Want a great job in the future? Better start dancing as fast as you can.

A little girl in a laundromat imagines what she’ll do for work when she grows up. Socks, shirts and jackets—repping career options—join the youngster for some enthusiastic kicks, spins and twirls. Remi Wolf’s “Guerrilla” thumps and pops on the soundtrack.

And so, we have Droga5’s debut for LinkedIn, a film directed by Gustavo Moraes and Marco Laver (aka Alaska). Sherrie Silver, best known for Childish Gambino’s “This Is America,” served as choreographer.

“The initial inspirations for the setting and character were sparked by an amazing real-life little girl who helps run the cash register on weekends at her family’s Brooklyn laundromat with attitude and confidence,” Droga5 creative director Erika Kohnen tells Muse. “Imagining the space from the perspective of a child opened up a fresh way of bringing professional possibilities to life.”

The upbeat, dreamy atmosphere suits the material to a T. It’s all incredibly well staged, and intuitive, as kids do fantasize about employment. Monster’s ultra-iconic ads of yore treaded similar ground, albeit with a totally different vibe.

Will the working world break this kid’s youthful spirit? Or will she someday land the gig of her dreams thanks to LinkedIn? Maybe she should become a professional dancer. She’s great at that already.

“The clothes we wear are bonded to who we are, who we want to be and often where we work,” says Droga5 executive creative director Toby Treyer-Evans. “We loved the idea that a laundromat has all the identities of a world of professionals without the professionals there.”

Indeed, it’s something a bit different for the category, a mini-musical backing the new global tagline, “Find Your In.”

“It’s an idea and platform all about being whatever you can imagine in a place (LinkedIn) that has the tools, information and community you need to make it happen,” says agency creative director Amy Werblin. “To bring this thought to life, we took inspiration from a universal concept within professional circles: having an ‘in.’ An ‘in’ can be anything that can help you grow in your career—a connection, a job posting an article.”

But … why use dance at all?

“Dance felt like a really natural way to move through all these possible careers and things you can be with LinkedIn. It’s an expression of a little girl’s imagination,” explains Treyer-Evans. “It’s always hard to get it right with dance, but with the team, Sherrie Silver—and Lexi, who at 9 is very special talent, it allowed us to play with the idea.”

The campaign launched last week across TV, social and OLV channels, supported by an upcoming “Big Ins” activation featuring creators with careers in fashion, design and tech. 

Kevin Frank is executive creative director of LinkedIn Creative Studio. In the past five years, he has transformed his team into a finely-tuned creative machine that made the Ad Age Best Places to Work list for two years running and helped the company land a spot on the Interbrand and BrandZ Top Global Brands lists. 

Before LinkedIn, Kevin was a creative director at Apple, where he led the team that created marketing in Apple Stores worldwide: the panels, the posters, the signs, the events, the website—the works. When the Apple Retail Store and the Apple Online Store were merged together, his role shifted to run the team that integrated the whole experience online. He later returned to his advertising roots, creating interactive campaigns around Apple’s products and values.

He has also held roles at FCB, Venables Bell & Partners and Buder Engel & Friends.

We spent two minutes with Kevin to learn more about his background, his creative inspirations, and recent work he’s admired.

Kevin, tell us…

Where you grew up, and where you live now.

I grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts. Which is notable if you’re into American history, but otherwise standard suburban fare. After stints in Colorado, Chicago, and L.A., I moved to San Francisco in 1999. It felt like home from the moment I stepped off the plane, and I feel lucky to have found my place in the world here.

How you first realized you were creative.

I’ve always loved being creative, so I can’t say I remember a specific moment. But I do remember when I realized I wanted to be a creative. I was pre-med in college, and did all the bio, chemistry and physics to get ready for med school. I even took the MCAT. Luckily, I decided to take a year (or three) off and got a job as a ski instructor. That’s when I realized I could get paid to do something I really loved, and what I really loved was being creative.

A person you idolized creatively early on.

Luke Sullivan. Not just because he wrote the book on how to be creative, but because he wrote me a letter with detailed feedback when I was looking for my first job. I’ve never forgotten that kindness, so I still always take time to give up-and-comers feedback. And I still have Luke’s letter. 

A moment from high school or college that changed your life.

My 9th grade English teacher, Ms. Kineen, taught me the joy of creative writing. One of her assignments was to write and present a dramatic monologue, and I did mine from the point of view of my dog. Instead of coming down on me for not going the “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” route, Ms. Kineen encouraged and praised my different perspective. Though, in retrospect, a dog doing Hamlet would have been pretty excellent.

A visual artist or band/musician you admire.

My bandmate Ari Vais has been pursuing his dream of making it in an indie band for 30 years and has never given up. That kind of persistence is legendary. 

A book, movie, TV show or podcast you recently found inspiring.

I recently listened to an episode of 99% Invisible that explored the origins of The Real Book, an illegal book of jazz standards that you could only buy out of the back of someone’s car. I love learning that kind of secret history. Even better, I was surprised to hear my high school jazz teacher Jeff Leonard on the podcast, so I reached out and reconnected with him.

Your favorite fictional character.

Eric Cartman. He is always true to his nature. 

Someone or something worth following in social media.

Everyone who’s part of the LinkedIn Creator Accelerator Program, naturally. They’re leading conversations about the evolving world of work, and expanding the range of topics that are considered professional.

How Covid-19 changed your life, personally or professionally.

I am grateful every day that the pandemic didn’t change my life in any irreversible way. My family is all healthy and vaccinated, everyone who wants to be employed is employed, and our mental health is all relatively intact. 

One of your favorite creative projects you’ve ever worked on.

When I led the Global Retail team at Apple, we did an installation to announce the opening of the new store in Grand Central. We built a working solari board out of Mac Minis and Apple monitors, and it flipped through dozens of lines like “Drop your Mac off at 8:42, pick it up at 6:29” and “Only one bar in Grand Central has Geniuses.” It was a perfect alignment of technology, media, design and culture. And I’ll always have a soft spot for smart headlines.

A recent project you’re proud of. 

We recently launched a new campaign that redefines what it means to be a professional. Being professional is not just about what you do for work, but how you act at work—how you treat other people, how you show up, and how you prioritize. It’s a strategic direction that I’ve been pushing to take the company for a while, and I believe it’s going to lead to a lot of powerful work. 

Someone else’s work that inspired you years ago.

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers. He effortlessly manages to be simple, clear, emotional, conversational, humorous and a whole lot of other adjectives all at the same time. His style heavily influenced an introduction letter I wrote to Paul Venables, which landed me a job as the first copywriter at Venables Bell.

Someone else’s work you admired lately.

Oriel Davis-Lyons. He founded the ONE School, a free program for Black creatives to help them develop their portfolios. Our industry talks a lot about diversity, and I admire that Oriel is taking meaningful action. 

Your main strength as a creative person.

I don’t push my own ideas on my team. I hired them because they’re experts at what they do, and because they have better ideas than I do. I always try to give clear feedback that I believe will make their work stronger, but I never bring my own ideas to the table.

Your biggest weakness.

Taking creative feedback too personally (said every creative person ever). 

One thing that always makes you happy.

My daughter. Surfing. Surfing with my daughter. 

One thing that always makes you sad.

The politicization of science.

What you’d be doing if you weren’t in advertising.

I’ve always enjoyed teaching—as a ski instructor, as an ad school instructor, and arguably, as a creative leader. I’d look for opportunities to be a teacher and a mentor. 

In a prior life, Seattle-based Rudy Willingham worked at agencies such as WongDoody and DNA Seattle on brands like Amazon, T-Mobile and Alaska Airlines. These days, he’s a content creator using primarily forced perspective, street art and stop-motion video that’s led to work for the NBA, Volvo, Bungie, Hasbro and ESPN.

Willingham has amassed 382,000 followers on Instagram and 4.2 million on TikTok. A tribute he created to mark the one-year anniversary of Kobe Bryant’s death was seen by Will Chau, global creative director at Whole Foods Market, leading to “Be Healthy. Be Happy. Be Whole,” a national TV campaign Willingham directed for the brand.

Ironically, Chau saw the TikTok Bryant tribute … on LinkedIn.

“I was mesmerized by his work,” says Chau. “It looked so analog—handmade, hand-tooled. These days, everything looks so digital.”

Comprised of six spots—two :30s and four :15s—the creative features paper cutouts of families swinging at a park, doing yoga and dancing to “Every Beat of My Heart,” by the Du-Ettes. Stop-motion video and an ever-changing background of healthy greens, fruits, vegetables and fish at Whole Foods emphasizes the importance of fueling your body with healthy foods.

“The process [prior to shooting the ads] takes a long time. There were 500-600 cutouts,” says Willingham. “The printing and cutting took two to three weeks. It’s an intensive process. No digital effects. What shot should go over what background? I kept the cutouts close when transporting them from Seattle to Los Angeles. That was the hardest thing. When the background and lighting are good, my job is easy.”

The shoot took place over two nights inside a Whole Foods store, and fun fact, when you do a night shoot in a grocery store, it’s BYOF (bring your own food).

“There’s a sense of wellbeing in Whole Foods. It’s cliché—there’s a bounce in people’s steps,” Chau tells Muse. “When you come into Whole Foods, it’s more than clicking off a chore to do. Consumers are shopping how they live their life, not out necessity. We wanted to give the feeling that the ads were little music videos. It felt tactile, lo-fi. Work doesn’t have to live just on social.”

It’s a sentiment not lost on someone who scored this gig because of LinkedIn and has an online following in the millions.

“There’s still a level of prestige in traditional media that you don’t get online,” says Willingham. “There’s still a place for TV! Many people think it’s all online, but there’s room for that.”

 

 

 

 

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As Covid-19 caused job losses on a historic scale, few employment resources have been as critical to as many people as LinkedIn. On this final episode of On Brand for 2020, chief marketing and communications officer Mel Selcher tells us what this remarkable time has been like inside LinkedIn, how its new brand campaign reflects the tenor of the times, and how the platform’s efforts over many years to make a more emotional (not just functional) connection with users is really paying dividends now.

Timestamps:

• 1:40 – How WFH has been going for Mel and her team.
• 4:36 – A look at LinkedIn’s new brand campaign that launched in October.
• 9:48 – The platform’s use of influencers in the #OpenToWork campaign.
• 14:15 – How the existing tagline, “We’re all in this together,” fits into today’s LinkedIn brand.
• 16:39 – LinkedIn’s self-perception as a social network.
• 19:01 – What 2021 looks like for LinkedIn.

This is our final On Brand episode of 2020. See all the episodes here. We will be continuing the series in 2021, in a somewhat different form. If you’re a brand marketer who’d like to take part, please get in touch.