Q&A with Feh Tarty
Posted on
2007-Oct-5
at
11:29
When Goodby Silverstein won the ADC's 3rd annual Hybrid Gold Cube for their innovative and quirky "Milk Aliens" campaign, we knew that this was only the tip of the iceberg for Feh Tarty and Pat McKay, Creative Directors for the campaign. Not only did Tarty and McKay win a Gold Cube for a regional campaign, they overcame the obstacles of making a commodity product a popular beverage of choice again. Not Coke Plus, not Burger King: good ole milk. We recently caught up with Feh Tarty to discuss his award-winning work, his bets on future winners, and his fear of revealing the campaign to real deal Trekkies. Feh Tarty is bold, original, and does a fantastic job of facing each challenge with an eye towards the future. Interviewed by Danielle Epstein danielle@adcglobal.org.
ADC: What did your client want to accomplish with the Milk Aliens campaign?
Feh Tarty: Two things. One; change the perception that milk is only a compliment for cookies, cakes, and cereal, and position it as a super drink with an array of health benefits. And, second, get families to see the importance of drinking more milk and to stop taking it for granted.
ADC: What was the inspiration for the campaign?
FT: Pat McKay, my muse - kidding - my creative partner and I were just tossing around a bunch of ideas and started thinking about who wouldn't take milk for granted. Milk-deprived aliens with brittle bones, bad teeth, bad hair, and weak muscles seemed to be a good target.
ADC: What was the most challenging aspect of creating that campaign?
FT: Making it feel original and having it actually make sense for the brand was important. It was a quirky idea. We didn't want it to be quirky simply for quirky's sake. Having logical solutions for why we did certain things, like calling the cow Da Iry, actually made the campaign stronger. For originality, Pat and I watched tons of space movies like 2001 Space Odyssey, Galaxy Quest, Buck Rogers, and so on to know what NOT to do. We even looked at some of (ADC Hall of Famer) Issey Miyake's wardrobe designs for inspiration.
ADC: Milk Aliens was an integrated campaign, what process was used in selecting the platforms?
FT: Well, thing is, the agency is pretty integrated. So that really helped. We would have sessions with account management, strategy planning, media, and the PR company and come up with ideas of things we could do. It was really cool. Some nut thought it was a good idea to launch the campaign at a UFO convention. And we did. It was crazy. These people aren't your everyday Trekkies or Star Wars fans. They are the real deal. Abductees. Actual aliens from other galaxies. And believers. We were scared. But the campaign was well received.
ADC: How much did viral potential affect your thinking when creating the campaign?
FT: There was always an intention to have a viral component, but we didn't know to what extent we could actually develop it. Milk wasn't in the "interactive" mindset at the time. There was another campaign Pat and I presented alongside Aliens that we ended up producing first. It was a campaign that positioned milk like steroids. We basically spoofed the baseball scandal and ran the campaign during the 2005 World Series. We made fake news banners that directed people to gotmilk.com. The hits on the website jumped from 1,100 hits a day to 18,000. We used that as leverage to develop a larger interactive arm for the Aliens campaign.
ADC: What did winning an ADC Gold Cube mean to you? Was it a mark of success?
FT: It was very cool - mainly because of the Hybrid category. Also, I felt "official" if that's the
appropriate description. I was at a museum which showcased Andy Warhol's 1979 BMW M1 Art Car. There were about three short paragraphs that summed up his career. In the second paragraph it said, "... won an award at the Art Directors Club." Also, I studied people like Milton Glaser in school. ADC is the first award mention in his bio on Wikipedia. So I guess you could say I was feelin' myself.
ADC: Has it meant anything in terms of your career?
FT: Nope. You guys promised it would though. I'm waiting.
ADC: Do you have your eye on any gold-worthy campaigns for this year?
FT: I really like the new Halo3 work. I think it's brilliant. Really well done. Shout out to John Patroulis. Geoff told me you really made that come together. Great job. Oh, and the Cadbury Gorilla makes absolutely no sense to me, but I crack up every time. So I guess it makes me feel good like chocolate does. Right?
ADC: How did you get to where you are today at Goodby?
FT: I guess trying to make the most of any assignment handed to me. Half of being a creative, I think, is one's attitude.
ADC: What is next for you?
FT: We are currently working on a campaign for The Commonwealth Bank of Australia. It's only going to air in Australia. We'll see how that goes.
ADC: What are your favorite aspects of your job?
FT: I'm surrounded by people who aren't afraid to take risks. Sometimes we wimp out, but for the most part, we all go after it head first.
ADC: What are your least favorite aspects?
FT: We sometimes wimp out. And sometimes I think we are talking only to ourselves. I hate that.
Finally, name your three favorite...
| Places you've been: Brazil Turkey Liberia |
Websites: www.wwtdd.com www.coohunting.com www.wikipedia.com |
| Places you want to go: Maldives Shanghai Johannesburg |
Movies: Amadeus Raging Bull Coming To America |
| Books: American Psycho The Stranger How You Look At It |
TV Shows: The Wire Rome Tell Me You Love Me |
1 comments 
Post A Comment!
...................................................................................................................
