There’s a new VP and creative director at Ayzenberg. We are pleased and excited to have Matt Bretz on board. Matt will be working closely with the [a] team on strategy, creative, digital, social, original content and paid media. Whew.
Matt comes to us from his former post of seven years as executive creative director at Ant Farm with work ranging from writing, directing and producing television ads, trailers and more for an array of clients like Disney, YouTube and Xbox. You may have seen his launch advertising work for Xbox’s Kinect Sports Rivals, ‘Deadliest Catch’ on the Discover Channel and ‘Fallout 3.’
We drilled Matt on his stance on Facebook, whether he prefers coffee or tea and just how excited he is to join us. You may just spot him around at Game Marketing Summit this week, too.
What is the most exciting thing to you about joining the ‘berg?
What’s most exciting to me about joining Ayzenberg is the visionary leadership and robust infrastructure. Eric Ayzenberg has always stood out to me as someone who can see into the future of advertising and the partners he has assembled are equally savvy. I’m really thrilled about teaming with Gary Goodman on creating video. Personality-wise, we’re discovering that we are kind of the same guy but our taste in games and strengths as storytellers are more complementary. Wonder Twin powers activate! With Stu Pope at the helm of the design team we’re being captained in the print and digital space by a true ad man in the best sense of the term. He has the classical conceptual training to tap into those basic human wants that drive consumption and he’s stayed at the leading edge of digital innovation, so he can make memes like a Mad Man. I’ve been crossing paths with Chris Younger at trade events for years and his poise and wisdom has always astounded me. For me, great creative is important — but it’s meaningless without even greater customer service. Chris has put together a client’s dream team of account managers.
To have Vincent Juarez offering media buying that is developed in synch with creative is just genius– I don’t know why every agency doesn’t do it, but they don’t. Add Rebecca Markarian’s leading edge social marketing to the mix and there is just nothing else like Ayzenberg in the landscape right now. We are a nimble, economical and incredibly creative team that can help any client find their market and tell their story across the perfect array of media to sell product and add value to the lives of their fans. That’s what’s most exciting to me.
Are you a big gamer? What are you into right now?
I am a big gamer. For more than a decade now I’ve been playing every game I advertise. Of course, because I need to play them all, and still have time to play with my 11 year old daughter— as well as dance with my beautiful wife — I don’t get to complete a lot of them. So perhaps a survey of the ones I have completed is a good sign of what kind of gamer I am. I’ve played all the console releases of Fable top to bottom. Love ’em. Same deal with Alan Wake. Loves me some Remedy Games. Limbo— amazing! So proud to have beaten it. And right now I am addicted to the Telltale Games. I’ve played every chapter of Walking Dead and Wolf Among Us. Let this be a heads up to publishers— if you want dads to play your games, deliver them in chapters that we can play after hours Scotch in hand without staying up all night.
What is your stance on Facebook?
I love Facebook. I use it essentially as a templatized blog for friends and family. I’m very judicious about whom I accept as friends. I have to really know you or want to know you. Once we’re friends, I assume that we want to know what’s up in each other’s lives and I post regularly. I use it as a tool to share what I care about… what I’m thinking about… even just great deals if they pass under my nose. I set my news feed for chronological and just skim it all the time. I don’t get worked up about friends who use it for different types of postings— I just skim over and I hope people do the same for me. I also use Twitter regularly (@bretznikov) but this is a more public and professional forum to me. And my tweets tend to have clearer calls to action– “you should check this out or go here… see this.” That kind of thing.
Coffee or tea Netflix or Hulu? Okay, that’s two questions in one…
Coffee and Netflix for me. I grew up a coffee drinker. I could still drink a pot in bed at night with a good book and fall asleep when I’m done. I’m a big documentary fan. So I’ve gravitated to Netflix because they seem to have devoted more attention to aggregating indie movie content including— but not of course limited to, docs. Oh, and yes, I got hooked on House of Cards.
What’s on your hidden Spotify playlist?
Well first of all, I’m Pandora. I have Spotify. And I will use it when I’m in search of a specific artist. But generally, I’m looking for music discovery. And I love Pandora’s algorithm. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve found great music new and old by starting a playlist with one artist and having Pandora push me another. I don’t hide much about myself so I’ll just tell you — there’s a ‘Naughty By Nature’ channel there.
