When you live and do creative television work in Los Angeles, you’re in what is essentially the industry’s capitol city. If you’re in New York, you’re in the industry’s high-culture headquarters. Both cities have their wonderful selling points, but immersion into the actual populations the industry is serving is not always one of them.

Which is perhaps what makes Viewpoint Creative so compelling. Residing in Newton, Mass., the New England-based agency sits outside the bubble of the television industry, a position it has occupied for nearly 30 years.

“We’re out among folks who are consumers of entertainment,” said Viewpoint executive creative director Mike Middeleer, “and they really look at it on the level of pure enjoyment… I think we can bring that kind of attitude to our work.”

A down-to-earth vibe is palpable in conversation with Viewpoint and at their website, where office dogs are a recurring theme and the staff bios are refreshingly humble and humorous. But beneath the red-bricked veneer of Patriots fandom and laid-back charm, the agency is as sharp and sophisticated as they come, with an award-winning body of work and a roster of television clients ranging from HBO to AMC, A+E, National Geographic and beyond.

That spot, part of six promos Viewpoint produced leading up to the February launch of Better Call Saul, helped the AMC drama set the record for the highest-rated scripted series premiere in basic cable history. Powerfully minimal, they showcase both the agency’s flair for storytelling and its ability to do so from its unique location in the northeast of America. Though utterly convincing in their depiction of Better Call Saul’s New Mexico setting, the spots were actually shot in and around Boston, where Viewpoint’s meticulous attention to detail went all the way down to Saul’s hand, which reaches into frame periodically. It’s not actually star Bob Odenkirk’s hand but rather a local antique shop owner’s, found by the art department while shopping for the shoot. But it looks like it could be Odenkirk’s – something about it perfectly sums up his character’s beleaguered aura.

Middeleer, a former creative director at HBO and VP at FX, has done plenty of work in both of television’s metropolitan hubs, but said he enjoys shooting in Boston because the town isn’t jaded like L.A. or New York.

“When you go into a carwash or other location they’re really excited to have you,” he said. “People gather around, rather than it being a very difficult process.”

Now a partner at Viewpoint, Middeleer has been with the company for more than 15 years, a longevity that isn’t unusual. People tend to stick around there, both because they love where they live and because they’re part of a hands-on organization with a close-knit, respectful vibe. When conceptualizing new projects, for instance, the agency invites “everybody into a brainstorm,” said David Shilale, GM and executive producer at Viewpoint. “Our philosophy is, a great idea can come from anyone, be it an accounting person, a designer, an editor or an intern. It’s a very open collaboration here.”

It’s a free-flowing, inclusive approach that can result in work like a recent on-air campaign Viewpoint created for National Geographic’s Eat: The Story of Food.

Looking to evoke the visceral sights and sounds that only food can induce, the creative team turned spontaneously to Viewpoint’s own studio, moving in one of its oak tables and setting up a camera to shoot an array of cheeses, vegetables, meats and other delights being chopped, squeezed, munched and lovingly arranged. Interspliced with programming footage, the spontaneous results feel as fresh and spontaneous as the production, and were such a hit with Nat Geo, the network requested they be extended into online elements as well.

The ability to be so spontaneous can be attributed in part to the fact that, in nearly three decades of existence, Viewpoint’s staff remains less than 30 employees. It’s also a size that ensures direct engagement at all levels of the hierarchy.

“We didn’t want to get so big that the folks doing the work couldn’t communicate with the client,” said Shilale. “That personal attention to the client, the creative detail, is very important for us. When our clients are working with us, they’re working directly with the folks doing the work, be it Mike, an editor or a designer.” As a result, Viewpoint has been able to remain “very client-obsessed and really listen to them and let that influence us rather than, ‘oh, we’ve got this stylistic agenda that we’re going to shove down your throat,’” added Middeleer. “That sounds like a cliché, but that’s how we stay in business.”

And, as media marketing becomes an increasingly globally connected field, it’s only become easier for Viewpoint to stay in business, which suits the agency just fine.

“We like being in New England,” said Shilale. “We like the lifestyle here. We’re not New York, we’re not L.A., we’re not trying to be something that we’re not. We’re Viewpoint Creative. We’re a bunch of people in New England that work very hard for our clients and make sure they look good in front of their bosses. It shows in the work and it shows in the people.”

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