BBDO, New York ECD/director of innovation Mathias Appelblad

BBDO, New York announced three new executive creative directors hires this week, including Mathias Appelblad, a former interactive creative director at Swedish agency Forsman & Bodenfors, who will also take on the newly-created role of director of innovation.

In his former role, the 37-year-old helped Forsman & Bodenfors earn a Grand Prix at Cannes Lions for the launch of the Volvo XC90. The agency was also named the number three interactive agency in the world in 2007's Gunn Report.

In addition to Appelblad, BBDO also hired ex-BBDO Dusseldorf chief creative officer Toyar Bazarkaya to lead the global creative efforts on P&G, and Ralph Watson, formerly Saatchi & Saatchi, New York, SVP/creative director and head of art, to oversee the AT&T account. 

"At BBDO the cement never hardens; the idea is to stay liquid and keep finding new unexplored ways to do amazing things for our clients," said David Lubars, chairman and chief creative officer, BBDO North America, in a statement about the hires. "Mathias, Toygar and Ralph certainly have that DNA."

Mathias Appelblad: I've always been curious to see what else is out there: how do people think and why are things happening in a particular time or place?

After spending over 12 really exiting years in the interactive business in Sweden, I felt that I wanted to try out what I know in another context, in a different culture. For me, who has lived most of my life a stone's throw away from the North Pole, I feel like I've been watching the world from afar. In spite or all the amazing stuff that happens in Asia and India, the US is still the epicenter of the adverting industry and I'm really exited to be a part of that and especially to be a part of all that's happening at BBDO.

What do you think you'll be able to bring to your new role?

MA: I hope to be able to inspire people around me and teach them how to apply their own creativity to the digital space. When I started at F&B over nine years back, digital wasn't even on the map. But with sheer enthusiasm, hard work and a fair share of luck, we managed to end up in the third spot on the Gunn Report's list of the best digital agencies in the world a few years later. We did that by being nimble and flexible. That goes both for the creative approach as well as for the way you produce the work. You have to make everyone want to learn new things. That creates the best condition for spreading knowledge throughout the whole organization. That is want I want to do at BBDO, New York, and on a much bigger scale. Hopefully this will lead to new ways of thinking about strategy and creativity and open up new opportunities to create kick ass work that will help the agency's clients and their brands.

What do you see the role of the interactive creative director becoming in the next few years? Do you think it'll become more integrated, perhaps even dropping the digital prefix?

MA: In the future all executive roles will demand that you know a great deal about digital advertising, and about the all the other stuff, too. The ones that don't know both will face a tough time. If dropping "digital" from your title will help you do a better job, fine. Maybe director of innovation would be a better description.

Recently some of the most adventurous digital ideas we're seeing are those that go from digital into the analogue space (i.e. they have elements that are physical), what are the most interesting developments you've seen in the space?

MA: I think that a lot of the good work I've seen recently mix both the real and the digital space. Especially events. You let something happen in the real world and use the Internet to sell the event and engage people. I really like this project we did for Tele2 in Sweden where we broadcast live via a mobile broadband for a whole week. If the connection failed, a top executive from Tele2 sitting on a ledge over a dunking pool would be dropped into the ice cold water. In this case the media actually became the message.

Why do you think Sweden has developed such strong digital creativity?

MA: For some reason I think that we've been very "unSwedish" when it comes to digital creativity. Swedes generally like to play it safe. But when it comes to digital, everyone - including agencies and clients -- has been more than willing and exited to try out new and different ways of communicating. Seven years ago we did Volvo's most important car launch ever by not showing the car at all in traditional media; we just asked people to go to this really, really heavy website. It was a world's first. Given that the broadband penetration was like 15%, it was quite a gamble. It all worked out well though, the order books were full within a few weeks and the campaign ended up winning a Grand Prix in Cannes.

Why have agency creatives and producers generally struggled to transition from traditional to digital?

MA: I read this as: why have creatives and producers had a hard time to adapt into doing digital work? I think it's like learning a new language. For example, you can learn French by taking a course, watching movies and maybe go visit Paris on your vacation. In the end, you'll probably pick up some things to get you along in most everyday situations. But if you truly want to learn French, to be able to sell and persuade in that language, you have to completely immerse yourself in it. Live it. Work there and get a new best friend that is born and raised in France. The same goes for an agency that wants to transform itself into doing good digital work. They need people that are fluent in digital, that can help them to learn all the phrases and nuances. Which is also how I hope to help at BBDO.

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