On My Radar: Marc Gilbar

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

I love Geico’s Fast-Forward pre-roll spots (the follow-up to Unskippable). The typical goal for pre-roll is just to get you to watch, but the extended cuts of Lake and Hike (below) are so funny you’ll want to share them with your friends.

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

The New York Times for what’s going on in the world, ADWEEK for what’s going on in advertising, Deadline for what’s going on in entertainment and The Huffington Post for Six Things You Didn’t Know About Avocados.

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

I bought the Apple Watch because I was curious to see what value it could add to my life. I like that it tells you when you’ve been sitting too long. You can’t argue with it. It knows the truth.

What’s the last item – tech or otherwise – you bought that improved your life? 

I bought a Casper pillow recently that’s very nice. I think pillows are one of those things that are super important but nobody talks about. Do you know what brand pillow you’re using? Probably not.

Facebook, Instagram or Twitter? 

I use Instagram to keep track of my friends, Twitter to keep track of the world and Facebook to keep track of my aunt who lives in San Diego.

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

I only get to use it for one week every year, but The Masters app is so well-designed and easy to use, it’s definitely my favorite.

What’s your favourite TV show and why?

Nathan for You on Comedy Central makes me laugh harder than any other show on TV.

What film do you think everyone should have seen? 

Mad Max: Fury Road.

Where were you when inspiration last struck? 

I was inside a bouncy house. I can’t tell you the idea, but suffice to say it’s going to change the bouncy house industry.

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

YouTube. When I started in advertising there wasn’t an easy-to-use online video platform. Our agency subscribed to a service that taped competitive commercials and mailed them to us on 3/4” tapes so we could watch them. If you saw a spot on TV that you thought was funny you would just describe it to your friends; there was no good way to email it. YouTube opened the industry up to longer-format storytelling, the notion of free/earned media, viral sharing and immediate “click-to-buy” conversion.

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

Too much jargon. In particular, I don’t like it when people use “solve” as a noun. “Let’s come up with some good solves for this problem.” That sounds weird to me.

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

I went to law school in between advertising jobs. I think it taught me how to structure an argument, which comes in handy when trying to sell your ideas. It also taught me about the rule against perpetuities, which comes in handy almost never.