The best way to succeed in advertising, says Robert Rasmussen, newly named ecd innovation at Bartle Bogle Hegarty, New York, is to never get too comfortable. He learned this, unfortunately, during a performance review.
The agency was Wieden + Kennedy, which Rasmussen had joined as a senior designer in 1994 (and was subsequently promoted to art director). Waiting for Hal Curtis, then-cd on Nike, Rasmussen proudly spread his work out. With a couple of spots and 25 or so print ads under his belt, he says he was expecting some positive feedback.
"He looked at my stuff and said, 'I never want to come into a review and see this again.' I was flabbergasted," recalls the 40-year-old, who also counts Wieden co-founder David Kennedy and former Wieden cds Gary Koepke and Chuck McBride as early mentors. "He said, 'You're completely comfortable with everything you're doing. You're not pushing yourself to evolve.'''
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