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Dov ZMOOD
VP Group CD | MCCANN ERICKSON
Dov was raised in Melbourne, Australia and graduated from Business School at Monash University. He would go on to study creative advertising at London's D&AD Advertising School. He was then recruited by Saatchi & Saatchi where he contributed to campaigns for Visa, Club 18-30, and the NSPCC. He returned to Australia in 2001 joining J. Walter Thompson where he produced ads for Ford, The Red Cross, Disney and Blockbuster. In 2002 Dov moved to New York and helped launch the Nextel brand nationally at the now defunct TBWA\Chiat Day\Tequila (you make the connection). He then enjoyed stints at FCB and R\GA working on a variety of technology accounts including HP and Nokia. In 2007 Dov joined Ogilvy & Mather where he would spend five years creating successful campaigns for Cisco, IBM and American Express. He's currently at McCann New York where he works on brands like Nestlé, The United States Army, State Street Global Advisors and Choice Hotels (sometimes all in the same day. No, really.)
questionnaire
What was your very first job?
I walked dogs in Manhattan as I awaited my work visa. The walking part was fine. Cleaning Rottweiler shit (among other breeds), not so much.
Please describe, in your own words, what your job is and what work it entails.
I am a VP, Group Creative Director at McCann, New York. I manage the United States Army and New York Lottery accounts. We develop advertising concepts that can be applied to any/all mediums.
How did you discover that the creative world was right for you? Was there a time in your life that you credit to this discovery? What was there train of events that brought you to where you are today?
After receiving my business degree in Australia, I decided not to pursue a career in business. Instead, I travelled—indefinitely. In London I fell in love with advertising. The commercials were so funny or raw or simple. The need to be creative yet immediate really appealed to me, so I and applied for a scholarship at the D&AD and got in. The rest, as they say, is history.
In your constantly growing and expanding industry, how do you find inspiration to keep your work fresh, innovative and relevant?
I just try to pay attention to the world around me. Nuances mainly. What people say and how they say it. How they react and what is and is not considered appropriate under certain circumstances. These become the accepted norms that can be manipulated to create something memorable.
If you had to pick one piece of work or project that you are most proud of, more for the creative work and innovation it required, rather than its recognition or industry “success,” what would it be?
I loved working on a project called “Broken Night”. Nikon wanted to show off the image quality of its new D800 HDSLR camera. But rather than launching a traditional ad campaign, we created a short film shot entirely on the D800. It was a horror film (so we could prove the camera could make anything beautiful) and we had the privilege of working with renowned writer, Guillermo Arriaga and two-time Academy award winning cinematographer, Janusz Kaminski. The film did pretty well at the advertising award shows but the greatest success came from its official selection into the Sundance Film Festival. Those folks didn’t know the film was a subtly branded piece of content shot using the D800. They selected it based on its merits as a film and that was incredibly gratifying.
