Sydney Cohen: Embracing eccentricities

After majoring in Creative Advertising at Indiana University, Sydney Cohen attended the Chicago Portfolio School during which time she won two Gold Pencils and a merit award in the Young Ones One Show competition for projects for Budweiser and Burger King. 

While there she also began a fruitful union with creative Jordan Fishel, two notable works from this dream team being the Bryan Buckley-directed Batman Vs Bateman campaign for State Farm [which garnered an Emmy nomination, silver One Show Pencil, and more] and the One Show Bronze Pencil-winning Big Game ad for Jeep Cherokee, Billy Bass, a concept that emerged from memories of Americana on her Grandad’s porch one Texan summer.    

Was there anything in your Dallas childhood that led you to pursue advertising as a career? 

Not in the traditional sense, but growing up, creativity was always present. I come from a family of entrepreneurs. My dad has a strategic business mind and my mom has the creative side. She always sought out new skills and crafts that she’d teach me. So, watching their partnership over the years showed me that there is a creative solution for every problem, and that’s what advertising is.  

How was is it studying Creative Advertising at Indiana University and then at the Chicago Portfolio School, did you have any mentors? 

When I started at Indiana University, the creative advertising program was still finding its footing. Fortunately, I found an incredible mentor in Professor Bill Schwab, who taught various advertising classes and not only helped me build a portfolio in his own time, but taught me the deep importance of the human experience in creative work. His genuine care changed my entire trajectory. 

In 2020, due to the pandemic leading to many of the internships I’d applied for being cancelled, I changed plans and went to the Chicago Portfolio School. Three incredible things came out of it: I met my creative partner, Jordan Fishel; took home two gold Young Ones Pencils; and was mentored by [Art Director, now CD at Laughlin Constable] Rachel Bottlinger-Howe. She helped me understand that the “too much” label I’d been given over the years was actually an asset. 

Growing up, people would say I was too loud, or too excitable and I needed to tone it all down. Rachel was helping me prepare for my Highdive internship interview and I was worried that I might ramble. She said that it was okay to ramble – it shows my passion for the work. She explained that my quirks and eccentricities are the very things that set my work apart from someone else’s. So, being weird or too loud or too much wasn’t something to shy away from, it was something to embrace.   

What have you been learning at Highdive?  

At Highdive, I’ve learned that good ideas never die, but getting work out in the world can be incredibly difficult. An idea has to align perfectly across creative teams, clients and consumers at the right time to survive. Trends are fleeting, but an idea built on an evergreen cultural truth will always find its moment. 

Tell us about the creation of your Batman Vs Bateman campaign, with Jordan Fishel. 

It started with a simple insight: some things, like insurance, aren’t worth compromising on. Why settle for an off-brand version when you can get the real deal with State Farm? Fuelled by my partner Fishel’s love for Batman, Jason Bateman, and a good pun, we crafted the concept of Batman vs. Bateman. From there, the project took on a life of its own. It was a massive collaborative effort, made possible by State Farm’s appetite for bold creative, the Highdive team’s dedication to the craft, and our production partners at hungryman and Parliament, who made the reality even better than the vision. 

How did you come to create the concept for Billy Bass for Jeep Cherokee?

Since Jeep is synonymous with Americana, I was instantly brought back to my grandfather’s ‘office’. It’s a small back porch defined by Texas summers, rusted wind chimes, a tiny TV, and a Billy Bass watching over the grill. 

We knew a purely sweet story about a boy and his animatronic fish felt a little flat. It needed a twist. Cue the funniest, loudest creative meeting of my career, where we plotted Billy’s tragic demise. 

You have been teamed up with Fishel since 2021 when you left Chicago Portfolio School, tell us about the partnership and what makes it work. 

Our paths first crossed as students at Indiana University, but we didn’t officially team up until The Chicago Portfolio School. After working together on just one project, Jordan became the first person who could seamlessly translate my kooky, jumbled ideas. Soon after, I landed an internship at Highdive and left Portfolio School. Two weeks in, the agency asked if I had a preferred copywriter and, coincidentally, Jordan had finished his portfolio two days prior. The rest is history. 

He’s easygoing; me… not so much. He knows everything about sports and I know too much about Love Island. He brings pie-in-the-sky ideas and I ground them in the ‘why’. We are complete opposites on paper, but those differences are what make us work. Because of them, we cover more ground, push each other’s thinking, are constantly teaching each other something new, and laugh a lot while doing it.   

What are your influences and inspirations? 

As clichéd as it sounds, people are my biggest inspiration. When I need a breakthrough, I take my dog to the park and people-watch. There’s a distinct beauty in watching people simply exist. It always proves that we aren’t all that different from one another. It’s in those little day-to-day similarities where I find my inspiration.  

Do you think the industry is doing enough to support rising talent such as yours? 

I’ve only ever worked at Highdive where the belief is that good ideas can come from anywhere, doesn’t matter how long you’ve been in the industry or what your title is.