One of 2002's greatest moments in advertising came when a belligerent Swedish passerby chastized the collective audience. Never mind smooth sell lines or coy persuasion tactics, no, just call your viewers crazy.

For Ikea's Unböring campaign, via Miami agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky, sympathy for inanimate objects was simply unacceptable. In "Lamp" and "Moo Cow Milker" the surly Swede called for the replacement of tacky furnishings and audiences cheered.

CP+B senior producer Rupert Samuel, who is behind Ikea's six recent spots, says that with these, as in all projects, choosing the right director was crucial to making top spots. "There are those I admire before they come in, but I have to make sure the script is right for the director."

The right director for "Lamp" was Spike Jonze of LA's MJZ. "As an agency we had always wanted to work with him, and he really brought that spot to life. He turned it into more than what it was on paper." Meanwhile Clay Williams, also of MJZ, brought passion to porcelain in "Moo Cow Milker".

Despite successful spot/director pairings as in the case of Jonze and Williams, Samuel says he doesn't have a roster of 'go-to' people. In fact, in the three Shop Unböring spots - where families test out the arguability of living spaces on the showroom floor - Samuel brought on directors Wes Anderson of bicoastal Moxie Pictures ("Kitchen", "Living Room"), and Hank Perlman of bicoastal hungry man ("It's Time").

"I never stick to one person or one company, I mix it up. The more you mix it up and take risks, the better the end product," says the 28-year-old London native.

In order to shake it up, Samuel finds himself spending a great deal of time building relationships, which he learned to do in his early days at the agency. A film student at West London University, Samuel interned at CP+B, was then hired as an editor six years ago, and eventually moved to producing, where he created a series of free-flowing street-ball vignettes called the AND 1 Mixed Tapes. "We traveled around the country convincing street-ballers to be in the footage," he says. "I had to use the gift of gab." He also worked on early Truth campaigns, setting out to talk to kids around the country.

The most recent Ikea dictate is to Live Unböring in "Bored to Death" as directed by Bryan Buckley, and Samuel says of his campaign fave, "It's the essence of the Ikea brand - digging out from under the furniture you're rooted to in order to find something exciting."

Bucking his non-go-to trend, following the positive experience with "Bored to Death", Samuel says he's returning to Buckley for an upcoming MINI project. He also stashes a list of directors he'd like to work with - including Michel Gondry, Jonathan Glazer, Traktor, Brian Beletic and Jason Moyer - but until then he says he's pleased with the fact that each job he does "just gets better and better."

What do you like most about being a producer?
I love the travel and relationships, but making a great spot is what I love the most.

What is the most challenging aspect of your job?
My biggest challenge was working on AND 1 because I had to shoot, edit, produce and get talent releases - the responsibilities were overwhelming.

What fingerprint do you feel an agency producer leaves on a job?
It's really about relationships. It's a matter of bringing the whole team together and making everyone work toward one goal.

View the spot at http://www.boardsmag.com/screeningroom

WEBFILES:
Crispin Porter + Bogusky> http://www.cpbmiami.com