Agency Spy

Thanks to everyone who voted in Agency Spy’s First Annual Sexiest Man In Advertising Competition. With 494 votes cast we do have a winner! But, first, we’d like to point out that the original posting received thousands of hits. Hmmm…. so we’re guessing that in this male dominated and mostly heterosexual business of ours, you fellows decided to skip out on the whole voting thing. Well, we got emails to that affect anyway. Whatevs. We had some fun, some laughs and we’re glad to see the we have a winner!

In ninth place is Selmat Datang Chen of W+K with 2% of the votes. In eighth place is Mauro Alencar of Publicis Modem (3%). Seventh is Juan Cabral of Fallon UK (4%) and sixth is Jose Molla, founder la comunidad in Miami, with 9%. Coming in at number five is Nick Law, CCO of R/GA, with 10% of the vote. Fourth is Feh Tarty, an AD at Goodby, (12%). Third place goes to David Droga of Drgoa5 (13%) and the runner-up is Ajaz Ahmed from AKQA (20%).

And with 28% of the vote, thewinner is…. Geoff Edwards SVP of the SF TAG Unit at McCann Erickson!!!

Everyone knows how much we dislike McCann Erickson. However, the agency’s one shining star is certainly their Tag units where Geoff is an SVP and a group creative director at the SF branch.

Geoff is 38 and a Detroit native. He started out as an intern at Chiat/Day in New York 14 years ago and helped Spike Lee launch Spike DDB in 1996 (sweet!). Edwards pulled stints at Element 79 Partners and, prior to that, Interpublic Group’s Foote, Cone & Belding, as well. He then went on to work at TBWA/C/D SF where he was paired with his longtime partner, Scott Duchon, who was once named GQ’s Man of the Month. Chuck McBride once said of the team that “I find them to be incredibly tenacious. A lot of people get worn down by negative process. They take the adversity and use it to their benefit. They come out heroes that way.”

Having worked on Playstation and Adidas might have helped Edwards co-create/manage that wonderful, award winning “Gears Of War” spot this past year. Check out his Clio stats here and his Cannes credits here. For Art Director’s club shout outs, see here. Creativity Online recently held a Q&A with our sexiest man where he had this response to the question, what’s the process like becoming leaders [rather than strict creatives]?

“Honestly, I think it’s an evolutionary process. You don’t learn to be a leader, it’s based on past experiences, on people who have influenced you and influenced your career. A huge influence on me is Bob Scarpelli. He’s the (film and press) jury chair this year and I can’t wait to see him. When I was at DDB/Chicago, I learned a lot from him. There’s this one quote that I carry around that he always said, and that’s “All good ideas find a home.” It’s so true because a lot of ideas aren’t bought, but you hold on to those thoughts and at some point there will be an opportunity. For instance, the song we put on the Gears of War spot, that’s a song Scott had always kind of kept with him, and then this spot came out and was a perfect opportunity. So I think leadership is about grabbing the positive experiences we’ve had in this industry and galvanizing them, and incorporating them into your personal style. It starts from the core. The core of it are talented teams. They’re the young people. They’re shaping the culture of the industry. They’re coming up with the ideas. They’re charged with that and it’s up to Scott and myself to recognize the good ones and direct them, not impose too much of your will.”

It’s the “sexiest man” season, where major publications are choosing the hottest of the hot. Why is it that our attractive, smart, successful men of advertising never make the list? So, think how peeved we were to see that Salon.com has selected 36-year old Jon Hamm who plays Don Draper on Bravo’s Mad Men. So close and yet, so very far.

Real world advertising guys do it better. Trust.

So…. Welcome to the First Annual Sexiest Man In Advertising Awards! (applause) Our contenders are a mash-up of bigwigs and ADs, interactive designers, as well as Clio winners. We picked these fellows based on their quality of work and general well… hotness. The latter qualification was determined by a group of ten ladies in advertising to whom we owe a great deal of thanks.

Take a look at the guys below and VOTE HERE! Polls close Monday at 5 pm.

David Droga of Droga5 - More info
Mauro Alencar from Publicis Modem - More info
Juan Cabral from Fallon UK - More info
Ajaz Ahmed, co-founder and chairman of interactive agency AKQA - More info
Selmat Datang Chean, Interactive Designer, Wieden + Kennedy - More info
Geoff Edwards, ECD of Tag at McCann San Franciso - More info
Nick Law, Chief Creative Officer, R/GA - More info
Jose Molla, founder la comunidad in Miami - More info
Feh Tarty, AD at Goodby, Silverstein - More info

VOTE HERE!