Lewis Lazare: Chicago-based veteran creative Gordon Robertson is giving Chicago something it needs more of — a new boutique ad agency.
Robertson is teaming with Brainforest, a design firm specializing in Web, identity and strategic development, to launch the city’s newest boutique shop, called Sway Creative Group, which will function as the advertising division at Brainforest. Clients at Brainforest include Motorola, Union Leasing, WXRT-FM and Millennium Park.
Robertson, formerly a group creative director at BBDO/Chicago, hopes to provide clients with the proverbial “big ideas” he hopes will work on both a visceral and rational level.
Robertson sees another opportunity at Sway. “As an industry, we’ve gotten away from advertising as a sales tool,” he said. “Either it’s hard-sell, hurry-in-now retail, or it’s clever and soft, and often times irrelevant. I believe in doing advertising that moves a consumer along the path to a sale.”
