Arts & Entertainment, Business, Science & Tech
Who We Are & How We Got Here
Lesson time 08:28 min
Jeff and Rich dive deeper into their personal stories and the influences that shaped them. They break down their first project together: an award-winning (and hilarious) campaign for the Oakland A’s.
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Topics include: Billy Ball
Teach Advertising and Creativity
Advertising icons Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein teach you how to break rules, change minds, and create the best work of your life.
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[MUSIC PLAYING] RICH SILVERSTEIN: I must tell you that Jeff and I, neither one wanted to be in advertising. We started out totally different. We were not going into advertising. - I mean, I fell into it because I came to California and I couldn't find a job. How did you start? I never heard this. - Well, I thought advertising was the evil empire. There's no question when you're a designer that you were going to touch that area. And there's no such thing as advertising schools then. None. You just-- I don't know. You just fell into it. [MUSIC PLAYING] - Who am I? Well, I always think it's interesting to kind of explore where people come from and why they ended up the way they are. And in my case, I think I'm a little bit of a combination of my mother, who was a painter, and my father, who was a business person. - Who is Rich Silverstein? Oh, my god. That's a tough one. I always like to tell people that I'm dyslexic. But I didn't know I was dyslexic. I was just confused, just like everything's jumbled, and I didn't know. But I had this amazing photographic memory of imagery. Like, I mean, I just see shapes. I see typography as voices, you know? It's like that movie, "I see dead people." I see type and I see spaces. And it's just-- it's a gift. You use it. - I went to Harvard. I was an English major. Didn't have-- people think that doesn't have anything to do with this, but it actually did. I mean, I love having people come here that have a general education, that kind of know who Shakespeare is, you know? It's not a bad thing. It's a good thing to know more about life rather than less. - I went to Parsons School of Design. If a student wants to learn something, you go to the most chaotic place to go to that's really, you know, vibrant. School was really New York City. That's very important. Your environment, use it. - I worked in Boston as a reporter for a suburban paper for a couple of years. And then my wife was from California. And I moved out here because she didn't like living in New England very much. [MUSIC PLAYING] So we drove across the country literally in a Volkswagen bus, parked it in a campground, came into town every day, and interviewed at places until finally we got jobs. RICH SILVERSTEIN: This company couldn't have been started without San Francisco. There was just something about the air here, the liberalness, the openness, the "hey, we can try anything" spirit of San Francisco. And it was Jack Kerouac. It was "Rolling Stone." It's Grateful Dead. It's rock and roll. And I think Jeff was drawn here and I was drawn here. So I got a job at "Rolling Stone," not knowing anything about rock and roll music. But I cared about design and I cared about what the newspaper/magazine looked like. My claim to fame at "Rolling Stone" is making a center spread with Annie Leibovitz's shot, David Cassidy naked. And I cropped it, and I kept too much pubic hair in, and Jan kind of yelled at me. It's ...
About the Instructor
As the minds behind the “got milk?” campaign, the Budweiser lizards, and countless other ads that have permeated pop culture, Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein never stop reimagining the possibilities of advertising. Now they’re sharing how they make the beautiful and edgy work that’s seen by millions. Learn how to come up with great ideas, tell funny and compelling stories, and dazzle at your next pitch or presentation.
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Jeff Goodby & Rich Silverstein
Advertising icons Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein teach you how to break rules, change minds, and create the best work of your life.
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