Meredith Ott
Meredith Ott is Creative Director at Aliceblue, Richmond, USA. In our Q&A, she talks about influences and trying to keep things fresh and creative.
Meredith Ott
How I got into advertising...
I did a stint at a bank. RealiSed immediately that was not for me. Then had an opportunity to do a short internship for The Martin Agency and the rest was history. I was hooked. Love the business, the people, and the work. It’s a good life if you can get it!
The most recent campaign I worked on...
We finished a great campaign for Neathawk DuBuque & Packett for the Virginia Museum to publicise the opening of the Japanese Tattoo Exhibit. Richmond may be a smaller city in the grand scheme of things, but we are the third most tattooed city in America. Who knew we had such a large hipster culture?!
Josh Zuercher had the vision on this project at Aliceblue and oversaw all of the details of initial comps, photography (shot by Jeff Satterthwaite, photographer at Aliceblue) and photo illustration work to turn tattoo artwork into clothing – they are stunning visuals.
The best piece of creative work around at the moment is...
Love The Martin Agency’s Geico “Unskippable” pre-roll campaign. I think certain mediums are easier than others to impact the consumer. And the click-through ads are usually throw-away, but Martin created iconic advertising with this one.
The next big advertising trend is going to be...
There are a lot of great things happening. Trying to stay connected is a huge deal in advertising. Aliceblue is involved currently in combining our 3D capabilities with interactive for web and large scale installations, and we feel that is a concept that will be pretty big in the years to come.
The Verizon installation that Kris, who heads up our motion design team, worked on is an example of that. Trying to keep things fresh, and creative, but capturing the attention span which is fleeting is a challenge - but good work always resonates.
People who influence me...
I was blessed to have started my career at The Martin Agency way back when. Mike Hughes, Harry Jacobs were creatively leading the agency, and they were a part of my early formative years. They provided an example of what leadership should look like. Actually my kids Ellie and Chris have influenced and shaped me every single day – they keep me young too. Hokie, but so true.
In a film about my life, I’d like to be played by...
Well I am always told I look like Sigourney Weaver? Not sure I see it, but...
A word or phrase I overuse...
I am sure there are a lot of those! In a work setting perhaps “organic” – something I am always pushing at the studio. I use a lot of emoticons ;)
My last social media update said...
“Proud to be from Richmond while we host the World Bike Championships. We are big time this week!”
My dream collaboration is...
Each project we do is so different, as is each client. I just always look forward to each one as it feels so brand new. We are doing a lot of great character development, so would love to collaborate on a big character design and animation project.
A piece of criticism I’ve received was..
That I don’t take criticism very well. Ha!
A great piece of advice I received...
Smile.
30 September 2015
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