The Source: Faustin Claverie

What is the most creative advertising idea you’ve seen in the last few months?

I’ve seen a lot of things that have made me really jealous in the past few months. I’d love to avoid an obvious choice but I can’t! So, sorry, but I’m going to talk about the Australian road safety campaign, Meet Graham.

It’s not a hidden gem as it’s been recognised in many ad festivals, but what a fresh way to talk about a cause that’s already inspired so many great pieces of communication. No spectacular or violent crash, no emotional voiceover, no goose bumps, they just created a monster that went viral. It has everything we like in advertising: it’s original, perfectly crafted and techy. The ad was not only for the state of Victoria but for the whole world.

What’s your favourite website?

I’m not proud of this but I really like giphy.com. I could spend hours watching it. It’s addictive. We should take the art of the gif seriously. There is truly a gif for everything.

What website do you use most regularly?

Besides amazon.com or airfrance.com, I like to use BIGASSMESSAGE.com. It’s not new but it’s very effective when you want to make a point when writing an email. This site transforms any written sentence into big, fat, flashy words. Beware, the viewer could suffer an epileptic crisis. It’s very effective and slightly less vulgar than using capital letters.

I also spend a lot of time on sofoot.com. It’s a website about football with an unusual, tongue-in-cheek tone of voice for football news. If you understand French it’s really fun to read and even the trolls commenting at the bottom of each article are hilarious.

What product could you not live without?

I love the Vivino app almost as much as wine. It allows you to scan the label of any bottle of wine, then you can rate it, read a review or check the price of the bottle. It’s useful if you like a wine in a restaurant as it tells you where to buy it.

The downside is that the wine can suddenly taste a bit bitter when you realise it costs 10 times less in a shop than what you paid in the restaurant. It’s important to mention that you shouldn’t use this app when invited to have dinner at someone’s place. Or at least be discreet. 

What product hasn’t been invented yet that would make your life/job better?

A pill that makes sleep useless would be amazing. It would kind of double your life and you wouldn’t need a bedroom.

Who’s your favourite photographer?

William Eggleston. Every time I open Los Alamos [book of images from USA road trips in the 60s and 70s] I want to travel in time to California in the 70s. I guess it’s because of the palm trees. It’s the same when I open The Spirit of Dunkerque [Eggleston’s photos of a French port city]. it makes me want to travel immediately to an industrial city in the north of France.

If you could live in one city, where would it be?

As a Parisian, I miss palm trees. If I had to pick a city to live in, I’d choose one with palm trees at every street corner. Rio or LA. Maybe not Cannes. I’m just back from there and a week each year is enough.

Mac or PC?

I started working on images on my mother’s Mac. I always thought, one day, I’d move to a PC to have better 3D and shitloads of games, but I never did it. Now it’s too late. I just hate it every time I have to use a PC to write an email from a café somewhere in Thailand, or print a plane ticket from a hotel reception.

I tried a few years ago to switch to HTC and forget the iPhone. I thought it would be cool to have a phone nobody else at the agency has. It lasted six months. My fingertips were allergic to the screen.

What’s the best film you’ve seen over the last year or so?

I don’t know if it’s the best but The Big Short from 2015 inspired me. It made the sub-prime mortgage crisis understandable and entertaining. I try to think about it when a boring brief lands on my desk.

What fictitious character do you most relate to?

Captain Kirk from Star Trek. I’d love to discover a new civilisation every day. I would also be over the moon to have my office on the Enterprise spaceship.

What show/exhibition has most inspired you recently?

David Hockney is my favourite painter. I’m always waiting for his exhibitions to come to Paris, like a fan waiting for his favourite band to tour. There is an exhibition on now at the Centre Pompidou and I never tire of looking at his work. Even his latest work using video is great. It’s maybe not as iconic as his paintings, but it shows his will to always try something new. Not being stuck in time is rare for an artist.

What track/artist would you listen to for inspiration?

I love everything involving electric guitars and distortion but it doesn’t help me focus.  Film scores work great when I’m writing a story. It puts me in the right mood.

I talked about it with my partner, Benjamin Marchal [co-ECD, TBWAParis]. He told me that walking while listening to Angel by Massive Attack helps him come up with ideas. It’s due to the rhythm of the track matching perfectly with footsteps.

Who’s your favourite designer?

To me, Raymond Loewy is a true legend. His designs have never aged. His iconic logos for Lucky Strike and Shell etc are part of our culture. I always think of him when I see the tail of an Air France plane. I hope it never changes. He also designed Air Force One’s livery. How badass is that for a cheese-eating surrender monkey?

If you could have been in any band, what band would you choose?

Metallliiiiccccaaaaa! That’s the band I liked the most as a kid. Even if you don’t like metal, you should watch their documentary, Some Kind of Monster. It’s one of the best pieces of entertainment about music.