Of money
Advertising and media
Story time: The successful advertising agency you do not know
Behind the enigmatic name "Citimedia" is a pair of exceptional advertisers: they did not grow out of the industry, there were no budgeters, copywriters or art directors, and yet, there are quite a few advertisers who use them to put a story into 30 seconds
Tags
advertising
TV
the stock exchange
Adi Ashkenazi
Zofar Abdia
Lior Ashkenazi
Advertising agency
Talia Levin
Saturday, 03 July 2021, 09:05 Updated: 09:25
Share on Facebook
Share on WhatsApp
Share on general
Share on general
Share on Twitter
Share on Email
0 comments
You probably know this duo, Daniel Wiener and Lior Sasson - even if you have never met.
Simply because they are responsible for some of the campaigns you have seen recently on TV, such as the one with Lior Ashkenazi (or the previous one, with the Jewish band) for "Quick", or the one that promoted the stock market calculator, starring Adi Ashkenazi and Zofar Abdia (the original, not the one played by Eli Finish) , Or you hummed the adaptation of the Hebrew classic with you: "It happens" (you have to go and go) in front of the campaign for weshoes, or maybe you actually came across them in the campaign for Moroccanville.
Weiner and Sasson have been in the advertising market for 11 years, but in the last two years they seem to be just exploding, certainly when it comes to a small body in the Israeli advertising landscape, not in a long-standing office and reputation, but in those who started small, almost underground, network videos. She met the spirit of the time - and they did not even know they were like that.
More on Walla!
NEWS
Particularly difficult: Am I a player for the Swedish national team or a product at IKEA?
To the full article
Right: Daniel Wiener and Lior Sasson.
In the end, story-telling is the whole story ... (Photo: Tal Shahar)
"We will try to do something for ourselves"
The two first met in the corridors of MSN Israel, when it was still considered a leading content site in Israel. What started as chatter on smoking cessation, brought the two closer. Wiener "Even after I moved to The Marker's Commercial Department, I met Lior there, who was on the content - and beyond successful joint projects, we had a good personal connection, until I finally suggested to him that we might try to do something for ourselves with it."
Thus they set out on an independent journey, although the nature of this was still not entirely clear to them. In 2010 Facebook was still an innovative platform that was known (relatively) to only a few, but winds of change were already beginning to blow in the content industry and began to blow above the water. "We realized the direction is digital," Weiner says.
To their delight, there was also someone who was willing to give them the chance: "The big customer who gave us the stage was the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality, which launched a digital department at the same time.
We worked with them for several years, which was a kind of school for us in the world of advertising and the digital world.
We made marketing moves and campaigns offline and that's how we grew. "
What is" we grew up "you ask? At first they were just both and today their Tel Aviv office located" five minutes from Rothschild "already has 15 employees. Still a" boutique "compared to huge offices in the field, But already a body that produces its own vibe.
Adi Ashkenazi and Zofar Abdia in a campaign to calculate the stock market.
Abdia was the gimmick, but Ashkenazi was the message: a woman as an expert in the capital market (Photo: PR)
No school, no paradigm
When did you realize that you are not just a digital agency but an advertising agency?
Wiener: "Four years ago we realized we were an office that looked a little more holistically at this thing called a customer. It's not just digital or just social, but a process that includes branding, studio, media and strategy."
Sasson: "Restobar Social profession is very unique. I studied English literature, had come from the press and Hstoritling. It took me a long time to understand format and refine it, to be precise it. Understand how to tell a story on this platform, understand that each platform has a story of its own.
Eventually , The fact that we did not come from methodical advertising was perhaps a disadvantage in the beginning, but we filled a lot of gaps in the field.I think what we do today with customers, and what characterizes our work is that we go deep into the story and manage to bring it out more authentic and interesting. A paradigm because we did not study in any school. "
Lior Ashkenazi in the Quick campaign.
The same refrigerator with such a different approach ... (Photo: Ohad Romano)
A spaceship named Passion
One of the campaigns that caused the ministry's turning point was the "Genesis" spaceship campaign on its journey to the moon.
Wiener: "This is a campaign that changed us as an office, both because of the strengths and also because of the exposure. We conducted CIAs here that talked to NASA and Europe. We were everywhere and there was an explosion of this thing."
Sasson: "It was the moment when we realized the power and strength and ability to tell a complex and interesting story, and connect to everything that happened there and that was the main turning point where we became an office of greats."
We have seen in our generation the revolution of the internet, social networks both the press has changed and so has advertising
Lior: "And everyone survived in the end, because in 2010 when we set up the business there was one direction that said - those who are not digital do not exist. It seemed like everything was going to collapse around. There was a very digital orientation at first and everything went there. But digital both in audience exposure and platform. Of telling a story is limited.After the swing there was a step back.I think by the way that television today is in the best condition it has ever been, in terms of advertising, in terms of advertising volume, in terms of ability to reach
people.The print is also alive and billboards, because in the end a good story has Some angles, and some platforms and some media. Doing amazing things in digital, but digital requires attention, it also takes a lot of courage. There's crazy competition for information from everywhere, from groups, you can always put more money but that does not mean your story goes better, So you have to be specific. "
Wiener gives a concrete example: Five years ago I sat down with one of our clients in a meeting that checked when there are more downloads of the app.
And as an arrogant digital man I said for sure in digital, but we found out that most of the downloads were actually in the TV peaks.
There my perception changed.
I understood that digital is important, but part of a holistic approach is even more important, because in Israel television and online advertising are also very important layers. "
generation gap
TV no more conservative?
Sasson: "What we did with Quick and the Jews, for example, created talk and interest, and that's something we could only do there. The campaign with the 'nightmare', too, the thought was okay, I understand what everyone else is doing but I want to try to do it a little differently. Time and buying a minute and a half is not something you usually do. There are no such time slots. It's a Super Bowl, and it's one of the campaigns that is our fingerprint. The same goes for the stock market campaign with Adi Ashkenazi, putting a woman in the front. This is something that changes dialog. "
In your office are also working very young. This is not a generation accustomed to move faster, maybe less effort?
Sasson:" Half the staff here found us over four years, which is very rare in central Tel Aviv these ages. I raised children here who also got up and left and that's fine, they come for two years, learn and want to progress and develop. I remember myself at their age. "90% of the people said goodbye here, they should be released forever."
Wiener: "I no longer know if this is the generation or we have grown up. Human beings are human beings. Whoever comes in advance with education and work ethic, he will work hard and it is not a generational matter."
We are now telling a success story. But were there also difficulties along the way?
Wiener: "Lior is the tormented creative, I as someone on the business have always been optimistic and looked at our place as a way. As long as the graph was up - even if only in a moderate up I knew we were in the right direction. And today when I look back and 11 years is a long time, I am happy and proud every day of the bumps, the difficulties, the failures, all the roads led him to this place.
We are not people who came out of advertising agencies and opened an office and brought in clients, we started from scratch. And I am proud of it, from age 14 to work hard, and to this day. Until late, we stay with them.
Sasson: "We were always on the move and always felt we were moving towards something, there was difficulty and there were frustrations and as a creative person I did not always feel I was saying what I wanted, even though I have the abilities, I had something to say, I wanted to do things but had to gain customer trust You also had to get to the point where you get to the room and they listen to you. We
also always had each other and at the base of all this we are very good friends. We had 3-4 crises and in the end you sit with your friend. "Once I lifted once he lifted, we always felt we were doing something right."
The full interview is published in Maariv's Business Supplement
Share on Facebook
Share on WhatsApp
Share on general
Share on general
Share on Twitter
Share on Email
0 comments
