On My Radar: Matthew Bennett

Matthew Bennett, chief creative officer and co-founder of ZAK Media Group, likes a lastminute bargain, is thankful for a new iPhone and wishes that clients had a bit more respect for their marketing partners.

What’s the best ad campaign you’ve seen recently?

Controversially, because I think the industry is still shady, Satsuma Loans is one of the best TV ads I’ve seen for a while. The brand made clever use of the budget by spending it on classic hooky pop songs like I Think We’re Alone Now by Tiffany and How Do I Get You Alone? by Heart [below], teamed with a simple visual of a Satsuma singing about loans. Genius.

What website(s) do you use most regularly and why?

Lastminute.com - more specifically its ‘top secret’ hotels search - for when I stay in town, which is usually once or twice a week, followed by the forum on moneysavingexpert.com allowing me to find out which hotels they actually are before I book them.

What’s the most recent piece of tech that you’ve bought and why?

My finance team have recently relented and ordered me an iPhone 6, which inevitably I’ll moan about being too big, and then love it. I’ve had an iPhone 4 for years now - cracked screen, memory full of music and pictures of my nine month-old daughter - high time I upgraded.

Facebook or Twitter?

Twitter, all day.

What’s your favourite app on your phone and why?

I use a GB Outdoors and Cyclemeter together a fair bit, GB Outdoors uses digital Ordnance Survey maps and I use them to navigate on country runs (or more recently just when walking the dog) and then Cyclemeter app tracks the distance, time, elevation and calories burned. The combination of both shame me into exercising.

What’s your favourite TV show and why?

Currently I think Gogglebox is the best show on TV. It’s hyper-reality TV, where we’re watching people watch the same TV we watch and sharing a common reaction. Great casting, a good mix of everyday politics, drama, emotion and human relationships played out by just watching people watch telly.

What film do you think everyone should have seen?

I could wax lyrical about all kinds of films but I think the beauty of film as a medium is its flexibility, so there’s something for everyone if you look hard enough. It’s a real shame the film industry has narrowed to mainstream blockbuster sequels and star vehicles, but if you scratch the surface (or look back 10-15 years) you can find a film to match your mood, which is how I think films should be watched.

Where were you when inspiration last struck?

I don’t often get struck in the ‘bolt of lightning’ sense. For me it’s a process that can start in the agency and then hang around following me like a cloud until I solve the problem. So that could be anywhere, any time. It can be when I drift off into my own world travelling or commuting, but it could also be when I’m actually really focussing on the challenge.

What’s the most significant change you’ve witnessed in the industry since you started working in it?

The huge segmentation of audience groups and how brands have responded to that has been the most significant. Yeah, social media seems the obvious answer and plays a huge part in advertising now, but fundamentally we as audience groups expect more personalised marketing. We want brands to talk directly to us, solve our particular problems and be useful in a way that is personal.

I think these days brands are always playing catch up. Gone are the days when we believed every claim and swallowed every message. In the time I’ve worked in communications, we’ve moved from a deference age to a reference age.

If there was one thing you could change about the advertising industry, what would it be?

Unfortunately a lot of the clients I’ve met have no respect for their marketing partners. Clients need to walk a mile in their agency’s shoes to understand the effort that goes into running a business that is constantly competing to survive.

There have been several times where I’ve pitched for and won work that has never materialised because a global client simply changed their mind on the project. Those pitches cost money to run, take up huge amounts of time and effort from the team, and so to be told a couple of weeks after you’ve won the work that actually they’ve decided not to run the project is taking the proverbial.

What or who has most influenced your career and why?

This industry as a whole has influenced my career, particularly this industry in London. I’m fortunate enough to be a partner in a creative business in the most forward thinking and creatively revolutionary city in the world. Although many of the people in this industry take it for granted, live down to the stereotype and generally are in danger of disappearing up their own backsides.

Tell us one thing about yourself that most people won’t know…

I once fell down a manhole on a date…