lays, Starbucks, Virgin Mobile, Quaker, Canadian Club and many more. They are well versed in 'Broadcast', 'Digital', 'Print', 'Out-Of-Home' and 'Statement.' Juniper Park has 75 employees, made up Art Directors, Designers, Writers, Developers, Producers and Creative Directors. http://www.juniperpark.com/

Juniper Park's aim is to establish a brand connection to the consumer through stories and brand narrative. They are unique in that they use a vendor model; meaning they participate in the early stages of ideation and establishment of brands but do not handle production. Mr. Bennett described the simplification process they go through with the client, asking them to think of their brand as a chair. They are asked to describe the appearance of the chair, who would use the chair and what purpose the chair would serve. Through this process Juniper Park and the client can develop the brand to the next level by articulating its 'story.' Clients want their brand to be relevant.

He uses the following video as a metaphor for a brand, and his involvement as Creative Director:

Sasquatch Music Festival Dancer

Mr. Bennett discussed the Apple brand and the reasons for their success. The 1984 commercial says it all: Apple's focus on humanity and 'unleashing people's creativity."

Apple Commercial 1984

He demonstrates the importance of the 'brand,' and the effect it can have on the consumer. To do this Mr. Bennet used Apple and their iPhone 4.
Apple iPhone 4 Cartoon

Stephen's Tips...
"Its Not About You Know, Its About Who Knows you"
"Make friends"
"Be Curious"
"Take Your Time"
"Execution is Everything"
"Whats Your Story"

Examples of their work...

Sun Chips, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu5J5HQk6VY