IN THE DRAWER WITH MARC SIMONS

A casual chat with Giant Spoon co-founder Marc Simons, one of the most innovative minds in advertising.

“Do you mind if we grab coffee and talk instead? Can we, like, go out in the world?” Marc was chatting with his strategy team when I approached his corner office a few minutes before our interview. Sporting a crisp black tee and tapered jeans, his style is much like his vibe– smart, casual, and laid back. Naturally, I was more than happy to take a stroll in the LA sunshine with Giant Spoon’s co-founder. He led us to a cafe in the Petersen Museum, where we had a riveting chat over strawberry matchas made with oat milk and love.

I picked a booth in the back, explaining my preference for circular, community seating arrangements over a regular table with chairs. It wasn’t long after we sat down that we dove right into his day, his career, and his life outside of the office. He’s a co-founder and experiential marketing guru, but he’s also a dad with side hustles and cool interests (sad cowboy music, anyone?). When asked how he manages to do it all, he said he’s “running with a healthy amount of fear” daily– forging ahead despite feelings of worry and doubt.

What scares you?

MS: I’m scared that we’re gonna get left behind. If you’re not being innovative, somebody else is gonna come up and overtake you. If you get overtaken, there's a good chance that you’ll fall to the back of the pack. And then you’re done– that’s it.

Marc went on to share how he keeps himself in the know and avoids becoming a “dinosaur” by being an early adopter of new apps and having experts on his team show how they’re using AI in their daily work. At his age, he admits, it’s much harder to teach himself a new skill or learn a new platform. But he does it anyway and knows that force feeding himself the latest tech is the only way to stay in front of the trends.

Being innovative at Giant Spoon looks like keeping your ear to the streets and knowing what other agencies are doing– even smaller ones who are doing crazy, out-of-the-box stuff. What else would you say keeps your agency ahead of the curve?

MS: Being innately curious. My mom was telling me some story the other day about how I used to take apart toys [when i was a baby] ‘cause I was curious about what’s inside. What makes this, this? That innate curiosity is what drives everything– we look for that in everybody [we hire]. Then there’s the practice of asking “what if?” a lot. What if we did this for the first time ever? What if we tried that? Pushing the limits of what the brief is saying is your sandbox.

“The easy solve is to make an ad or to do anything that’s expected. What if we tore that down completely and approached this differently? Having that perspective when we’re looking at a business problem is a big one.” - MARC SIMONS

One of Giant Spoon’s claims to fame is its rogue (and sometimes unhinged) approach to experiential marketing. While other agencies may set up shop and hand out branded merch, Giant Spoon thinks about how it can leverage the unexpected to make the most noise for its clients.

Giant Spoon won Adweek's Experiential Agency of the Year award two years in a row. How would you explain experiential marketing to a 5-year old?

MS: Wow, that’s a great question. Imagine if you could walk into the movie that you love [Moana or Frozen]. That’s experiential marketing. You’re just building out the set for this movie, and we’re letting you live like you’re a character in the movie.

Wow, I LOVE the way you put that. That’s brilliant.

MS: Yeah. The revelation that Walt Disney had to create Disneyland and Disneyworld is a big, pivotal moment. You could probably trace a lot of what today’s experiential looks like to that idea. It’s just one big, ticketed experiential thing.

I’m not 5 years old, but the way Marc connected the dots between Disney amusement parks and experiential marketing blew my mind. He said that as people, our desire for play and fantasy never really leaves us as we get older, and that’s part of what makes experiential such an effective way for brands to engage with their audiences.

There are plenty of industry awards and KPIs that measure how great an agency’s work is. What makes an ad or activation successful in your eyes? 

MS: We gotta come up with an idea that gets a writer to pay attention and be like “that's cool, I’m gonna write about that.” If you become the thing that’s trending on Twitter that day, you did it. What idea’s gonna make a global news headline?

Next, we got into what helps Marc create his best work. To my surprise, Marc identifies as creative, but not *a* creative. “It's a different process you go through [as a creative]. I understand and appreciate the ‘I need to put my headphones in, mash this thing, and work it 10 different ways’ [approach]. I’ve never had to do that.” However, he finds that going for a drive after he’s been at it for hours gives his mind an opportunity to wander and not be so focused on solving the problem at hand.

I thought I was asking the questions when Marc flipped the script on me, asking “What about you? What do you wanna do?” This was so unexpected, but he was genuinely interested in my dreams and visions for my future. I shared with him some of my passion projects, and he stressed the importance of having interests and side hustles outside of our day jobs. To him, it’s an interest in sports, gaming, anime, or any other niche that allows creatives and strategists to have a fresh perspective on advertising– not reading every article on Ad Age or Adweek (though he highly recommends that, too).

Marc Simons continues to achieve many milestones throughout his career, such as landing a spot on Ad Age’s 40 Under 40 list and earning countless awards for Giant Spoon’s disruptive work. When he’s not running the most innovative agency in the world, he’s investing in emerging tech and using his experiential chops to get involved with a few restaurant franchises. Accolades aside, Marc is an example of what’s possible when you’re not afraid to stir shit up.

To keep up with Marc’s journey, follow him on LinkedIn!