Jeffrey Benjamin
Jeff Benjamin (January 22, 1975 – present) is the Executive Creative Director of Interactive at Crispin Porter + Bogusky, a Miami- and Boulder-based advertising agency and member of publicly-traded MDC Partners. Benjamin, most recognized for his interactive work for such clients as Burger King, Volkswagen, BMW Mini, Virgin Atlantic, Method Soap, Sirius Satellite Radio and IKEA, is also on the board of directors for the One Club. In 2007 Benjamin was an interactive category judge for the Addy Awards.
Career
Early career
Shortly after withdrawing from the University of Connecticut where he majored in Political Science, Jeff Benjamin started out at Connecticut-based interactive agency Modem Media in 1996 performing GIF banner optimization. “I don’t entirely know why they hired me… but it was at a time when people were desperately needed,” says Benjamin.
The Goodby Years
Three years later, Benjamin was tapped by San Francisco agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners to direct interactive for clients Hewlett-Packard, Saturn and Goodyear. It was at Goodby that Benjamin’s philosophies began to solidify. Regarding his work with Hewlett-Packard: “Early on we had decided it wasn't enough to just do things that no one had ever done before -- we wanted our site and advertising to defy what people thought was possible in this medium.”
The Modern Era
In 2003, Benjamin became Interactive Creative Director for CP+B and within a year had won Best of Show at the One Show, the Grand Clio, and the Grand Prix at Cannes. Jeff Benjamin has won numerous industry awards since, though his influence extends beyond advertising by way of his interactive work. Such viral successes as Subservient Chicken for Burger King have spawned satire, homage and entire internet memes.
Notable Campaigns
Subservient Chicken
A viral marketing website, television and print campaign with a one-time pay-per-view program to promote Burger King’s TenderCrisp chicken sandwich. Visitors to the website were invited to type in commands and watch an actor dressed in a chicken costume obey in what appeared to be a live webcam show. The campaign became one of the most famous viral marketing campaigns ever.
ComeClean.com
Winner of the 2005 Cyber Lion at Cannes, this website promoting Method Soap offered users the opportunity to enter a confession and watch as a pair of hands washed it away.
Simpsonize Me
Promoting both Burger King and the release of The Simpsons Movie, this website invited users to upload a photo of themselves and receive a portrait animated in the style of The Simpsons.
Quotes
On Viral
- “For us, viral means a great ad. Something that someone would talk about, tell their friends about, send to them. TV spots are viral, print ads are viral, internet ads are viral when they’re great.”
On Small Budgets
- “Use those constraints to be even more creative.”
On Technology
- “Technology will reach its height when you don’t even know it’s there.”
On Subservient Chicken
- “The costume probably cost more than the website cost.”
- “Originally it was going to have sound, but we were laughing so hard in the background that we had to remove the sound.”