Dan Southwick, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners

Welcome, Dan, and thanks for being with us.

Hello, nice to meet you.

So, we want to know a little bit about the promotion pieces that you receive at your agencies, as far as print, and email. Typically in a given day, or a given week, how many print pieces or email pieces do you receive?

Per day, via email, I’d say about 15 to 20 pieces, and mail, I would say per day probably about 5 to 10. The ratio has sort of changed as time has moved on.

And, do you have a preference for one versus the other?

I'd say email. I do pretty much look at everything I receive. I tend to open up my email in the morning, and they’ll pop up. And, with my coffee, I’ll go through them all. As far as the mailed stuff, I do go through that as well. I tend to look at that more… I’ll do it all at once at the end of the week. I would say that the emailed promos are more effective, at this point, with me.

Are there any types of email promotions that you're more likely to open, either because of the subject matter, or who they come from?

No, not generally. Again, if I recognize a specific name or someone that I've worked with, or a project that I've seen out and about that looks interesting, I’ll definitely be more attracted to that. But, generally, I’d say I open most things that I receive. Probably the things that turn me off are the sort of, wacky headers or the silly joke kind of stuff. That gets a bit old.

And, when you open the email, do you usually then go to the website?

It depends on the work. If I see a couple images that are not appealing, or seem a bit cheesy, I’ll tend to just delete it. If it catches my interest, I’ll definitely click through.

Does it matter how many images are on the email?

I think the more simple the better. I would say two or three, just to kind of give me a feel for the work. I’d probably dissuade someone from having a bunch of images that cause the email a large load time, that would take me forever to open. I’ll just get frustrated and probably delete it.

Does it matter to you whether it’s a template or a uniquely designed email?

No, not necessarily. Good design work is nice, that sort of thing. But, fundamentally, if it's an interesting image, and it's a simple email, it'll be effective.

And, when you then go to the website, is there anything in particular that interests you, in looking at a website?

I would say, just something that’s easy to navigate will give me an immediate sense of the person’s work, that’s designed in a way that is easy to get back to home from an image, or go between images. Very nice design is great, but something that’s over designed that causes frustratingly long load times, or overly complex design that’s hard to figure out navigation on, I’d probably say that’s not a good thing.

Does it matter do you about the intro to it, or how much Flash there is?

Again, if it's visually appealing, that’s great. But, if it loads quick and is simple, and it gives me an idea of the person’s work, that’s what I'm looking for.

Do you prefer if it's separated by subject, or by style?

As far as an overall site, yes. I do like when there is some sort of category going on. You know, I think that it sort of depends on the type of site. But, if it's an individual and they do a bunch of different types of work, it is helpful to kind of get a category, especially if you are rushing around looking for the perfect person, in a quick amount of time.

Then, passing along the information to art directors who might be interested in seeing it, do you usually send a link, or will you call in the portfolio and bring the portfolio over?

I generally will start with a link, 99% of the time. If I'm shooting something quickly to an art director… especially, on occasion, I’ll see something that I think is cool for down the road, I’ll send them that link.

And then, for the client. Will the client actually get the link to the artist, or will you call in the portfolio for that?

It varies. It depends on the client, it depends on the timing, it depends on the presentation. We can have very formal presentations, where we’ll actually bring a portfolio to the presentation and roll through it with the client. Some cases, we’ll basically make an edit that best applies to the project, and put together a separate presentation. And, in other cases, we’ll just send a straight link.

Do you keep email promos?

I do, I do. I'm not the best at organizing them, but the ones that are worth keeping, I do keep.

Do you keep printed promos?

I do. I keep a little file of this stuff that most interests me. I have to say, I used to keep very extensive files. My files these days are very slim, and include the stuff that has caught my attention the most. I would say, overall, I tend to refer to online as my main resource.

What do you think of unique promos that are sent to agencies?

I think that they can be effective. I think we have people here who have published, or basically bound professional looking books that do stay on people’s shelves, I've seen posters that make it up into people’s cubes. I think that an effective promotion with good visual and good design does still work.

When you're looking for talent, who do you generally call if you're trying to find out about other talent? Do you contact people within the agency or outside the agency?

I think it's all of the above. I talk to my co-workers, producers, art directors. I also will call art directors that I know that might be a good resource. If I'm really in a pinch, I will talk to reps, I will talk to producers, I will talk to photographers. It runs the gamut.

What makes certain promotional pieces keepers?

I think overall, it's the visuals – that’s great visuals and great photography. I think it cuts through everything.

Do you have a preference for working either with an agent or working with talent directly?

I think just… bottom line, if someone’s professional and they know what they are doing, I don’t really care. I mean, I have developed over the years quite a few relationships with certain reps, and that sort of thing. So we’ll oftentimes have a rapport and know how each other works. But I think overall, if someone knows what they’re doing and they're professional, they do a good job, that’s what's important to me.

Do you have a preference for talent that you’ve worked with before versus trying new talent?

It’s hard to say. If you work with existing talent that you’ve worked with in the past, and you’ve had a good experience, it's comfortable, and it makes thing easier. But, at the same time, I think there's nothing like discovering someone new, and project works really well and is a big success. So, I think that they both have their own rewards.

What about when people call you to show you work or to set up an appointment? How do you feel about those kinds of phone calls?

They're fine. Honestly, it sort of depends on my workload and what’s going on. If I'm insane, and traveling a lot, and between things… I have a hard time, sometimes, responding. But, if I have the time and the work is interesting, I try to do it as much as I have time for.

Do you take appointments?

When I can. I do it as much as I can. I am guilty of not doing it more, honestly.

Does the agency have a portfolio day anymore? Do they have days where everybody gets together to look at portfolios that have been sent in?

We do, once a month, a little portfolio showing that will set up in a conference room. Usually, it is with reps that have quite a few different artists to feature, we’ll have a little breakfast, that sort of thing. We’ll send out emails, put some notices up, and we do oftentimes get quite a good response from that.

But, if an artist was to send in, individually, their portfolio, are you generally the only person who would look at it? Or, do buyers get together to see what books have been sent in.

I think it depends on the work and I think it depends on my workload. If a great book comes in, I will definitely show it around, assuming I have the time. If I don’t like the work, I’ll generally review it and most likely send it back.

Is there a certain amount of times that somebody should try to contact you either through print or email?

I think an overload can be a little bit rough, sometimes, especially if you're getting it all the time, you’ll tend to start to ignore it, or be annoyed by it. I'd say no more than once a month is enough.

For print or email?

Yes.

So, too much is too much.

Exactly.

Do you find that you remember… like, if you get an email and that person emails you again, that you're like, “Oh I've gotten an email from this person, before.”

Again, it just depends on the frequency and what the content is about.

When you're looking to find somebody, where are some of the places that you would like to have seen them or heard about them?

I think that overall, I look a little bit everywhere, I follow what's going on at art galleries, I look at a lot of editorial, I do look at the emails or promotions that I receive, I look at other advertising. I think that just getting yourself out there is the way to do it. I don’t think that there's any sort of hard and fast rule. I think it's just working hard and developing your work, and getting yourself out there. I also don’t think you should try and you know, limit yourself in what you're going to do because you don’t think it's going to be an affective promotion, or something along those lines, I think it's just doing good work, and it will make it through all the garbage.

Do you like to see personal work from artists?

Sure, I love it. If it's good, it's good. Bottom line. If their work is good, and then I can follow up and know that they’ve done professional work, and have the right credentials, I don’t care what the subject matter is, and whether they got paid for the job or not.

As far as work they’ve done for clients, is that important for you? Do you want to see who they’ve worked with, or client list or anything?

If there's a real interest, and I'm looking at them, seriously, for hire, I would like to see a client list. I think sometimes people will tend to add promotion showing they’ve done commercial work. But, if it's bad commercial work, it's not that effective. To me, it just looks like they're throwing that in there to show you that they’ve worked with specific clients.

And do you find that the portfolios match the websites that you’ve seen?

It can vary. Sometimes they're identical. Other times, they are very different. It's been interesting. Sometimes the website is much better than the book and the reverse.

And have you ever had a situation where you’ve called in a book based on a website and had a negative reaction?

Oh yeah, definitely. I recently saw a very good website and, based on that, called in the book. And when I showed the book to the art director, a different edit, the print quality was pretty bad, and I feel that, due to the quality of the book and the edit it actually put them out of the job. They weren't impressed.

And, are there times that you see a website, and the website is not very good, but you can tell that the talent is, can you get past that?

Yeah, I think if the work is good, the work is good. Sometimes, if the design is really horrible, it would be a little off-putting, but I would say, generally, I think good work on a bad website is better than a good website with bad work.

And do you find that you respond emotionally to printed promo pieces differently if they were expensive pieces versus a postcard?

I can. I think that an expensive piece, a bound book or something that’s very fancy does have a wow factor to it, and will catch my attention. Again, the work has to back it up.

Do you find that the art directors at your agency like getting their own pieces?

Yes, I think they do. I think people are collectors, and if it's the right piece they’ll keep it around and display it.

Well, thank you very much for your time. Is there anything else that you think is important that artists should know, as far as reaching you, staying in contact with you?

I think overall, it's just working hard, and work the focus, and not it being all about fancy promotion. You know? Good work, and someone who is professional, it works.

Well, thank you very much for you time.

Thanks.