Page 33 - Internationalist Magazine 2015 75

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He talks proudly of one of his recent projects: “We edge when he came to the US by helping to pioneer digital
P E R S P E C T I V E S

connected two Havas clients to co-leverage their products
and social integration at Saatchi & Saatchi Los Angeles. At N
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for mutual bene t-- both well recognized companies-- one a INNOCEAN, he’s built digital, social and analytics practices N
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career opportunities website and the other a nancial services and helped lead strategy for Hyundai’s Walking Dead Chop O
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company. Job seekers and 401k roll overs go hand in hand. We Shop app—a zombie apocalypse survival car builder— V
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had to work to custom develop solutions to integrate their two which resulted in a 150% traf c increase to Hyundai.com in A
A

separate sets of content and work streams into a seamless ex- three months.
T
T
O
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perience. To me this has always been the Holy Grail. Take two Additionally, Uwe led initiatives around Hyundai’s
clients and nd unique symbiotic solutions.”
integration at FIFA World Cup 2014 with the #BecauseFut- R
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Uncharacteristically, Rob started his career as a veteri- bol campaign, which asked fans to show each other the S
S

nary sciences major and never expected to land in digital. He crazy things they do because of soccer. “By celebrating the

describes himself as a “digital native who’s too old to be a mil- real life passion of the fans and bringing them together
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lennial.” He’s also a Bostonian and die hard Celtics fan.
to share in it, we were able to turn a hashtag into a pop 0
0
culture moment, organically trending twice in the US on 1
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Twitter — and increase Hyundai’s brand recognition by Uwe Gutschow, SVP, Innovation & 5
5
Technology — INNOCEAN USA
304% at the same time.”

Born and raised in South Africa, Uwe is a German na- Uwe Gutschow describes him-

tive, but has not yet been to Germany. Today, he makes Los self as “the guy in the room
Angeles his home.
who is probably the most cu-

rious-- always thinking about Christian Jacobsen, Founding Partner —

how we can do things better: Mistress
new methods, interesting

technology, smarter business Ask Christian Jacobsen what he’s

solutions that lead to better learned from his 20 years in ad-

results.” As a seasoned global vertising, and he’ll tell you that a

digital thought-leader, he’s mo-
brand’s most powerful tool is a
tivated to drive change and promote the kind of innovative de ned vision. He’ll also quickly

thinking that inspires big ideas to solve problems for clients tell you that core problem most

and consumers. He operates at the intersection of creativ- brands face is that they lack a de-

ity, technology and strategy.
ned vision.

He admits, “The role of an agency is not only to move Since 2010, he has been a
past typical advertising, but to create business solutions that founding Partner at Mistress, a

will move the brand forward. So, I’m always pushing the multi-disciplinary creative agency that invigorates relation-

limits of our understanding and ability.” Plus, he’s started
ships between marketers, consumers, and brands. With

a training Academy to inspire INNOCEAN teams with new of ces in Los Angeles and Germany, Mistress currently has

way of thinking about product, service and marketing.
a staff of +50, and is considered one of the hottest creative
companies in Los Angeles.
Uwe describes how Innovation for clients must come

from three perspectives: Business, Marketing and Product. The origins of Mistress, as well as its vision, are unde-

“Consumer behavior is changing really fast,” he says. “We’re niably intriguing. Mistress was started in the midst of the

seeing a shift away from ownership to access. Companies 2009’s severe economic downturn—just as the fast-chang-

like Net ix, Uber, Tesla, AirBnB, and Amazon are disrupting ing digital era was dramatically affecting client-agency

industries that have for a very long time provided average relationships. Christian, a brand strategist by nature,
service and products. With that disruption comes an ex- thought that a brand-oriented creative shop could work

pectation. Consumers are expecting far more from brands with great brands on interesting projects—in the same way

and companies. They want products and services from a that small digital shops were gaining terri c assignments.

company that have a point of view and stand for something. However, Christian wanted to craft and direct the brand

We look at these disruptions as a catalyst for change: an strategy—not follow the established brand positioning.
inspiration for a new way of doing business, for example, He and his partners also wanted to be sure that Mis-

selling vehicles.”
tress was also perceived as a brand. Or as he likes to say,

Not only did he launch a digital agency in South Africa “One would expect any Mistress to be a bit hotter, a bit

under the Saatchi umbrella, but I Uwe applied his knowl-
more risqué, and generally more spontaneous than the

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