LA Special: Furlined's Diane McArter

Furlined founder and advertising veteran Diane McArter talks to Simon Wakelin about what she believes LA has to offer, revealing what it takes to succeed in a male dominated industry and how true success nowadays is a genderless equation

When Diane McArter arrived on the West Coast 14 years ago, culture shock ensued. What she discovered was a provocative city of shifting identities and endless surprises – a far cry from the hustle of life on the East Coast. “At first the experience was isolating,” recalls McArter of the Angelino lifestyle. “I was living in a canyon surrounded by nature and just couldn’t identify with my surroundings.”

It’s an understandable response from a New Yorker arriving in La La Land. Nowhere in the world are two cities defined in such polarising fashion as New York and Los Angeles. They are the dynamic and the static, the masculine and the feminine. New York exists as a vertical metropolis, an architecturally intriguing city of upwardly rising structures that support and frame a masculine-minded identity. Los Angeles, however, sprawls outward, not upward. No matter how tall its skyline, no matter how high its mountains, Los Angeles is generally thought of as a horizontal city.

“What Los Angeles did allow me was a time of introspection and an opportunity to grow,” continues McArter. “What was once rigid, hierarchical and opaque in my life became more adaptable, collaborative and transparent.”

LA-dy state of mind

McArter soon found herself opening up to her new locale, discovering a city of breezy structures and open spaces with an expanse of female traits that mirrored her own nurturing, feminine state of mind. As she grew accustomed to her new environment, so her confidence and drive started to really blossom.

McArter realised how she’d often wrestle with feelings of inadequacy back in New York. “There was no time to reflect,” she remembers of her former life on the East Coast. “The business was predominantly male and led by so many charismatic guys that I thought I had to have a more masculine identity. But then I died in Los Angeles and came alive again. All this expansiveness out here allowed that to happen.”

As a new life and challenging career unfurled, so did more creative opportunities, leading to the launch of Furlined in 2005. “Furlined has been an authentic constant for me,” she says. “I always take the long view – invest in talent and ideas, envision their creative potential and see the true essence of their abilities come to life. Furlined is in a constant state of growth and evolution, aiming to fulfill the utmost potential for the directors and the work, and that’s an exciting proposition for me.”

McArter believes that plugging into culture in an honest and direct way is the only way forward. To that end she proactively brings in anthropologists, mythologists and other thought leaders on various projects to enrich people’s experiences and to inform and enlighten all. For McArter it’s about digging deeper and mining for meaning in the best possible way.

“It’s about depth,” she explains. “Our best results come when agencies allow us higher up the information ladder. Instead of resorting to handing out superficial, fragmented pieces of information, the best agencies allow us in. They allow us to dig deep and understand insight and strategy. It’s then that we become strategic, creative partners – not just vendors. It also takes bravery on the part of agencies, but we’ve seen incredibly positive results working with the likes of Droga5 and Pereira & O’Dell in this fashion.”

McArter also admits that successful business practice also requires more than a singular vision, and so she has welcomed ex-Stink partner Robert Herman to the Furlined fold as its managing director. “Collaboration is essential in this new era,” she says on teaming up with Herman. “In order to expand the business I realised that I needed to give up some control. Robert helps me to see beyond the boundaries of my own vision. Two cultures are better than one and Robert’s vast international perspective and numerous relationships bring immense value to the company.”

Making it up as we go along

Discussing the Furlined roster, McArter explains that she only does business with like-minded directors who share her company’s values. She beams when discussing the talent and their recent work, genuinely honoured to have them all. “Dan Lindsay and TJ Martin [directing duo who won an Oscar in 2012 for their documentary feature Undefeated] just created a spot for Facebook, Karaoke, that was viewed 5.5 million times in the first week of its release. Björn Rühmann is also working consistently in both the US and London markets, while Nick Ball is a new voice in comedy and a new signing to Furlined.”

A spirit of digging deeper, making connections and mining for meaning is also evident in Jefferson, a new production company launched under the Furlined banner by McArter last year. Jefferson brings added value, combining different teams in a more nimble, less hierarchical way than is usually seen in regular advertising protocol.

McArter reveals that the work coming out of Jefferson feels remarkably open and honest, and she believes that people respond to honesty and truthfulness like nothing else. “Jefferson is a creative hub that is more than just advertising. It’s a humble company that opens up new possibilities, a platform for collaborations between directors, writers, journalists, musicians and more. More and more work is being produced by agencies and clients at the crossroads of culture, commerce and community. We curate teams to collaborate on specific projects. There’s a modesty to it, formed with the desire to expand our reach into a new, evolving era of brand communication.”

McArter believes that advertising is changing in such a dramatic fashion that something outside the box needs to be invented – before it’s too late.

“I started talking to heads of production at various agencies to ask them how much of their work is traditional broadcast,” she explains. “Big agencies openly informed me that only 30 per cent of their work is now traditional, so to expand into a new era we need to find new ways of working. That’s why Jefferson is here – to invent, create and make it all up as we go along. I think it’s the right spirit because it gives us the kind of reach that we wouldn’t normally have.”

The era of connectivity

Who has been a mentor to McArter over the years? “Ridley Scott is an inspiring, collaborative leader,” she answers. “A visionary who saw something in me and gave me an enormous opportunity at a very young age to launch RSA USA. Tony Scott for his passion, Paul Gay for teaching me all about good ad ideas, Dougal Wilson for his values and his expansive, imaginative mind and Will Speck and Josh Gordon for being there on the journey with me, revealing truth through humour and their never-ending quest to champion the underdog in the stories they tell – and in doing so making us all feel a little more human.”

Discussing her success on a number of fronts over the last few years, and how the inherent qualities of an ideal leader seem to be more feminine today than ever before, McArter looks back again at her arrival in Los Angeles in 2000, an event that turned out to be a creative catalyst, starting her on her journey to who she is today. “I often think back to that time of awakening,” she muses. “It was reinforced by the good fortune of having been in the business all this time.

“There is a sense of expansiveness and endless possibility in Los Angeles, and in our digital era of connectivity, that matches my own feelings as a woman in the industry.

“It’s the increasing popularity and importance of female attributes that a new generation is now responding to,” she adds. “Millennials have that mindset today, and here we are in this digital, horizontal era, where connectivity is the hallmark.”

In a reflective mood, remembering how she used to feel all those years ago in the industry in New York, she adds “I no longer feel inadequate. Over recent years there has been the continued wakening of so much possibility within me. I feel that using female attributes allows for an authentic leadership style that is better suited for the future of advertising. Coming to Los Angeles has taught me that women no longer have to possess male attributes to be successful.

“I embrace my womanhood. I believe that my vulnerability, empathy, cooperativeness, loyalty, creativity, originality and articulateness are vital to better understand the talent, the brief, the world and the road ahead.”