Erich and Kallman hires first executive creative director

Independent agency Erich and Kallman is bringing on its first-ever executive creative director with the hire of Rikesh Lal, formerly executive creative director and partner at Camp+King.

The establishment of the position does not signal a change in Erich and Kallman’s grand strategy. Rather, it comes from the practical need for an additional director as the agency expands its business. “Over the past year, we’ve doubled in size, from 25 full-time employees to 50,” said Eric Kallman, the agency’s chief creative officer and co-founder, in an interview. “Frankly, I need some help.”

Kallman credits his agency’s recent boom to its strong history with existing clients. “Clients want to see you not just having done good work in your former life,” said Kallman, who opened his agency with Steven Erich in 2016 after working at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, Wieden+Kennedy and Barton F. Graf. (Erich's resume includes Crispin Porter & Bogusky, TBWA\Chiat\Day and The Martin Agency.) Clients "want to see you doing great work at your new agency," he added. "We did just that. We had small growth. I think we’ve been around long enough. In the past year and a half, we’ve become attractive to a lot of people. And we’re finally taking off.”

Kallman finds in Lal a leader with the correct skillset and strong experience. “He’s a long-time Bay Area guy,” Kallman said of Lal, “and he complements me in a lot of ways. I have a lot of experience in copywriting, and he’s a fantastic art director.”

Kallman also said in a press release, “He’s also fun to work with, which frankly, matters a lot.”

“My philosophy is not to be precious about [the title]. Even if I’ve gotten this title, I’ve also gotten the responsibility to ride by the brand, and I’ll do whatever it takes,” Lal said.

During his decade-long tenure with Camp+King, Lal worked on notable campaigns including the introduction of Shaquille O’Neal as Papa John’s ambassador and revamping the Energizer Bunny mascot. Lal recalled during the interview that following his creative work, Papa John’s stock price increased by 50%.

Both Kallman and Lal see a changing trajectory in the ad industry. “Advertising over the past years has become really serious,” Kallman said, “it’s become cost-oriented, and the pandemic didn’t help either. There’s a really solemn tone in a lot of [ad] work. One kind of thing we’d love to do is [create] broadly appealing, funny work, the kind of commercial that people like to talk about and share. With the pandemic coming to an end, it’s okay to do fun work again.”

The duo also maintained that current day marketers need to respect their roots. “If you look at the DNA of a brand,” Kallman said, “[companies should try] to bring it back in a modern way, instead of trying to reinvent themselves. They should be themselves and bring back everything people loved about them and what made them great to begin with.”

Lal cited Energizer as an example. “The last 15 years,” he said the Energizer Bunny, “had been relegated to a bum at the end of a spot. It’s become more like a logo and mascot, instead of a disrupter, which was its original role.” The trick with the brand mascot was to “bring back its glory but make it live in the modern world and the pop culture.”

The two share the same vision for Erich and Kallman. “We have an amazing creative department now," said Lal. "And what I’d love to do for the department is to start to see the outer bound of the clients’ comfort zone, going beyond just film, and into social.”

“I’m excited for [Kallman’s] commitment to creativity,” Lal added. “This kind of agency is becoming rarer and rarer. A lot of other agencies are trying to become a little bit of everything, and they’ve been losing their core. What’s great about Erich and Kallman is that they know who they are, and they know how to present themselves to the world. They have a certain confidence and conviction about that.”