Mcgarrybowen ready for its closeup
By: Mary E. Morrison July 23, 2012
Mike Eisenberg, junior editor at Mcgarrybowen
Photo by: John R. Boehm
Ad agency Mcgarrybowen has been on a new-business tear, picking up notable accounts including Bud Light, Burger King and United Continental, along with accolades including 2011 Agency of the Year by Crain's sister publication Advertising Age. The agency's revenue jumped 60 percent in 2011, and staff increased 45 percent to 800.
One thing the agency's Chicago office lacked, however, was an in-house broadcast production studio—a void that made it somewhat difficult to turn around video content quickly, whether for clients' social media pages or for business-development support.
“We had to either use our New York office or an outside production company,” says Tim Scott, president of Mcgarrybowen Chicago.
So last year the agency hired Mike Eisenberg, a 2011 graduate of Tribeca Flashpoint Media Arts Academy, a Chicago college that offers tracks in recording arts, film and broadcast, animation and visual effects, game and interactive media, and graphic design and visual communication.
Since joining the company about a year ago as a junior editor, Mr. Eisenberg, 27, has worked on videos the agency needs on tight deadlines, including content for a Facebook program to support client Bud Light's popular “Here Weego” Super Bowl spot.
For the “Here Weego” Facebook video, Mr. Eisenberg flew to Los Angeles, shot video footage of a dog and edited it on the flight home, creating vignettes to support the spots on the brand's Facebook page.
“We have the tools to get it out the door right away because that's what the digital landscape is demanding right now,” Mr. Eisenberg says.
' Everything is fluid these days.'
— Tim Scott, president,
Mcgarrybowen Chicago
Mcgarrybowen Chicago
Tribeca Flashpoint's curriculum focuses on social media, says Edward Glassman, the college's vice president of marketing and business development, “because it's table stakes for anyone in any sort of marketing now.”
But the college also prides itself on creating “digital Marines” who can be dropped in any situation, he says.
That training is serving Mr. Eisenberg well as he works with groups in the agency. “There are no longer the silos of 'That's an account job or that's broadcast production or that's print production,' “ Mr. Scott says. “Everything is fluid these days.”