Jason Stone of David Reviews catches up with Adam&EveDDB co-founder Ben Priest to discuss parental approval, John Hegarty's enduring influence and the ads he would want with him if he was secluded on a desert island.
Adam&EveDDB’s Ben Priest exhibits charming humility as he asks one of the receptionists at his agency whether there’s a meeting room available for our conversation. He looks perfectly prepared to accept that there might not be and seems almost surprised to learn that one is vacant and that it’s okay for us to use it.
When we find the appointed venue, a junior colleague is using it to make a private call on her mobile phone. Priest couldn’t be more apologetic about displacing her and asks a couple of times whether she minds surrendering the room. He behaves more like a well-behaved visitor than one of the organisation’s most senior figures and it’s positively disarming.
It’s perhaps unsurprising that he’s still trying to figure out where he is. The success of the company Priest co founded in 2008 has been meteoric and he’s literally been on unfamiliar ground since moving into DDB’s Paddington headquarters after Adam&Eve became part of the Omnicom network earlier this year.
The complex corporate move that led to the creation of Adam&EveDDB completed a circle for the company’s creative director. For many years his father was ‘the client’ at Volkswagen and since the car manufacturer has had a famously long and fruitful relationship with DDB, Ben Priest is now responsible for its advertising in the UK.
Priest says his dad is “still the toughest person to show work to” and it’s clear that the eternal quest for paternal approval is made even more complicated when your father is scarily well qualified to judge your creative output.