While there was no shortage of industry players willing to share a story or two illustrating Peter Friedman's all-systems-go approach to advertising and to life, perhaps the most telling indicator of his M.O. was his approach to this story. Not content to be merely an interesting subject, he's perhaps the only interviewee for a Boards story who has ever suggested themes and possible directions for the piece, actively participating in the process. And coming from this guy, it wasn't even annoying. It's an empathetic reflex borne not just of his innate inclination to pitch in, but of the very real fact that he's worked in so many aspects of the business that he knows, materially, what it's like to run a mile in the sneakers of most everyone he deals with.
| by: | Aug 1, 2001 |
Friedman, in his current role as EVP, Director of Broadcast Production at McCann-Erickson Worldwide in New York, most recently oversaw the production of the 40-spot multi-country Coca-Cola campaign, the demands of which included not only a 13-country concurrent shoot, but also a startlingly short production time frame.
The time crunch is something he says is an important factor in the evolution of the business and in his own career. Managing time and people, and a big picture sensibility have been instrumental in directing the huge department and volume of production at McCann and in his career as a whole.
"If you are going to be good in this or any business I think it's important to work your way up. You really need to do every job you can." Friedman, who has been steering McCann's productions since being appointed in 1999, knows what he's talking about. In his nearly 30 years in the business, he's played on most every ad team there is: working on the agency side; on the production side as rep, producer and executive producer; on the client side for one of the world's most prolific advertisers; running his own companies; and launching a commercial division for a fairly well-known long form production and effects company. He's worked on every account known to humanity and with many of it directors. Spot highlights include efforts like Nike "Airport," "Running of the Bulls," and "What Are you Getting Ready For?"
Aside from these more obvious resume highlights, he also directed for a very brief moment in time, and even acted, though declaring himself "awful" at both of those crafts. "I took acting classes - I was the worst in the class," he recalls. "I liked being behind the scenes; I liked putting people together."
This tendency emerged even in his pre-agency days as a student of political science, when he became bent on making a film. The fact that there was no film department at his school became merely a minor hurdle as he and a group of friends raised $10,000 and set off around the country on a documentary shoot.
He entered the agency world in 1972 as an assistant producer at Kenyon Eckhardt in New York and worked at Scali McCabe Sloves before joining BBDO in 1976. There he was a producer on brands like Pepsi and GE and it was there that he says he "learned the trade."
"At BBDO you learned by fire," he says. "I worked with Phil Dusenberry (now BBDO chairman) when he was a writer and creative director. He was brilliant and very demanding. You got a great understanding of what the standard of excellence should be. They raised the bar." Another BBDO influence came from then head of production, the late Carl Fisher, from whom Friedman says he learned an equally important aspect of the job. "He was a gentleman and a leader at the same time," he says. "I learned a ton from him - the way he tried to encourage people, the way he spoke to people. I believed watching him that you could be a nice person in this business and succeed."
