feedthewalrus

Editors Adam Jenkins and Jeff Stevens launched FEEDTHEWALRUS last year as a collective of editors, producers and artists that feeds freelance talent to ad agencies and post studios as teams or individuals. They said the new company was a reaction to changes in advertising post, representing a move to lighter, more flexible business models. StudioDaily sent them Five Questions to get them talking about the state of the business.

1. What are the biggest challenges/threats facing the industry in the near future?

The biggest challenge facing advertising post companies (still), is how to adapt and adjust to this new leaner advertising landscape. Its become pretty obvious that the good ol’ days of yesteryear won’t be returning anytime soon. And with agencies asking for alternative solutions and more flexibility across the board, its forcing everyone to become more creative in order to stay relevant. And anything that makes people and companies think outside the box – is a good thing.

2 What are the industry’s biggest strengths at the moment?

For us, it’s the talent. With technology becoming increasingly more accessible, it’s becoming more about the talent. There are a lot of innovative, amazing people in this industry, as we are finding out, and that is going to be it’s biggest strength. We are constantly amazed at the quality of freelancers available and what that means in terms of who we can now collaborate with to make our projects more creative.

3. What upcoming trends could change the way people in this industry work?

With agency creatives having to focus more on digital media and finish campaigns across multiple platforms – its becoming increasingly harder for creative teams to be able to sit in an edit suite for two weeks straight. We’re finding that if you can bring great talent in to an agency and work on the equipment that now almost everyone of them has – it can help the creatives to oversee the multitude of projects they have going on.

4. What was the project (film, TV or Web) that most impressed you in the last year? Why?

To be honest, we never laughed harder than at the movie Gentlemen Broncos. We loved the idea that they initially released under the radar, then got some acclaim and then distributed nationally. Brilliant. It definitely catered to our warped sense of humor.

5. Name the top 4 artists in your Ipod?

At the moment:

Dead Kennedys
Flat Duo Jets
The Gories
Architecture in Helsinki