Who? Geoffrey Director, EVP of Strategy
Geoffrey’s creative hero: George Carlin
Why George Carlin?I admire comedians because they’re insightful and have a knack for looking at issues from novel perspectives. This was true of Carlin, but he was also a mastermind of storytelling and wordsmithing, and he never watered down his point.
The piece of Carlin’s work that Geoffrey comes back to again and again: His bit about the differences between football and baseball. A rolling boulder of insights about not just the two sports, but also American culture and the contradictions therein, all wrapped up into a tidy and hilarious five minutes.
How Geoffrey overcomes creative blocks or challenges: Change the frame. I put the challenge in different contexts and see what would happen if I pursued that angle. Anything to avoid going down the same path of logic that ends at the same brick wall.
Geoffrey’s favorite piece of creative work that he produced for Manifest: Two pitch strategies: one we didn’t win, and the other we didn’t end up pursuing. One was for a liquor brand, and the other for a destination in California. I love the strenuous creative work it takes to put forth a truly novel strategy for a brand that’s seen it all before.
His idea of happiness: A bench, a beer and a view.
The title of Geoffrey’s memoir would be: Also the name of another Carlin bit: “It’s the Quiet Ones You Have to Watch.”
