LEADERSHIP CORNER
Ad agency's creative director believes in hiring IQ

Interviewed by David Butts
Advertiser Staff Writer

Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

Company: Laird Christianson Harris Advertising
Title: Creative Director
Age: Just turned 50 with great reluctance.

Personal profile

• Self portrait: "I have been in Hawai'i for over 25 years. I worked as a producer-director at KHON, at the creative boutique Mixed Media, and became a partner at what is now Laird Christianson Harris/Worldwide Partners 10 years ago. The firm is Hawai'i's third-largest ad agency. Also found time to produce and direct two independent feature films with partner Joe Moore: 'Goodbye Paradise' in 1991 and 'Moonglow' in 1999.

"I serve on the board of Le Jardin Academy, and was the former president of the Film And Video Association of Hawaii. I am a lapsed triathlete and strictly back-of-the-pack; planning to start racing again this year now that I'm in an older age bracket. Also love skiing and playing music.

"My greatest pride and joy is daughter Brianna, 18, a graduate of Iolani Schools, now in her second year of university at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts in England."

• Favorite Web site: "AdCritic.com. The latest in ads and commercials from around the world. Also www.WorldwidePartners.com, which is largely proprietary to WWP members, but keeps me in touch with other agency owners and creative directors who share the same challenges we face. And I couldn't live without Google."

• Favorite book: "It's impossible to choose between 'Winter's Tale' and 'A Soldier of the Great War,' both by Mark Helprin. I also love anything by Richard Russo, Tom Robbins, E. Annie Proulx, Stephen E. Ambrose, John Irving, Pete Dexter. I'm currently reading 'Great Dream of Heaven' by Sam Shepard."

• Most remembered mentor: "My high school Theatre Arts teacher Tony Steblay, a tough, wiry, irreverent man raised on the Iron Range in Minnesota. I was a mess up in high school. Undisciplined. A smart student that failed because of my attitude. One day when I was escaping a vice principal or someone, I ducked into the theater room and a rehearsal was going on." Christianson went back again and again, learning all aspects of the theater from making sets to writing plays. "(Steblay) taught me how to bust my 'okole, use a power saw, read Shakespeare and tell an emotional and compelling story. I draw on lessons learned then each and every day."

• Best part of the job: "Daily collaboration with creative, tuned-in, turned-on, and passionate people: my partners and staff; writers, artists, directors and editors; our clients; and my peers in the creative community."

• Trademark expression: "What are we really trying to do here?"

• Best decision as a leader: "After Sept. 11, our business had to decide how to face the uncertain future. Some of our biggest clients are in Hawai'i's travel sector and they were prudently cutting costs, including advertising. A number of ad agencies and public relations firms cut staff or salaries or both, but with my partners we chose to stay the course, keep our team together and ride out the storm. We got through it and I believe we're stronger for it."

• Worst decision as a leader: "Going after business we don't passionately want. If we lose it, we feel it was a waste of time. If we win it, we don't do our best work. It's never satisfying and we ultimately part paths. Great creative work and satisfying client relationships are the keys to this business."

• What I worry about most: "The worst ad we send out every day. What could we have done to make it better? To make it more effective? To push the envelope more? To have better championed the creative concept? And then, if we fix that ad, what's the new 'worst ad?' Doing at least one great ad or commercial every day or week isn't that hard. Doing zero bad ones is almost impossible."

• Most difficult challenge: "The best ads, commercials and strategies are deceptively simple. Finding that simplicity and then protecting it from the temptations of embellishment and so-called 'improvements' is the most important thing we do for clients."

• Leadership tip: "Surround yourself with IQ. Hire the brightest, best-experienced people you can find. They're not always easy to manage, but there's no substitute for smarts. If you're ever the smartest person in the room, you're in trouble."

Taking on... How to grow the company

Ten years ago, Laird Christianson Harris Advertising was the 16th largest agency in Hawai'i with four employees and now it is No. 3 or 4 and has 35 employees. The key to growth was getting and keeping good clients, Christianson said.

"A turning point for us was 1996. We had an opportunity to pitch the Prince Resorts Hawaii." Laird Christianson Harris was the smallest of four agencies going after the Prince contract. The company wanted to build its name as an agency for the tourism industry.

"We spent a whole lot of time thinking about the client. We stayed at all the hotels. We interviewed the managers, staff and guests. We looked at all their previous ads." In the end, the agency created 10 campaigns and threw out all but the best three. "It strained us to the max, and we won."