Five Questions with SCREEN: GERTRUDE Founder and CCO Otis Gibson
What do Batman, Mike Tyson and The Eagles have in common? They’re all right here as the GERTRUDE Founder and Chief Creative Officer Otis Gibson stops by for a thoroughly entertaining round of Five Questions with SCREEN! For the past 25+ years, Otis has led and produced work for AB InBev, Adidas, The Coca-Cola Company and many more. Ok, let’s get to it!
SCREEN: Your favorite project you’ve ever worked on?
OTIS: First of all, I certainly hope I haven’t worked on my favorite project yet. There’s so much ahead of me and GERTRUDE that I’m sure our best work hasn’t been realized yet. But my favorite ongoing, amazing project is my son. I get to put a lot of work in and watch amazing things come out. Second to that is building the agency.
SCREEN: Most famous person you’ve ever met?
OTIS: I was invited to Vegas on Halloween for Fight Night Fright Night and was encouraged to wear a costume. I went as Jules from Pulp Fiction and my friend and his girlfriend went as Vincent Vega and Mia Wallace. I spent the night with Mike Tyson, Don King, and Joe Jackson – that was a very surreal and crazy experience.
Here’s a memorable interview with Mike Tyson, with some comments on Don King…
SCREEN: If you could play any superhero in a major studio movie, which would it be?
OTIS: A few pounds ago, it would have been great to play Batman.
SCREEN: Favorite birthday gift you’ve ever received?
OTIS: For my 33rd birthday surprise party, somehow 125 of my friends snuck in downstairs at my house without me hearing. That was pretty cool. Though it says a lot about my home security.
SCREEN: So you’ve been chosen for the new season of Shark Tank. What are you pitching to the Sharks?
OTIS: I’d pitch something to do with converting shipping containers into malls. That’s my answer.
BONUS QUESTIONS!
SCREEN: Your go-to karaoke song?
OTIS: First of all, there’s no bad karaoke song to sing. I love karaoke because it says a lot about people who are brave enough to go up on stage and sing. I love the song Desperado. It’s a fun song to sing.
Here it is live in concert from The Eagles…
SCREEN: What’s your favorite color? Why is it your favorite?
OTIS: Red – because of its timeliness and it’s very bold. Never subtle.
SCREEN: Best advice you’ve ever been given?
OTIS: A creative director I worked for early on in my career told me “Before you start a revolution, recruit.” It was his way of saying I should calm down a little on some of the things I was zealous about. He was telling me that you can’t force people to your cause, you have to recruit them. But once people are recruited, then they’ll get behind an idea. So that, for me, was a lesson in discipline, being patient, and understanding that selling new ideas is always a recruitment effort. That has stuck with me for the last 25 years. It’s helped me as I’ve gotten older to be patient about bold ideas I may have.
Thanks for playing, Otis! For more from Otis and his team at GERTRUDE, click right here.
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