Creative agencies took on network clients in an epic on-stage battle during Family Feud Live at PromaxBDA: The Conference 2016 in New York on Wednesday.

Competing for the clients were team captain Kendrick Reid, senior VP, executive creative director, brand strategy, BET Networks; as well as Niels Schuurmans, executive VP, Viacom Velocity Creative Content Solutions, Viacom; Tracy Grandstaff, senior VP, original production, NBC Entertainment and wild-card addition Lucas Aragon, design director, entertainment marketing at ABC.

The agency team was led by captain Kasumi Mihori, creative director, Troika; with Brian Eloe, creative director/live-action director at 2C Creative; and Sean Owolo, executive producer at Big Machine and wild-card addition Diana Lochridge, executive producer/creative director, Definition 6. (Both teams got a “wild card” member, with people who filled out the survey ahead of time getting the chance to join their natural allies on stage.)

Kicking off the game on a note of hope, host Mark L. Walberg (not to be confused with Mark Wahlberg of movie and music fame), said: “If we can heal one agency-client relationship, our work here is done.”

As a quick review, to play Family Feud 100 people are surveyed – in this case, 100 PromaxBDA members – and the top answers are put on the board. The players try to guess the top answers to win cash and prizes. Or in this case: pet rocks and ‘70s tech memorabilia. Oh, and the Dawson Cup, in honor of Family Feud’s first host, Richard Dawson.

Round one started with the question: “What is the worst thing that can happen in a pitch?”

Both families took some time warming up. Reid won at the buzzer, and the clients elected to play, but struggled to come up with answers. They did manage to get two: “tech fail” and “bad bodily function,” stemming from Aragon’s answer: “food in your teeth.”

The clients ended up with three strikes, and the agency team got their shot. Mihori tried with “there’s a question you don’t have the answer to,” but that earned a strike and the clients took the win.

Round two’s question was “What do clients wish they could say to their agency but don’t have the kahones to say?”

2C’s Eloe began his run at Most Valuable Player, winning the buzzer with “I have no money for that,” which flipped over on the board as “why so expensive?”

Wild-card team member Lochridge turned over the top answer with “you suck.”

Still, the agency team ended up with three strikes, sending it back to the clients, who also struck out, sending the win back to the agency and nearly tying it up at 50-56, with the clients ahead by six points.

Moving on to round three, Wahlberg asked: “Why are some clients impossible to work with?”

Schuurmans won at the buzzer with “they are non-responsive,” which turned over as “hard to reach.”

The clients elected to pass, letting the agency team play it out.

After a slow start, the agency team finally got on the board with Mihori’s answer: “politics,” which turned over on the board as the obvious analog: “they’re assholes.” From there, polite behavior declined and trash talk ensued. (Lochridge cross-stage to clients: “I call bullshit on you.”)

Eloe scored again with “they lack budgets,” which was revealed on the board as “unrealistic budgets.”

“Look at that, they gave the answer and the actual word is in the answer,” quipped Walberg.

From there, though, the agency team lost momentum and the round went back to the clients. Wild-card Aragon scored with “indecisive” and the clients took the lead 114-50.

Round four, “name the most annoying icebreaker used to begin a conference call,” was for double points. The clients scored the win and again elected to pass.

MVP Eloe immediately guessed the top answer with “talking about the weather,” showing up on the board as “meteorology.” Owolo also got on the board with “asking about your day,” also known as “mental health,” leading Walberg to riff: “How’s your day … in the mental institution?” How’s your day … after giving up Zoloft?”

Still, the agency couldn’t manage to clear the board so it went back to the clients, but they also failed to come up with an answer so the agency won double points, putting them ahead 220 – 114.

The final round—with the question: “What is the best way to get new clients?”—was for triple points and the win.

Again the clients won at the buzzer, and this time they elected to play. Grandstaff immediately got on the board with the host-friendly answer “PromaxBDA,” which appeared on the board as “wine and dine.” Reid later scored with “good work,” which showed up as “kick-ass work.” And Grandstaff landed another one with “networking,” revealing itself as “be nice, kiss ass.”

Still, the clients failed to come up with all the answers before getting three strikes, sending the all-important triple-point round back to the agency. This time though, Mahori came in strong with her answer, “bribes.” With a final ding, the answer appeared on the big board: “give ‘em stuff.”

And with that, the agency team became the first winners of Family Feud Live at PromaxBDA, receiving such valuable prizes as a Sony Walkman, transparent telephone set, five-inch black-and-white TV and a Betamax portable movie recorder because “Betamax, it’s here to stay.”

Tags:


  Save as PDF