3 things Mischief’s Greg Hahn has learned since going indie
Following a famed career at BBDO, Greg Hahn decided to hang out his own shingle this summer when he formed Mischief@No Fixed Address. A litany of account wins and noteworthy work soon followed, including recent highlights such as quirky work for Capri Sun, a banned deep fake election ad and a saucy OkCupid ’get out the vote’ campaign. The agency’s latest work is for Oura Ring, which was the first piece of business Hahn won as co-founder and chief creative officer. Here, Hahn tells The Drum’s Kenneth Hein about the biggest lessons he’s learned these past few months...
Hahn says the correct number is very important when making lists.
1. In the right context, your weaknesses can be your strengths
“In a big holding company agency, you’re surrounded by a lot of alphas. Strong ’masters of the universe’ when the ’universe’ is a conference room. I never felt completely comfortable competing for oxygen in those situations. I simply can’t match that style.
“In this new world we’re all living in, there’s a refreshing drop of pretense. We’ve been able to make stronger connections with our clients, who feel more like partners, by just relating on a human level and speaking with passion and authenticity, minus any rehearsed robotics. One thing we often get asked is ’how the hell did you sell that?’ The simple answer is, we didn’t sell it. We talked about it.“
2. Grow your network
“That sounds gross to even say, I know. The whole idea of ’network’ as a verb was repellent to me as a young creative. I just preferred to keep my head down and do the work. Truth is though, relationships matter. So much of our new business and interest has come from people one of us at Mischief knew or are two degrees separated from. I’m not really talking about in a transactional sense of ’meet people because they can do something for you’. It’s just about being good to those around you and being someone people want to work with. This business gets a bad rap for being cutthroat, but it actually can be quite the opposite. You’d be surprised how many people will have your back when you need them.“
3. If you’re going to make a list, have at least three points...