When Kirk Souder founded Ground Zero seven years ago along with Court Crandall and Jim Smith, he had in mind a nontraditional agency: Bur eaucracy would be minimal; clients would be people the staff wanted to share a beer with at the end of the day. The trio’s approach worked: The Marina del Rey, Calif., shop now boasts over $100 million in billings and an international creative reputation for its work for clients including ESPN and Partnership for a Drug-Free America. This year, however, has seen layoffs and salary cutbacks, and now Souder, 39, is set to leave for reasons that are, of course, nontraditional. An art director often praised as one of the top West Coast creatives, Souder has long wanted to focus instead on his role in another trio, his family (he and his wife, Patti, have a son, McKinley, who is almost 2).
adweek: How difficult was the decision to leave Ground Zero?
souder: It was at the same time the hardest decision of my life and the easiest. Hard because I truly love this place. Hard because I truly believe that we are the best agency in America right now and doing the smartest work. Hard because I truly regard these people as my family and tribe. Easy because when I look into my son’s eyes and know that I’m about to get to spend some real time looking into them and his mother’s, any alternative pales in comparison.
Adweek: When you started Ground Zero, you said you wanted to “do advertising that changed the marketplace.” Have you achieved that goal?
souder: Whenever you swing as hard as we do, you have some misses, but we’ve managed to do some amazing things—whether it be a fictitious voyeur Web site called Kathi Cam to promote ESPN.com, or making actual TV programming and inventing a new sport called all-surface running to sell shoes, or seeing Larry King play four of our Michael Jordan spots in prime time because of how newsworthy they were, or enlisting people like G. Gordon Liddy and James Car ville to get the president to fly cross-country to attend a women’s soccer game, thereby increasing viewership exponentially. Everything we do usually changes how people think they can sell something.
Adweek: How does the shop compare with what you had envisioned?
souder: If, seven years ago, I could have traveled in time and gotten a glimpse of this amazing space, these amazing people and these amazing brands, I wouldn’t have believed it. We’re the eighteenth largest agency in Southern California, and yet this year we took almost half the total awards given out at the Beldings competition. Included in those spoils were the Best of Show, Best Art Direction and Best Copywriting—all for separate brands. I think that’s an amazing accomplishment. Especially when you consider the other creative dynasties in this pool like Chiat, Deutsch and BBDO, and the difference in the amount of work that goes through them compared to us.
Adweek: What’s the future of smaller shops like Ground Zero?
souder: The economic downturn has closed a lot of places. Soon what will be left will be smart and nimble independents like Ground Zero and big conglomerates that are too fat to die. While this is going on, though, the same tough times will make a lot of big brands re-evaluate the product they’ve been getting from the big guys. When that happens, the size of their agency won’t be important to them, but smart and powerful ideas will be. That’s when the smart and nimble start to become too fat to die.
Adweek: Are there any creative endeavors you plan to pursue?
souder: I do a monthly club called Sun Day with two other people at Ground Zero that allows me to share my love of house/electronica music. And I plan on getting some writing out of my system as well.
Adweek: What do you consider to be your best work?
souder: It wouldn’t be a piece of advertising. It would be the community and web of relationships that has happened as a result of three guys shaking hands at a Venice Beach cafe seven years ago and agreeing to try something new. It amazes me to think about the friendships, love affairs, businesses, marriages and even babies that have come into being as a result of this proliferating experiment called Ground Zero. Our best work is the personal evolution and actualization that I see go on here. What else is there, really?
Zero Hour
