Forsman & Bodenfors copywriter Martin Ringqvist got quite a bit of attention two years ago for being one of the top creatives on the “Epic Split” Volvo ad, which earned a cool 80 million-plus views and ultimately led 72andSunny to hire him as a group creative director last December.
He lasted about eight months in that role before leaving the California shop to move back to Sweden and reclaim his previous position at F&B.
Today, the Swedish magazine Resume ran a short interview in which Ringqvist explains why he didn’t stay in the States. It all seems to have happened pretty much exactly how our readers predicted: a quiet, work-focused guy didn’t quite take to managing people and dealing with clients.
From the interview (and these are Google’s versions of his lines, because Adweek sadly does not keep any Swedish translators on staff):
“When I left Forsman & Bodenfors we agreed that I would give this adventure a chance and take leave. We had a deal that I would be able to come back after I had evaluated the job…it feels natural to come back to R & B.”
That’s not a bad arrangement. He goes on to say that the CD role was not quite what he imagined and that American agencies are very different from their Swedish counterparts thanks, primarily, to that wonderful thing we call bureaucracy:
“It’s been a fantastic adventure and on a personal level, I have gained many friends for life. But I feel that I was too long away from the creative process and, ultimately, customers. I was too much boss and too little creator.
It looks different in the US especially in big firms with unwieldy organizations.”
Ringqvist is also a bit harsh when considering the work he oversaw while at 72andSunny, telling the interviewer that he wouldn’t put any of the campaigns produced during that period in his portfolio and noting that, “within a month” of his return, Forsman & Bodenfors had created a campaign for oat milk client Oatly that he’s “really proud of.”
You may remember last year’s “Wow No Cow,” which led the Swedish dairy lobby to sue the company for threatening its business model. That case was almost identical to the Unilever vs. vegan-mayo-maker Hampton Creek fight that continues to unfold here in the states.
Upstart company threatens well-established and arguably corrupt industry by creating a higher quality product. Industry strikes back to maintain its market leader status, fails completely, but continues grumbling anyway. Does that story sound familiar? And would you guess that the top seller of the fake “mayonnaise” is…Walmart?
Here’s one of the most recent Oatly ads, which debuted in August. We can relate.