Photo courtesy of Glassell House
Glassell House Founder and CEO Xavier Savant
Generating over $23 million domestically, grossing more than $11.7 million in its first week, Kevin Hart’s record-breaking concert film “What Now” stood as one of the most celebrated box office releases of 2016.
In addition to hitting theaters, Hart also traveled to 45 cities across the U.S. and Canada for his “What Now” tour, selling out arenas and football stadiums in comedic rockstar fashion. With the average seat selling for $200, Hart’s historic event accounted for a substantial portion of his $87.5 million payday earned last year. Presenting a unique hybrid of cinematic storytelling and live stand up, the immersive entertainment experience set a new precedent for how major motion pictures are developed and marketed to the masses.
Another highly anticipated film that hit theaters in 2017 was the L.T. Hutton produced Tupac Shakur biopic “All Eyes One Me”. Telling the story behind one of rap’s most beloved superstars and cultural leaders, the film generated $27 million in its first week, totaling just under $45 million in sales to date. Tapping into the spirit of nostalgia surrounding Shakur’s life and legacy, recreating a series of iconic images, magazine covers and storied moments made the movie’s marketing initiatives both memorable and effective in driving ticket sales.
The agency behind both films was Glassell House, a Los Angeles based full-service marketing company and design studio, specializing in developing innovative campaigns and creative for major motion pictures, television shows and other entertainment franchises.
Founded by industry veteran Xavier Savant, Glassell House served as the lead creative agency for Kevin Hart’s concert film tour, spearheading the ideation and development of promotional materials across traditional and digital platforms. In addition to driving the film’s lead up, Savant’s team also created the title sequence, movie posters, billboards and large in-stadium motion graphics that appeared behind Hart during each of his sold-out appearances.
Following the company’s success with “What Now”, Lionsgate and Codeblack partnered with Glassell House to lead the marketing efforts for the Tupac Shakur biopic, providing creative direction and producing of the primary photo shoots for the film’s global marketing efforts. Additionally, the collective designed the three collectible movie posters that were distributed to every major domestic market in support of the film’s outdoor campaign.
With proven experience, an expanding team and growing portfolio of clients, Glassell House has become a sought-after creative agency tapped by major studios and independent production companies looking to market high-profile cultural films.
I spoke with Glassell House founder and CEO Xavier about the vision behind his company, shifting from traditional to digital marketing, and his approach to crafting the marketing campaigns for many of today’s top cultural films.
You began your career in print before building your business in the internet era — What were your keys to successfully making the transition from traditional advertising to digital marketing?
Xavier Savant: I spent a lot of time working in print. The talk about ‘print is dead’ started happening fairly recently. The shift really happened within the last 10 years, when companies started generating revenue online, which led to big investments in digital. How creative is delivered may continue changing, but there will always be a need and respect for quality creative. The fundamentals of design and communication art haven’t changed, only the delivery of it. Now, it’s delivered on your mobile device, computer or television — It’s no longer in magazines, or on billboards. Even billboards are going digital now. You have to keep up with the software, and always have a hunger to learn. Once you stop learning in this field, you’ve lost. The key is never letting the technology get in the way of the creative. I worked in video games for several years, developing campaigns and art work. There would be a print team or key art team that would come up with the visual language of the game. Then, you would have the digital team, which was usually separate, create assets. This was the team making ads, mocking up websites, designing takeovers, and developing animated ads. When the companies were looking to pitch, they were always waiting on us, needing assets and art work. So, they would go back to the ‘print’ guys, but we weren’t printing anything. We were just doing the heavy lifting. We were building the core creative elements that everything was created from. The process of needing core creative to create content and build platforms still exists. That’s when I made the transition to become the guy that makes the cool content. They way I made the shift was getting studios to see me and my team as the idea guys, not the packaging guys. We come up with the concepts and create the content that makes the campaigns sing.
Describe your approach to communication design and the role it plays in building impactful brands and experiences?
Xavier Savant: When you look at art as a tool, you start to understand the relationship other people have with art. You have people that are surrounded by or experiencing design everyday that never see it as art. When you go into a grocery store and look to buy something, every product is packaged in art. It’s communication design. That’s often the primary piece that drives you to make a purchase. There was most likely a designer sitting in front of a computer crafting that image that grabbed your attention. It’s exactly like language and other forms of communication, just in visual form. Being able to have something you can make creatively that has a practical use is what drives this business. It’s literally bringing visions to life, being able to show people intangible ideas in a tangible way.
How did your relationship with Kevin Hart originate and what was the process developing the creative for ‘What Now’?
Xavier Savant: It was timing, opportunity and preparation coming together. I was working at Trailer Park, a major advertising agency in Hollywood. They acquired a company I worked for, and I became the head of their video game group. The company shifted and decided they weren’t going to focus on video game clients anymore. My team kept getting smaller, until it was just myself, an Account Executive and one 3D artist. That was a sign that even with all of the great work we had done in the time period, it was time to move on. I started thinking about what was going to challenge me next. I freelanced for a few companies independently, and kept my own list of clients. Then, one day, the phone rang. It was Harbeat, Kevin Hart’s company. They explained that Kevin was looking to go on tour soon, and asked if I was interested in creating some announcement art work for it. They already had key art and some of the other important elements, so they just needed something he could post on Instagram to let his fans know it was coming. So, I told them let’s get some photography done and I’ll put something together. We went and did the shoot with Kevin, which took just over 30 minutes to finish before he had to leave. We made a short presentation with art, a logo, and gave direction that felt like an action movie. It was a very unconventional concept for promoting comedy. We wanted to make him look like an action hero. We sent the ideas over, he posted a couple, and got a great response internally and online. After that, he said he wanted to scrap all of the previous design work and go with what we presented. That’s where it all started. They came back and asked what else I could do. They needed art work for the stage, and wanted to make a motion poster. We started doing animation for the stage graphics, which led to doing the outdoor art work to promote the film and tour. I started the company from that project, and the rest was history.
What was your mentality stepping into ‘All Eyez On Me’ knowing the magnitude, hype and conversation surrounding the film?
Xavier Savant: Like a lot of people, I came up in that era and was a huge Tupac fan. Also, being from Los Angeles, ‘California Love’ was the West Coast anthem. Prior to the project, I’d seen different films and documentaries about his life and influence. When this opportunity came back around, I had met L.T. Hutton at a screening and listened to him and others share stories about Pac. I could see how passionate they were and how much they cared about him. They wanted to make sure the project captured the essence of him as a man, and the kind of person he was — not just an artist. Tupac had many different faces — he was a poet, a rapper, an actor and a rebel. The challenge became deciding which direction we wanted to go, and what sides we wanted to show at this stage. The film was intended to be somewhat of an untold story about his life, and give people a new perspective. Everybody knows the loud and outspoken Tupac they would see in the press, but I really wanted to capture the deep, reflective side of him. I watched hours of his interviews, hearing him talk about politics, the struggle, the youth, and the music. I didn’t want it to be overdone, just the reflective side of Tupac. We created several posters, and each one resonated differently with people. We didn’t want people to feel like they were seeing someone playing Tupac, but feel like they were actually seeing Tupac at first glance. During the whole process, you could feel his presence in the room and on the set, which I think you could sense in all of the work.
What were some of the notable challenges you faced while building your business?
Xavier Savant: The first challenge was defining what we were as a company — are we a print company, a digital company, or a design studio? We had to define what we were doing, because we were doing everything. After doing the work for Kevin, people were calling the studio asking who were the guys doing the art work. I kind of had a name for myself in print, but not in animation or doing motion graphics. As a company, we simply built a reputation for delivering whatever our clients requested. So, it was important to develop a clear vision and plan for the type of work we specialized in. Our business plan morphed into a reflection of what our clients needed from us. Then, the next challenge was growth — I knew we had to expand. We needed a dedicated business manager, an account, space for the team to work, and so forth. Having no prior experiencing launching a business or scaling a company, there was a major learning curve I had to catch up to.
How have you managed to standout as a company amidst so much competition within a rapidly changing industry?
Xavier Savant: One tough challenge in this industry is managing perception. Typically, what would happen is that a movie producer will have a project, and get that project distributed by a major studio. That studio has a marketing department, Director of Creative Services, and so forth. Those people have longstanding relationships with different agencies. For example, they have a best friend who works at a major creative agency, and they go directly to those agencies and partner on the work. At the end of the day, the studios give the project to people they trust, and they know will make them look good. During the day, they have jobs that they want to keep, so they rarely take risks on a startup or unknown company. That was a big challenge initially, just getting in the room with these guys and making them feel comfortable enough to work with us as an emerging agency. Of course, it goes a long way when your first client is Kevin Hart, and he has tremendous momentum and influence in Hollywood. That gave us some leverage in meetings, and having them support us helped open some doors. But, it continues to be a challenge. Executing on existing opportunities, finding new opportunities, and continuing to take the business to the next level.
What are some of the lessons you have learned throughout this process that have helped get to where you are today?
Xavier Savant: One of the simple, yet most important things I’ve learned throughout this process is how to actually run a business. They never teach you how to be an entrepreneur in school. School teaches you how to be an employee and keep your job all day, but they never teach you how to be a boss. In some ways, it seems like that is left out of curriculums on purpose. So, in my experience building this company, I realized how little I actually knew about running a business. While I knew how to get the work done, I had to reach out for help from people who have built similar businesses to offer advice and insight. We’re not really making art for arts sake. At the end of the day, we’re trying to not only do what our clients want, but deliver what they don’t even know they want yet. We also want to make sure we’re going back, exploring our approach to the work, and providing fresh, out-of-the-box thinking to every project.
