On My Radar: Marc Reisbig

What is the most creative advertising idea you’ve seen recently?

I loved AT&T's It Can Wait by BBDO New York and Errol Morris. The campaign has a quiet confidence that feels refreshing. Besides being a great idea the accompanying mini-documentaries are mini masterpieces in their own right. 

What website(s) do you use most regularly? 

Well, it's actually an app; The Guardian (34 min average per day). Even though I live in Norway I still read British papers (I lived in London for 12 years). 

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

It was a Geneva Touring DAB radio for my wife's birthday. It was specifically for the kitchen for when we are cooking. It was so that we could listen to the same music in the living room and kitchen (it has Bluetooth), but it has made me rediscover the charms of radio.

What product could you not live without?

I don’t know if this counts; the flush toilet. When I was a kid we would go to a cabin in the mountains to go cross country skiing. There was no water or electricity. One year I got a very bad stomach bug, and for 48 hours straight I had to run back and forth to the outhouse in -25 C. 

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

Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Favourite; tragicomedy at its best. And Wes Anderson's Isle of dogs; an ode to both dogs and the charm of stop-motion.

What film do you think everyone should have seen?

I do not want to force my own taste on anybody, but I know what films have made the biggest impression on me over the years, in no particular order: Roy Andersson’s Songs From the Second Floor, Truffaut’s Jules and Jim, Jarmuch's Down by Law, Malick’s Badlands [below], Tarkovsky’s Stalker, Mamoru Oshii's Ghost in the Shell… this list could go on for ever and ever.

What’s your preferred social media platform?

I was a social media luddite for a long time. I love the possibilities big social media platforms have, but I have a slightly addictive nature and decided it wasn’t for me.

What’s your favourite TV show? 

Currently it's Top Boy. I am your stereotypical binge watcher. Chernobyl was a tour de force. Mindhunter for its masterclass in craft. Unbelievable was tough, but a rewarding watch. For lighter viewing but, in a way, scarier, I catch John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight every week. In these bizarre times I need some of my world news filtered through the lens of a comedian. 

What’s your favourite podcast?

Lately, I’ve worked on things that need my full attention, so it has been a while. But I have really enjoyed Nick van der Kolk’s Love and Radio and a Norwegian podcast called Rekommandert. Now I listen to a current affairs podcast every morning which is 20 minutes long, which is exactly how long it takes me to get to the office every morning.

What show/exhibition has most inspired you recently?

The permanent James Turrell exhibition/installation, Sky Space, in Ekeberg Parken in Oslo [below]. It is an amazing sensory experience, its like stepping into a mindfulness app or a church of a future religion. It's safe to say I am a James Turrell fan. 

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

The number of versions we deliver. Sometimes it’s more than a 100 masters. For someone like me, with OCD when it comes to checking that everything is just right, it is a little painful. Recently I have been focussing on how to work this into the pitch and I make sure that a fragment of the film can work as a standalone piece in its own right, or that the concept can communicate in 10 seconds, almost like a log line in a synopsis.