Mark Valentine is a name that people long associated with Promax, and now GEMA, know well. He and marketing executive Dan Bragg hosted Promax’s Hot Spot Showcase for years, presenting the industry’s best work in a carefully cultivated format.
He’s also a true industry veteran, having worked with the inimitable Lee Hunt before going on to co-found New York City-based creative agency Anatomy Media with Gabriella Mirabelli in 2000. He has been overseeing marketing campaigns and trailers for Ultrabland for the past six years. With UItrabland ending its run, Valentine has started a new chapter, joining Northern Lights Agency as executive creative director.
Valentine chatted with Spotlight about what he’s learned over his three decades in the industry, how his leadership has evolved over the years, and why design is as important to process as it is to creativity.
Spotlight: You’ve been in this business a long time. What led you to Northern Lights Agency?
Mark Valentine, executive creative director, Northern Lights Agency: Northern Lights is a trusted creative partner for many brands. I admire how David Gioiella and Mark Littman have built a family of creative companies. Each is successful on their own. And together, they’re able to team up and produce exceptional work from start to finish.
Spotlight: Why do you think this is the right place for you at this point in your career?
Valentine: I love that Northern Lights is looking towards the future. They’re embracing new tools and exploring new ways of connecting with consumers and viewers. Anything is possible when you have such a deep range of creative resources ready to respond to the needs of every project that comes through the door.
I'll be working with all the companies that are part of the Northern Lights family – branding and design company Mr Wonderful, content creation studio Bodega, audio boutique SuperExploder and entertainment marketing agency Northern Lights Agency – to provide whatever the project might need. I'm excited because they have the depth to be able to support clients in different ways, including 360 creative, design, live-action and sound. It's exciting to be able to offer those capabilities to clients.
Spotlight: You founded Anatomy Media with Gabriella Mirabelli, in 2000. What led you guys to found an agency?
Valentine: Like now, that was a time when everything was changing. Large post houses were closing. Established agencies were losing clients to smaller, more nimble creative shops. Gabriella and I realized we could punch above our weight and compete with larger companies if we embraced new technology and kept it simple. We bought a few Macs, rented a small office near Times Square, and off we went.
Spotlight: Do you feel like you're particularly suited to thinking about creative strategy or is that a skill that you've learned along the way?
Valentine: The years I spent with Lee Hunt were very formative because he has worked strategically with so many brands and helped launch and relaunch so many of them. I learned how he worked with clients to articulate their strategy and brand messaging. This foundation is critical and informs every creative choice you make.
Spotlight: How do you maintain that strategy in an environment where campaigns might need to change halfway through?
Valentine: These days, it's a winding road, because you may start one place and end up in another because of new developments along the way. It can be very fluid. Today, marketers can and should be having a two-way conversation with consumers. It’s something that spontaneously happens, and you need to be ready to react to it.
Media brands aren’t just competing with other media brands. We’re all competing for time.
Spotlight: You’ve been a creative leader for your entire career. What are some skills and talents that you think are necessary to be an effective leader of creative teams?
Valentine: When you’re an effective team leader, your team isn’t working for you. You’re working for them. You’re supporting them and helping them be the best they can be. Also, casting is important. Matching the right person with the right job is a key for success. This was something I learned over time. Working in a creative environment can be challenging, because you need a strong point of view. But if you're working in a team, you must keep an open mind. So those things can naturally oppose each other.
The value of a team comes from different perspectives and different points of view. You never know where your next great ideas are is going to come from. Sometimes the just pop up. Sometimes you need to grind through it. Creativity can be messy. It’s predictably unpredictable.
Spotlight: The other tricky part is the deadline. You don't have time to wallow in your emotions.
Valentine: That's one of the biggest challenges, which is doing the work for clients under time constraints. There can be a lot of pressure. You hope that it comes together when you need it. That uncertainty combined with deadlines can make people uncomfortable. To do creative work, you need to allow yourself to be vulnerable and that requires a certain level of trust. Also to allow space to play and explore ideas.
Spotlight: That also requires management to respect that vulnerability so they can be receptive to feedback.
Valentine: I think that's something that you build by establishing relationships with people. You create an expectation of how things will be received, and what's possible. Can you speak freely? Can you have an open discussion about things? You can feel very vulnerable when you're speaking from a personal place. But that vulnerability allows you make things that resonate with people.
Spotlight: What’s your working process like?
Valentine: What we do requires investing time into projects and outside of projects.
I've been doing a lot more thinking about projects before jumping into them. Your impulse is to just dive in and start writing a first draft or sketching out a rough cut. Especially when you’re on deadlines. But I've been resisting that lately and taking time to think about things and consider the possibilities before digging in. Kind of like putting fuel in your gas tank.
The time you spend away from work is also as important as the time you’re working. Achieving that balance can be a struggle when you’re busy. It’s okay to give yourself permission to take a break and recharge.
Spotlight: Where would you say you specialize as a creative?
Valentine: I think about things as a filmmaker. What story are we telling? What’s the experience we want to create? What’s the emotion? What is our intent?
In some ways, it’s like an architect designing a house. It begins with a series of questions. Who is living in this house? How big should it be? How do we heat it? Cool it? Power it? What does the form look like? What's its function?
Once you agree on those things, then you can frame ideas in a meaningful and impactful way.
Spotlight: What has invigorated your creativity lately?
Valentine: I’m a fan of movies and TV shows at heart. Recently, I subscribed to BritBox and absolutely fell in love with their shows like Ludwig and Death Valley. I reached out to them, and they invited me to work on a new image campaign that’s currently being rolled out.
The work I’ve done with Sesame Workshop has also been a great source of joy because of their mission to help children everywhere grow smarter, stronger and kinder. The world needs them now more than ever.
Spotlight: Of course, I have to ask the AI question. What’s been your experience with AI so far – are you pro or con? How are you and your teams using AI in your workflows? How do you expect the creative industry to use AI as it evolves?
Valentine: It’s obvious AI is changing everything. I feel conflicted about AI even though I’m fully embracing it as a way to do higher level work on smaller budgets and tighter timelines. It’s exciting to be able to visualize things and explore ideas so quickly. But I also like working with creative people who make things as part of a full creative process.
AI lacks emotional intelligence. Truly understanding the human condition is a key factor in resonating with audiences. Empathy is our greatest superpower.
Spotlight: You’ve been a big part of the Promax – now GEMA – community for a long time, especially as the long-running co-host of Hot Spots Showcase. What has being involved in GEMA meant for you?
Valentine: I love that GEMA builds community. Community benefits everyone. Especially with many of us working remotely. Seeing what everyone is doing is a big source of inspiration. GEMA keeps us connected and reminds us we’re all in this together.
