Dream Teams: “May the Man with the Longest Breath Win”
Creative partnerships often come with a strict set of rules and understandings, to inspire creativity in a restrained environment, ensuring everyone has a say. Alternatively, there are some which throw away the rule book and solve creative disputes by seeing who has the most resolve. We’ll let you guess what’s the case with this one…
“We don’t have any rules: may the man with the longest breath win,”
jokes Chris Lotz, creative director at adam&eveBERLIN when describing the working relationship that he and fellow creative director Fabian Frauenderka have together. Fabian agrees, “I strongly believe that agreeing on everything would end up in mediocre, if not lousy work.”
But before we get into the nitty-gritty, LBB’s Nisna Mahtani heard about how they came to be the pairing that they are today.
Paired together as what they both refer to as “an arranged marriage” cooked up by a former CD, they were thrown together with no knowledge of the other. They were told, “I think you guys will match,” and eight years later, it seems that was right. First impressions underway, Chris remembers what he initially thought of Fabian: “He seemed like a nice, calm and balanced guy, with something cheeky in the eyes. Overall just a cool M.F. and he still is. Don’t tell him I said that though.”
Oops - we may have spilled the beans there. Regardless, Fabian had similar sentiment about Chris. “A fun, genuine and incredibly caring guy.
We have this wonderful German word for someone like Chris: frohnatur.
I think we just clicked immediately. The only thing that has changed since then is Chris’ loss of hair, I guess.”
As the pair began to find their dynamic and pitch to the team, an online payment method was the first thing they ideated for. “Pretty boring topic, even more boring product but we were allowed to do what we wanted,” the duo remembers. “So we decided to have fun. We presented the pitch ourselves and, of course, failed miserably but we learned an incredible amount – most of all about ourselves.”
Fabian explains how he’s a more introverted, strategic thinker who likes plans. “Most of what I do is carefully considered and at times I can be quite a perfectionist. A classic INTJ personality for all you Myers Briggs fans out there.” His counterpart is quite the opposite, "Chris is more expressive and playful and thus he’s the yin to my yang.”
Reflecting on his balance, Chris explains, “Fabian is calm and keeps a cool head, I’m more high-energy and impulsive. That works very nicely for us – even though we have our little marriage fights from time to time. But creatively we align completely. Sometimes it’s almost frightening that our feedback is usually the same – even if we give it independently.”
The pair also aren’t shy about the frustrations and disagreements that can occur during their creative tangos. Chris says,
“I don’t believe there’s a single creative team that claims to not frustrate each other from time to time.
Especially if I am turning into a hobby copywriter or he is turning into a part-time art director.”
Fabian replies, “Well I think I’d be a great art director. I’m just bad with the tools.” He anticipates what his partner’s reaction to that statement will be, “I can already see Chris rolling his eyes now. Probably that’s quite frustrating from time to time. And: we are supporters of very opposite football clubs.”
As they previously mentioned their “longest breath” approach to creative disagreements, Fabian continues with this: “Of course, we disagree on things sometimes and it can get emotional too."
My unwritten rule is: your ego is not your amigo.
It simply means not taking work-related things personally, and should it be so, neither of us has an ego so big that it wouldn’t allow a quick ‘sorry’.”
Keeping this attitude in mind, the duo have created some memorable campaigns during their time working together, of which they both reflect on German Cancer Aid’s ‘Spectrum’ exhibition as a memorable project. Chris explains, “The work itself was great but the circumstances we did this in is what makes me proud. It felt like the whole world wanted to stop us from doing it – but we pushed through all the barriers. One of the best work-related feelings was seeing everything finally come together.”
And Fabian simply agrees, “What Chris said.”
Continually sparring with and complimenting each other’s creative processes, the duo remarks on how tricky moments are so much easier to get through when you have someone else to lean on. And Fabian thinks more partnerships would benefit from this too, as he says, “I think it’s a pity that strategists and project managers do not have similar partners in crime. If you can, find your dream partner and form a team. Because it’s a simple calculation: two is always better than one. (That works for humans, dogs, pizza and drinks too.)”
In their relatively recent move over to the Berlin branch of adam&eveDDB, Fabian lists the creative challenges they’ve had so far, “finding meeting rooms or the loo, and getting tasty coffee out of the coffee machine,” as they joke around and ask us to check back in later about what those might transpire to be.
So far, they’re tapping into their inspiration from friends who are “far from the ad industry” according to Chris, but he also mentions Anselmo Ramos at GUT and mischief. as places they look to for ideas.
Fabian, on the other hand, mentions his prior CCO and mentor Matthias Storath, as well as how he listens to stand-up comics, and artists such as Refik Anadol, Olafur Eliasson, Michael Sailstorfer, Thomas Ruff or Danh Vo. “And I really enjoy seeing student work whenever I can – their ideas are so different and refreshing,” he says.
Keeping their partnership intact both during and outside of work, there’s a fine balance to strike and a friendship to keep alive. “Besides the obvious after-work beer and wine from time to time, we celebrated my 30th birthday together in New York,” says Fabian. “That included sharing a 140x200cm bed in our Brooklyn apartment, fighting through abandoned Manhattan during a snow blizzard and ending up at a bizarre masked costume party. How’s that for a dream team?”
Chris adds,
“There are probably teams that socialise more after the working day. But did they spend a couple's vacation in a shared bed in New York?! I don’t think so.”
As Chris now longs for a chilled beer and Fabian continues to apartment hunt, they leave us with two vital titbits of information. Chris’ mum makes the best nut cookies in the world (but don’t tell Fabian’s mum that!) and Fabian’s looking for an apartment.
“So if you know someone in Berlin wanting to get rid of a beautiful flat, please think of me as strongly as Kanye thinks of himself. Many thanks!”
