“My philosophy is not to be precious about [the title]. Even if I’ve gotten this title, I’ve also gotten the responsibility to do right by the brand, and I’ll do whatever it takes,” Lal said.
During his decade-long tenure with Camp+King, Lal worked on notable campaigns including the introduction of Shaquille O’Neal as Papa John’s ambassador and revamping the Energizer Bunny mascot. Lal recalled during the interview that following his creative work, Papa John’s stock price increased by 50%.
Both Kallman and Lal see a changing trajectory in the ad industry. “Advertising over the past years has become really serious,” Kallman said, “it’s become cause-oriented, and the pandemic didn’t help either. There’s a really solemn tone in a lot of [ad] work. One kind of thing we’d love to do is [create] broadly appealing, funny work, the kind of commercial that people like to talk about and share. With the pandemic coming to an end, it’s okay to do fun work again.”
The duo also maintained that current day marketers need to respect their roots. “If you look at the DNA of a brand,” Kallman said, “[companies should try] to bring it back in a modern way, instead of trying to reinvent themselves. They should be themselves and bring back everything people loved about them and what made them great to begin with.”
Lal cited Energizer as an example. “The last 15 years,” he said the Energizer Bunny, “had been relegated to a button at the end of a spot. It’s become more like a logo and mascot, instead of a disrupter, which was its original role.” The trick with the brand mascot was to “bring back its glory but make it live in the modern world and the pop culture.”
