Gray Matters

Brandweek,  August 7, 2000  by Ann M. Mack

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Manning Rubin has the experience needed to take K2 to new heights.

Scooting his chair closer to the conference room table, Manning Rubin examines a bevy of logos and tag lines that blanket the tabletop in a semblance of order. Carefully eyeing each piece, the senior creative supervisor at K2 Design plays a consultant-like role in the afternoon proceedings. As the hot midday sun peeks through the blinds, K2 executives, leaning, standing and sitting, dot the room and state yea or nay on submissions and why. Rubin dismisses one, reasoning, "I feel like we've heard it before."

This particular meeting hits close to home for the K2 crew. By summer's end, the New York-based interactive agency plans to unveil an evolved version of its name and along with it, a new logo and tag line to better reflect its identity. Time and again, the group gravitates back to the same tag line. "I think it's a really fine line," comments Rubin. "It says exactly what we do. How can we lose with that?"

Matt de Ganon, executive chairman of K2, agrees: "It's a line with legs that encompasses more than one aspect."

Indeed, it is difficult to embody what K2 does in a tag line. The agency integrates media know-how, creative talent and technical expertise to offer clients like Sony Online Entertainment and Bayer Corp. services such as Web design, database development, strategic consulting and full-blown ad campaign creation.

In an effort to differentiate itself from some arrogant, supercharged interactive shops, K2 seeks to position itself as competent and innovative, yet friendly and approachable, with years of experience at the helm. "We've got gray hairs," says K2 chief executive Lynn Fantom.

Quick to clarify, Rubin says, "It's not the gray hairs that count, it's the gray matter."

A comical comeback, yet one that Rubin believes whole-heartedly--so much so that last year he authored a book with Lawrence Katz, a doctor of neurobiology; dedicated to building a stronger brain. Called Keep Your Brain Alive, the book takes readers through simple daily exercises that help stimulate the growth of brain cells. "People have to feed their brains," Rubin declares. To increase mental fitness, the book suggests readers shake up brain-deadening routines or look for the novel and unexpected.

Rubin certainly practices what he preaches. Throughout his storied career, the ad industry vet has embraced novelty by approaching new challenges with fervor. He moved from Richmond, Va., to New York in the '60s and never looked back. Making his start in the Big Apple at Grey Advertising, Rubin worked on accounts for American Motors, General Foods and Procter & Gamble, among others.

He then founded Creative Alliance Inc., a boutique specializing in the advertising of feature films, where he helped promote more than 120 movies for clients such as Universal Pictures, Warner Bros., Fox and MGM. With that, however, came the grueling East Coast-West Coast commute. "When I woke up from a nap one day and I was like 'Am I going west or east,' I knew it was time to move on," he says. So, he staged a return to the traditional ad agency front at J. Walter Thompson, where he ascended from associate creative director for Burger King, French's Food and Goodyear to international creative director for Kellogg's worldwide.

Just as the Internet was taking off in the mid '90s, Rubin jumped ship to act as creative director of advertising at gaming site Riddler.com. The move took some gentle coaxing from a friend. "I said, 'I don't know squat about the Internet,'" Rubin recalls. "So, he gave me a phonebook-thick guide on the Internet."

Rubin landed at K2 in late 1996. "I take things I learned from other experiences and apply them here," says Rubin. "I'm not a tech expert in any sense of the word. I don't have to be. What I do is conceptual and strategic."

Earlier, Rubin and some K2 co-workers leafed through banners for eccelerate.com. In the limited space of a standard banner, Rubin wants to convey the gist of eccelerate.com, a research company that links e-commerce decision makers with trading partners. They wanted to determine which banners to present to the client the following Monday. "I've been using 'Learn More Here,' instead of 'Click Here,'" Rubin says.

Translating corporate speak into layman terms is what Rubin does. "We take companies' needs and align them with consumer needs," explains Rubin. "I help turn I-sites into you-sites. If you don't tell [the consumer] right away what's in it for them, you lose them. You have to speak their language. Otherwise, it's click--goodbye."

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