Matt McDonald and Speaking with Multiple VoicesHalfway through our presentation led at BBDO headquarters in New York, in walks Matt McDonald. Towering, dressed in a button down and the kind of designer hoodie that probably is worth more than the dress shirt, McDonald has an infectious smile and an undeniable touch for winning over a room. He feels more like a radio host than an ECD. But he is an ECD, and a seriously important one at that. McDonald is ECD of AT&T, he second largest ad buyer in America. Creating work for them is not easy, and he takes us through what it is like to make work for them. “We have to make all kinds of different work, speak to the public in multiple different voices at once.” he says. Some ideas they like right away (I mean, who wouldn’t be enthralled with Taylor Swift riding a giant rainbow cat-i-corn through a glistening forest?) But some take more time. In particular, one spot they did around texting and driving. The spot features incredibly realistic CGI rendering of victims had they grown up and aged. The ad was incredibly effective, but it took major time and much arm twisting to be able to finally do it. “We pitched the idea years before, and the client was so upset with us they almost left” he says. We eventually worked the premise into a piece of a campaign we did with multiple different moving parts, and it was by far the most interacted with piece in the bunch. After that, we knew we finally had the go ahead to create it.“ Besides being emotionally impactful, McDonald says the best part was the journey getting it made. "It took years but it made it more of a success when it came through” he says.
Caden Bohn

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