Interview: Pascal Gregoire

Tenacious and creative, Pascal Gregoire gives us a small overview on his career. 

How I got into advertising...
I decided very soon that I would work in advertising. When I was 15, I read a book by Marcel Bleustein Blanchet (the founder of Publicis) . It was an autobiography and on the cover there was a picture of him, at the beginning, standing in front the small maid's room he was living in at the time.
I was fascinated by this young man who had gone on to build an empire... If you have ideas and you believe in their power you can do what you want in this business!
(There is a chapter on the revolution linked to the arrival of television and the conservative attitude in the advertising agencies at the time. It would be good to read it again because the same stands for the internet revolution.)
I decided to study economy at university and did my last year at la Sorbonne (Celsa) to learn marketing and communication.
That same year I did my first internship at the end of which I was hired by BCRC, a creative independent agency. I started off in the commercial department. The year after, in 1988, I got the chance to join the best agency in Paris CLM BBDO as copywriter. The boss, Philippe Michel was a big advertising figure in France. Meeting him has been decisive for my career. He was a brilliant creative strategist. Philippe and his agency had a huge influence over a generation of creative people in the 80's and 90's. 

A run­down of the most recent campaign I worked on...
The most recent campaign is "shockwaves" for France's DCSR (the road circulation Security delegation). In the last two years the death rate on the roads has risen again, after it had declined significantly for 20 years. Campaigns with alarming and shocking images worked very well in the past but today that's not enough. Our idea was to show that behind every crash victim there are victims in life, your family, your friends, your colleagues. The impact of an accident effects the victims, of course, but all the people around them are touched, too. In France one out of two people has a close relation who is the victim of an accident. Psychological traumas stay all your life. So, rather than showing shocking images we prefer an emotional shock. It 's seems to be the good choice, because our film had been seen by 21 millions on internet. 
We chose director Bruno Aveillan (Quad Productions) as our best chance to address the big challenge: showing the mental projection of all the victims on the same screen. He has done excellent work and the Next 4 films that are coming out in 2016 will have the same level of emotional impact.

The next big advertising trend is going to be...
The next big advertising trend will be in link with the last one: the digital revolution. Today all agencies have integrated digital but not always in the good way. They tend to limit their work on digital advertising. The new fact is that all brands are becoming digital and this trend will impact our industry.
Agencies need to give answers to the new needs of their clients: apps, connected objects, devices, digital experiences in retail... Brand utility is the new challenge.
I feel that for the first time in communication history our clients have more expertise and knowledge than we, the agencies, do.
We need to find new organizations and open the creative work to new people who can understand both sides: technologies and ideas. We are only at the beginning of the mutation of our profession. It's quite exciting !

The piece of advertising work I wish I had thought of is...
There are so many! 
And none of it is the fake "ghost" work we see in juries. To me it's shameful and dangerous game. Case studies are a virus. I think we need to go back to ideas, real ideas and stop doing case studies before even starting on a campaign!
I wish I had been part of all the campaigns that have changed a brand, that have created a brand, that have changed the way we see advertising! 
Ideas for Apple, Nike, Ikea (some of them are mine but I wish I had done the lamp), Oréo, Pepsi, Heineken etc... or brands like Always #likeagirl or the emoji for Dominos Pizza!  
Today, there is a problem. Ask anybody to tell you what their recent favorite ad is... most of the time you won't get an answer. Advertising used to be part of life, part of the real world.

My favorite app at the moment is...
MSQRD is fun. I like to play with that (good stress-relief) You can play with your image. (for exemple me and Leonardo DiCaprio)

A serious one is La Matinale du journal Le Monde. You can divide the articles into keep/don't keep and you know exactly how long it takes to read each one.

The best piece of creative work around at the moment is...
If I look around me, in my country, I like the Canal+ film : "the stadier". There is also a very nice campaign for l'Equipe sports newspaper's 70th birthday #ilearnwithlequipe.

In a film about my life, I’d like to be played by... 
Really ? No Idea. Maybe Depardieu, when he was a bit thinner...

A word or phrase I overuse..
What's for lunch?

My last social media update said...
Holiday pictures in Italy for Instagram. Facebook and Twitter are more a relay for La Chose. 
I prefer Twitter. 

My dream collaboration would be with...
Banksy Dismaland is brilliant.
I would also like to do an ad with Cohen brothers...

A piece of criticism I’ve received was...
I don't remember :)

A great piece of advice I received...
Do exactly what you want and trust only in yourself.

See all Pascal Gregoire works in Lürzer's Archive