Chris Beresford-Hill — A Master Ad Man on Superbowl Confessions, How to Come Up with Great Ideas, Cold Emailing Mark Cuban, Doing Naughty Things, Poetic Mind
Table of Contents
“The best ideas are when you’re like, ‘We can never do this. We’re going to get in big trouble. This is so wrong.’ When you feel that, you’ve got to stay there. You absolutely have to. That’s where all the interesting stuff happens.”
— Chris Beresford-Hill
Chris Beresford-Hill is one of the most sought-after creative leaders in advertising and has led brands with a combined market cap of over $1 trillion. He was recently named Chief Creative Officer of the Americas at BBDO Worldwide.
Previously, Chris served as North America President and Chief Creative Officer at Ogilvy and Chief Creative Officer at TBWA\Chiat\Day. His work for clients like Guinness, Mtn Dew, Dove, Workday, Adidas, FedEx, McDonalds, HBO, and Foot Locker has driven sales while putting dent after dent into pop culture.
Chris and his teams have won every award for creativity and effectiveness many times over, including five campaigns in the permanent collection at MoMA. He has been named to Adweek’s list of best creatives — Adweek’s Creative 100 — Business Insider’s Most Creative People in Advertising, and the Ad Age 40 Under 40, back when he was under 40.
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#715: Chris Beresford-Hill — A Master Ad Man on Superbowl Confessions, How to Come Up with Great Ideas, Cold Emailing Mark Cuban, Doing Naughty Things, Poetic Mind Control, Creative Process and Insider Tips, How to Negotiate with Bosses and Clients, and The Power of a Stolen Snickers
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#711: Andrew Rosener — Becoming The Hokkaido Scallop King, Leasing Blue Chip URLs, Life Tenets from Charlie Tuna, Selling 8-Figure Domains, and More
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SCROLL BELOW FOR LINKS AND SHOW NOTES…
SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE
- Connect with Chris Beresford-Hill:
- BBDO Worldwide
- Modernista! | Wikipedia
- Timeline: The Rise, Fall, and Return of the Hummer | Visual Capitalist
- The Dallas Mavericks
- TBWA\Chiat\Day
- A Safe Place For Brave Ideas | Arnold
- How to Increase Your Luck Surface Area | Codus Operandi
- The Media Business: Advertising; Volkswagen Campaign Presents Driving as a Metaphor for Life | The New York Times
- Volkswagen Da Da Da Commercial Spot | The Ad Club
- Tested Advertising Methods by John Caples | Amazon
- A Father Teaches His Son the Secret of Creativity | Muse by Clio
- Universal Studios Hollywood
- Psycho | Prime Video
- Back to the Future | Prime Video
- The Ultimate ‘Back to the Future’ Filming Locations Map | L.A. Curbed
- Jaws | Prime Video
- Timeshares, Vacation Clubs, and Related Scams | Consumer Advice
- My New York Knicks: Comparing the 1993 Knicks to the Knicks of Today | Bleacher Report
- Purchase College | SUNY
- Comics and Graphic Novels | Image Comics
- Youngblood | Image Comics Database
- New York Comic Con
- Dave Matthews Band
- It’s the Simple Things: How to Aim in Golf | The Left Rough
- Goodby, Silverstein & Partners
- Got Milk?
- Hummer Ads: A Trip Down Memory Lane at $4 a Gallon | Daily KOS
- The Origin of Super Bowl Ads — And How They Conquered the Game | Time
- The Essential Robert Goulet | Amazon Music
- Fatboy Slim ft. Bootsy Collins: Weapon Of Choice [Official 4k Video] | YouTube
- Rocky | Prime Video
- An Oral History of Old Spice: The Man Your Man Could Smell Like | Creative Review
- Henry Ford, Innovation, and That “Faster Horse” Quote | Harvard Business Review
- Kevin Kelly — Excellent Advice for Living | The Tim Ferriss Show #669
- Emerald Nuts: Boogeyman | Ad Age
- Gild the Lily Idiom | Grammarist
- “I Drink Your Milkshake!” Clip | There Will Be Blood
- There Will Be Blood | Prime Video
- Russell Crowe Accused of Assault With Hotel Phone | The New York Times
- Cast Away | Prime Video
- The Shining | Prime Video
- ‘The Shining’: Bryan Cranston Stars in Mountain Dew Commercial | Rolling Stone
- The Harvard Lampoon
- Iconic Ads: iPod “1,000 Songs in Your Pocket” | Point of View
- “Where’s the Beef?” The Story of the Most Famous Slogan Ever | Better Marketing
- The Shoe Surgeon
- Adidas: Billie Jean King Your Shoes | Clios
- A Short History of Napster | Lifewire
- Hey Whipple, Squeeze This: The Classic Guide to Creating Great Advertising by Luke Sullivan | Amazon
- The Making of South Park: 6 Days to Air | Prime Video
- Boardomatics | Milowerx Media
- Metallica: Some Kind of Monster | Netflix
- Metallica by Metallica | Amazon Music
- Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop | Prime Video
- Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott | Amazon
- Anne Lamott on Taming Your Inner Critic, Finding Grace, and Prayer | The Tim Ferriss Show #522
- Progress Over Perfection | Tone House
- Dog Tips and Training with Tim Ferriss | YouTube
- Allen Carr’s Easy Way to Quit Smoking Without Willpower by Allen Carr | Amazon
- The Easy Way to Quit Caffeine: Live a Healthier, Happier Life by Allen Carr | Amazon
- The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups by Daniel Coyle | Amazon
- Conan Learns Korean And Makes It Weird | TBS
- Levels of the Game by John McPhee | Amazon
- Balthazar Restaurant New York
- “Always Be Closing” Clip | Glengarry Glen Ross
- Glengarry Glen Ross | Prime Video
- Message on a Bottle: The Story Behind Dr. Bronner’s Soaps | Dieline
- Dr. Bronner’s Pure-Castile Liquid Soap (Baby, Unscented) | Amazon
- Derren Brown: The Push | Netflix
- Derren Brown: Miracle | Netflix
- Words That Work: It’s Not What You Say, It’s What People Hear by Dr. Frank Luntz | Amazon
- Republicans Say ‘Death Tax’ While Democrats Say ‘Estate Tax’ | Business Insider
- Modell’s Sporting Goods
- DimeMag | UPROXX
- Foot Locker Commercial with Mike Tyson, Dennis Rodman, Brett Favre | TYT Sports
- Guinness Wheelchair Basketball Commercial Breaks the Beer Industry Stereotype | Slate
SHOW NOTES
Editor’s Note: Timestamps will be added shortly.
- How Chris landed his first job with the help of Mark Cuban.
- Lessons learned from first boss Lance Jensen.
- Writing cold emails that work.
- What Chris’s dad taught him about workarounds.
- A golf strategy that inspired Super Bowl aspirations.
- Good taste and the Modernista style.
- Portfolio building.
- How Chris landed his first Super Bowl ad.
- Editing and expectations.
- Critical acclaim.
- Working with BBDO’s David Lubars.
- Working fast and resisting the urge to “gild the lily.”
- Shining a light on the Super Bowl LIV Mountain Dew commercial.
- The value of the vaguely naughty mindset.
- Making less more with Tor Myhren.
- The Adidas/Billie Jean King gambit.
- A Napster campaign crashes.
- Creative industry-related reading and viewing.
- Overcoming creative roadblocks.
- What Chris does in lieu of meditation.
- Books and videos that save lives and inspire curiosity.
- Best investments of less than $100.
- Capturing and saving good ideas for later.
- What words are worth.
- If the idea is good enough, there’s always more money.
- Give Chris a Foot Locker and he’ll take a mile.
- An ego check.
- Chris’s billboard.
- Parting thoughts.
MORE CHRIS BERESFORD-HILL QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW
“I’m not here to do what the plan is today. I’m here to see what’s possible.”
— Chris Beresford-Hill
“The best ideas are when you’re like, ‘We can never do this. We’re going to get in big trouble. This is so wrong.’ When you feel that, you’ve got to stay there. You absolutely have to. That’s where all the interesting stuff happens.”
— Chris Beresford-Hill
“Another lesson — certainly in advertising, but anywhere — is the more ground you can cover in a room, the better because you start further ahead than if you constantly come together, and split off, and come together, and split off.”
— Chris Beresford-Hill
“The best gift you can ever get is a first boss that has great taste or high standards.”
— Chris Beresford-Hill
“It just felt like I was able to create the life of my dreams, even if the day-to-day reality didn’t totally match it. And that was fine by me.”
— Chris Beresford-Hill
“This is not the kind of idea that gets green-lit. I had a stolen Snickers in my pocket, and I wanted out of that store.”
— Chris Beresford-Hill
“I liked my climb. I liked working my way up slowly and learning my craft and not doing something that might’ve made me very sought after and might’ve gotten me a bigger, better job faster. So it was a heartache, but it put me right on the path that I needed to have, which was the long path.”
— Chris Beresford-Hill
“If the idea is good enough, there’s always more money.”
— Chris Beresford-Hill
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