JOHANNES HICKS
Jung von Matt’s Johannes Hicks has featured in Lürzer’s Archive for work on campaigns including Volkswagen and Funk International. The art director talks Mad Men, Homer Simpson and the skills young creatives should be armed with.
Image: Johannes Hicks
At the moment I am working on...
A campaign for the German bank, Sparkasse. This project is a big challenge for the whole team, because we try to do everything without actors and with hidden cameras so the way we prepare ourselves, cast our heroes and bring everything to life is very different from what we are used to doing normally.
The best piece of creative work around at the moment is...
To be honest, right now nothing is really making me overexcited. I hope this will change after the upcoming award shows when you see great work you haven´t heard about before.
What inspires me is...
There are great blogs and sources out there where you see all the great work, but then it is really hard to come up with something new. From those sources you can learn, understand and get motivated. Though, inspiration should not come from advertising. It has to come from somewhere else: life, art, hanging out with friends in bars, or walking through the streets with open eyes. Or…ah, now I got the question! … It has to come from Lürzer’s Archive.
The festival I’ll be at is...
Actually, I don’t really like festivals. There are too many of them. Meanwhile, I think Cannes is much nicer two weeks before and after the show. And it’s even better to stay in Berlin and enjoy the city during summer.
What got my attention at the last festival I attended is...
The bar.
The best era to be a creative is...
If you believe that the best time for being a creative is already over, you should quit your job to work somewhere where you still expect great times. I love the excitement that you have every time good work is produced - by yourself or by others. This is always the best time for me again and again.
Personally, I loved working at CP+B and experiencing a very different way of working compared to the German agencies I have previously been at. Now at Jung von Matt, I am sure there will be the next best time soon.
The next big thing in advertising will be...
Din A 1 – Extremly gigantic blow-up posters. Seriously, it is hard to say. Ask me next year about 2012 trends. In the best case, I will have had something to do with it.
The piece of digital work I wish I thought of is...
A great piece of work was Volkswagen’s “The Winter Adjusted Offer” by DDB, Stockholm. So simple. So good. And as always, when something is really good there isn’t a wide gap between classic and digital work anymore.
In a film I’d like to be played by...
Homer Simpson. But I´m not sure if he can pull the Bavarian accent off.
In my industry, the person I admire most is...
Bernbach is great - still. He said so many true things about advertising, which are always relevant. It is hard to believe then, that his thoughts come from a time when advertising was ‘Mad Men’ style. Actually, I’ve always felt that Don Draper is Bill Bernbach.
My dream collaboration is...
Edu Pou from Wieden + Kennedy, Amsterdam and Bjoern Ruehmann from the Vikings collective in New York: two great creatives and friends. They do not know each other, but I would love to work with both someday. If not, we should at least watch the Champions League final between Barca and Bayern (please football god, make that happen).
In up and coming talent I look for...
Right now I expect a lot of skills from young creatives. They have to have knowledge in classic and digital disciplines. The field we work in is so much wider than it used to be ten years ago, but as in those days it is all about passion. So if you don’t have great skills and the right attitude, you shouldn’t get in touch with barbara.franck@jvm.de.
A piece of criticism I’ve received is...
Three minutes ago, somebody told me: “I think your answers are too negative.”
The last song I listened to...
I went to a concert of the German techno band, Scooter, because I am really curious about them - legends on the one hand and pretty bad trash on the other. I listened to some songs beforehand. To learn the lyrics took me less than answering the questions here. Hyper, hyper.
Video: Volkswagen "The Winter Adjusted Offer" by DDB, Stockholm.
See Johannes Hicks' work featured in our magazine on our online archive.
Not already Subscribed? Subscribe now.
