We got him!

We got Steve Dunn. How cool is that? There’s something kinda cool about being a chairman. You can do things.You can call people. You can even call legends like Steve Dunn!

You take a breath or two before you make such a call. You steady yourself, think over what you’re going to say then “bam”.

Nameless Secretary: “Good afternoon, J. WalterThomson.”

Me: “Hello, I’m looking for Steve Dunn.”
Nameless Secretary: “Steve Dunn. Just a moment.”

sfx: ring ring

Steve Dunn: “ello?”

Me: “Hey man, um, ah, my name is Rob and I’m the chairman of this year’s creative show in Singapore. I’ve been meaning to call you for so long. I’m putting a jury together, and, ah can you, want to come to Singapore and judge our show?”

(First pause.)

Steve Dunn: “I’d love to, when is it?”

Me: “Judging is from 9 October to 12 October.”

Steve Dunn: “Okay, sounds good.”

Me: “Hey, are you really Steve Dunn?”

Steve Dunn: “Yes, I am.”

Rob: “Cool. Jesus, I'm talking to Steve Dunn.”

(Awkward Pause)

Me: “I’m a huge fan man. Really love your stuff. I’ve been carting it around with me for years. I’ve memorized the first 1,000 words of the “THEN WE WENT BACK FOR THEIR SHOES” ad.

Steve Dunn: (Laughs) “Thank you, but I bet those ads have a lot of cobwebs on them by now I’m sure.”
Me: “I can’t believe it, I’m talking to Steve Dunn.”

Steve Dunn: “So what happens next?”

Me: “I don’t know, I will get the 4As, that’s the show’s organizer, to write you an email today with all the details about the flights, dates and hotels. It’s a good time of year to come out. I’d say you take another week and visit Bali or Malaysia while you’re out here. I’ll send you some information.”

Steve Dunn: “Sounds good.”

Me: “This is great man, see you soon, thank you so much?”

Steve Dunn: “Okay, see you Rob, goodbye.”

Me: “Bye.”

It’s just like that! More or less. It would be worse if I was ringing him and saying, “Hey man, can you check out my book…”

I like the bit I read about him in the Art Director’s Book from D&AD. He has a cool line in there. I think he says something like “I am proud to say that I’ve won a lot of awards and even prouder to say I haven’t kept any of them.”

This is from a guy who has some serious medal. At last count it was something like 6 Silver D&AD Pencils, over 100 entries in the D&AD annual and 8 One Show Golds!

How cool is that? I’d be wearing those things around my neck if I had that kind of hardware. Game Over man...Game Over...

If you don't have a copy of The Art Director's Book or The Copy Book please get one. Essential reading for anybody who cares about advertising.

(And will the intern who stole my first edition Copy Book kindly send it back? No questions asked of course. It was last seen in the agency formerly known as FCB.)

So the good news is that we now have Steve Dunn on our jury. As for the bad news, with Steve on the jury I can’t get Thomas Yang from JWT Singapore. Thomas in my opinion is one of the best art directors in town.

He's really one of the few guys who still manages to surprise us with something fresh year after year. You almost never seem him coming either, then next thing you know he’s kicking your ass again with some new shit.

He was also one of the talents behind JWT’s Golden Gong win last year.

Anyway, with Steve Dunn on our jury, it’s not so good to have Thomas Yang on our jury too. Reason is, if they both were on the jury then two of them would have to abstain from voting for any JWT work.

This somehow wouldn’t be fair to the JWT guys. It’s best to have an even spread. Some agencies will be left out for sure, but I think we will have a pretty well-balanced jury in the end.

Sorry about that Thomas. Will try and make it up to you somehow.