Friends - Jack Gold
Founder - Beakers & Chips. Portland OR
It might sound like an exaggeration, but without that initial call from Kemi and Jack, there probably wouldn’t be a Rosie Lee x Nike relationship, or even Rosie Lee as we know it today.
Those formative years where we honed our narrative concepts with Jack’s and the team's guidance. We were lucky in a way, back in 2000 Nike didn’t have a football history to reference, so we could only look forward. Unlike the nostalgic themes other brands were chasing, everything we created was driven by the Nike teams, the athletes and the product innovation.
The rest, as they say, is history…
How would you describe yourself, and what drives you?
At this stage of my life and career I have far more balance and perspective than ever before. My work life and career insights are sprinkled below in some of the other questions, but outside of work I’m a pretty simple guy with equally simple pleasures. I’m a devoted dad to 3 young adults, our puggle (Polly) , an almost unhealthy obsession with sushi, constantly attempting to emulate my mum’s cooking, reducing my handicap in golf and of course, supporting my beloved Aston Villa and more recently, the Oregon Ducks (American Football college team) where my daughter goes to Uni.
What pivotal moments have shaped your journey so far?
Saatchi & Saatchi - learnt everything from obsessing every detail in client presentations (still bugs me horribly if I make or see a typo:)) to writing great briefs and then being completely blown away by the creative work the multitalented team produced, time and time again. Special days. My creative bar for both myself and my teammates has always been very high as a result of those early years.
Team One - Moving to LA and working at Team One. My father passed away when I was 24 and I had just moved from Saatchis London to their sister agency in LA, Team One. Adapting to a new life, new vernacular etc is hard at the best of times, but after losing one of your parents, it was a humbling and deeply meaningful time. I credit our then MD, Scott Gilbert, for being such an incredible, empathetic boss who made the transition much easier.
Nike - After 6 years at Team One I moved from my beachside apartment in Manhattan Beach to a flat on one of the most beautiful canals in Amsterdam, where I started as advertising manager for Nike on the 1998 World Cup. Our first TV work was Airport, Beach Boys and then Mission. All incredible spots that help validate Nike as a football (soccer) brand.
True story - Airport’s music (Mas que nada) was a sensation. It was one piece of an incredible idea and execution that helped put Nike football on the map. It was rough cut time - I was one of, if not, the most junior client in the room at Wieden & Kennedys Amsterdam office. My boss (the inspirational Rob Deflorio) asked me to comment first. Shit, I was still relatively new, there were a lot of Nike and agency folks in the room and it was one of the most intimidating moments of my career to that date. This spot had to be great! I did what I always do (and have done ever since) - I just spoke the truth from both sides of my brain. I loved the cut but thought the music was a tad too subdued. We had sponsored Brazil as a strategic contrast to the Germanic adidas style of football and I was expecting a more energetic, joyful Brazilian soundtrack. Let’s just say there were about 10 people in the room and a host of others from Portland on the call. I heard an uneasy silence and then one of our most senior folks in the room spoke up and agreed with my feedback. It shocked the whole room. Rob, who was a fan of the music from the outset, was a great judge of creative and character. He knew how much the agency loved the music and diplomatically bought more time for us to discuss and a few days later we came back approving the agency recommendation. That music was and still is one of the iconic tracks for a spot for any sector. I learnt an invaluable lesson in that moment about trusting the creatives who do the work and then later, after the spot was received so well by so many, that I was 1000% wrong!
Pivot to Retail - I had been in advertising for a long time and two other functions at Nike in 2008 were ramping-up as we dialed back on our advertising. One was digital and the other was retail. I wanted to pivot and became head of Global Retail for football. An amazing career change that taught me so much about the importance of storytelling in a brand new environment and, while retail has its own nuance and vernacular, a lot of what we do in advertising or brand management was so similar in terms of finding ways to connect with consumers.
Beakers $ Chips - My last pivot takes me to the launch of Beakers & Chips. I left Nike to scratch the Startup itch I’d always had. I was given the privilege of building the brand and team as Chief Marketing Officer of a biomanufacturing startup in San Francisco called Zymergen, taking them from Series B to a $580mm IPO which was the start of a completely new career in science and technology. I helped reposition another drug creation company called Absci before launching Beakers & Chips in 2024 - a small brand marketing agency on the west coast of the US helping startups in the science, tech and healthcare space build their brand and messaging, ideal for startups who don’t want or need the overhead of a full time marketing team. We are like a very experienced Marketing SWAT team that act as an extension of our clients’ internal team.
What is your relationship with Rosie Lee, Unorthodox Blend, and/or Mark & Russell?
I first met Mark (Chop) and Russell in 2000 (i think?) when as Ad Director of Nike UK I was looking for a new design oriented agency to compliment W&K who developed our brand campaigns. We gave RL the project for the new Nike football to be used in the Premier League.
True story - I didn’t overly love their art direction for this particular project but I did love the message, the freshness of the thinking and chaos within the work and the presentation. They pushed ideas to the edges which has always really appealed to me as a client. You can always reel the work in if it’s too “out-there”, but I’d rather start out on the edges as that in my experience is what a) creatives prefer and b) births more unique, fresher ideas.
I knew Rosie Lee could be a wonderful compliment to our creative roster. And they were. For the next 4 years with me in the role and for many years after I moved to Portland.
What has come out of any relationship and collaborations?
Chop and I have stayed in touch over the years as I’ve been living and working in the US since 2004. We have a mutual respect for ideas and quality work as professionals, but when we chat on the phone it’s just a lovely friendship between two “normal”, passionate guys who love what they do. There’s a sort of open door to helping each other out.
Now I have my own agency I am eagerly learning from Chop on how to build a smart, creative, agile business that can stand the test of time.
What does being unorthodox mean to you in your work?
I don’t know about being unorthodox in my work. Maybe the one slightly unorthodox M.O. we had at Nike when I was there was the fact we a) never obsessed the competition or looked in the rear-view mirror and b) we never tested a piece of creative work. It’s all about confidence and trust. Nike hired amazing ad folks who knew the brand, knew what to do given prior experiences and Nike management trusted the team to keep raising the bar. Personally I loved the pressure of not wanting to be the Nike client when the standard of work started to slip :)
What beliefs have guided you through tough decisions?
A great brief is the only way to get great work. Spend real time and effort on it. Creatives will respect it and you.
Don’t try and boil the ocean - do a few things really well
Hire musketeers. Folks who love and are very good at what they do. But who do it with a joie de vivre, who are loyal to their team and help out in the trenches whatever the task.
What challenge in your field of work is often overlooked?
Post Saatchis and Nike where both companies have a good understanding and respect for marketing, the startup world I’ve lived in over the last 6 years has a different M.O.
In the life sciences industry, unsurprisingly, most companies are often run by scientists. There is a lack of education on what marketing is and how it can help. It means that as CMO of a life sciences company, there’s a lot of influencing and management of the process so very smart folks can understand your what, why and how. It is so refreshing though, when you present the first set of work, and the collective scientists heads all start nodding in unison and beaming smiles ensue. It’s the light bulb moment when they realize how much work goes into this stuff and how important it is.
How do you balance creativity with structure / order with chaos?
My early career at Saatchis and Nike shaped my love of advertising, design and creativity in general. But I credit Saatchis who taught us all the importance of having structure in the form of a very clear, well written and inspiring strategy and brief. I’m still to this day in awe of some of the great planners and creatives I’ve been fortunate to work with (shoutout to Tim Duffy, John Shaw, Matt Boffey - all geniuses and there are many more……)
What cultural shifts are you noticing in your field of work?
It’s easy to sit here and jump on the AI bandwagon but we just cannot ignore it. I’m certainly no expert but want to learn more as I think it will definitely help not hinder our industry.
I’m also hopefully (and this maybe wishful thinking) seeing a trend of swinging the pendulum back to the middle with regards to creating work that powers emotional connections for our consumers via big ideas and a vigilance for the craft of storytelling versus churning out the plethora of stuff (aka “content”) that can feel so vanilla, shallow and soulless.
If you could master any skill instantly, what would it be?
Toss-up between my 4 iron for a 200 yard fairway shot to the green and perfecting my mums cheesecake. That and learn a design skill on the Mac!
What’s one experience everyone should have at least once?
Pressing the bell at Nasdaq on the day your company goes public.
What has inspired you lately?
My mum - turned 90 this year and has had some health issues. But inspired by the words of Chumbawamba, “she gets knocked down but she gets up again…..”
Stanley Tuccis “Searching for Italy” book and TV series that combines my love for storytelling and food
Unai Emery and his incredible 2 transformative years at Villa
The creators and actors of Ted Lasso - a moment of sunshine during the dark days of Covid with a message that the world needs today more than ever
Some interesting artists I’ve been following and / or buying art from
What advice would you give to young people starting out in their career?
Be interested and interesting. Stay curious
Find a passion and lean into it in whatever way that fits your lifestyle
Be confident in yourself and don’t obsess what others think. There can be a lot of jealousy and BS in the corporate world. You do you and let karma deal with the rest.
Bonus Question from Wai: What brings you the most happiness in what you do?Collaborating with creative* people to turn a brief into an idea and seeing experts bring that to life. It could be a global Nike TV spot right down to the work Beakers & Chips just did for a startup called Novel Bio. Seeing that transformation is my happy place.
*creative can be any function in the process. A lot of brand folks, planners, PMs I’ve worked with are incredibly creative. Just in a different way than a traditional art director, designer or copywriter
Bonus Question
What question would you like us to ask the next person?
What idea did you approve or create that has had the quickest approval (and how long was that?)
True story - This question came from a LI thread I was in recently where creatives were talking about the tactical ad we did for Arsenal the season they went unbeaten. What W&K London developed was so clever, simple and unique. It took myself and my teammate, Dan Alder, all but 10 seconds to approve.
The other one for me was our second Run London campaign “I’ll do it if you do it” (20 secs).
How can people connect with you, get involved or take part in any of the projects you’ve highlighted above?
Certainly. Beakers & Chips is still very young but we’re always looking for freelance talent - designers (who don’t mind doing science and tech work), web developers, videographers, operations/PMs and finance folks.
LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/jack-gold-30ab988
Email: Jack@beakersandchips.com
Website: https://www.beakersandchips.com