‘Rage’, ‘Succession’ and Coca-Cola: The Work That Made Linda Knight
Linda Knight is the chief creative officer at FlyteVu, an entertainment agency connecting brands to audiences through culture, creativity, and experience. Before joining FlyteVu, Linda was CCO at Observatory, a creative agency named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies three years running.
Recognised as one of Business Insider’s 30 Most Creative Women in Advertising and featured on Adweek’s 50 and 100 Creative Leaders lists, the former W+K alum has created work for the Super Bowl, Olympics, and World Cup, and built platforms for Nike, adidas, Gatorade, and The GRAMMYs. Her work blurs the line between entertainment and advertising, documentaries, concerts, podcasts, and immersive worlds, all built to make people care.
She looks back on weekends watching classic music videos from Beastie Boys to The Kinks, her first time seeing her work go from script to screen and the development of her role from art director to writer.
LBB> The ad/music video from my childhood that stays with me…
Linda> That would be ‘Rage’, an Australian music video show that ran all-night from 11pm to 5am Friday and 11pm to 11am Saturday. I’d watch it every weekend and record my favourite videos for future reference.
The first five videos ever played on ‘Rage’ say everything about why it mattered: Lime Spiders ‘Weirdo Libido’, Beastie Boys ‘Fight For Your Right to Party’, The Kinks ‘You Really Got Me’, Big Audio Dynamite’s ‘C’mon Every Beatbox’, and Genesis ‘Tonight, Tonight, Tonight’. It was eclectic and unpredictable; indie, rap, punk, pop, hip hop, heavy metal, everything mashed together before algorithms sorted taste.
‘Rage’ was packed with inspiration, style, sound, technique, fashion and ideas. I was a sponge. No ads, no hosts, no voiceover, just hours of music videos. It was glorious.
LBB> The ad/music video/game/web platform that made me want to get into the industry…
Linda> Once I realised this was an actual industry, I immersed myself in all the ads, and every award show annual I could find; D&AD, Communication Arts and The One Show. I studied the best of the best work. The annuals were expensive, so I found them second hand or read them right in the Dymocks bookstore in Sydney. I was doing Award School at the time, so I was obsessed.
LBB> The creative work that | keep revisiting…
Linda> Great writing is what gets me. ‘Succession’, ‘VEEP’, ‘The Wire’, ‘True Detective’ (season one), the original ‘Frasier’, ‘Fleabag’, ‘The Sopranos’. I come back to Martin Amis, Coen Brothers, Alex Garland, all have such great writing.
That said, I mostly tune into what’s new. Our work has to move as fast as culture, and there’s a constant flood of new content. That’s what I focus on. But those originals are the bar.
LBB> My first professional project…
Linda> My first ad job at McCann Erickson Sydney, we got to make a Coca-Cola campaign called ‘Always Out There’. It was the first time I saw an idea go from script to screen, and I was all in.
LBB> The piece of work that made me so angry that I vowed to never make anything like *that*...
Linda> I don’t get angry at bad work. I get frustrated by the great ideas that never saw the light of day.
When I was at W+K Amsterdam, we had an idea for a Nike ad that was so simple, smart and completely unexpected. Unfortunately, they went with another campaign from another office. It was good, but ours was magnificent! I still think about how amazing that ad was.
LBB> The piece of work that still makes me jealous…
Linda> Work that doesn’t feel like an ad. Balenciaga x ‘The Simpsons’, Red Bull Stratos, MSCHF drops, Johnson and Johnson 5B doc, the Skittles Broadway musical.
The kind of stuff that makes you forget there’s a brand behind it, until you realise, and you respect them more for making something that good.
LBB> The creative project that changed my career…
Linda> The Coca-Cola campaign at McCann. It was an animated campaign where a graphic T-shirt character comes to life and pulls the kid who is silk screening him into a wild animated world. We created double-page print ads, including one where the characters underpants get caught on the magazine staple.
At the time, Dan Weiden was talking about really using the medium as part of the idea – we were inspired to do just that. The character ended up on the cover of Archive magazine, and was one of the reasons we were hired at W+K.
Another big shift came when I wrote a Nike Women’s campaign at W+K Amsterdam. That project officially shifted me from art director to writer, and it completely changed my trajectory.
LBB> The work that I'm proudest of…
Linda> The work I’m proudest of? Tough call. Doritos x ‘Stranger Things Live from the Upside Down’, Nike ‘Hustle Rule’ podcast, Chipotle A ‘Future Begins’ and Humane World for Animals ‘A World of Hope’, and its extensions like Sia performing in the “animal print” we created for the brand. Each one hit culture in its own way, which is the whole point.
LBB> The recent project I was involved in that excited me the most…
Linda> Joining FlyteVu and helping the agency grow has been incredibly exciting. It’s transformed fast, and we’re just getting started.
The team’s ambition and fearlessness keep me fired up. Everyone’s all in, building something different together. The energy is contagious. Around here, safe doesn’t fly, and that mindset keeps us pushing higher every day.
