Valentina Culatti — Managing Director, Unit9
Valentina talks to TheNextGag about virtual reality, the future of live content and managing an innovation-driven production company.
Valentina Culatti is the Managing Director of Unit9 in the UK.
Valentina has 10 years experience working in interactive production. After graduating in Science of Communication with a Master degree in Multimedia Content Design she started her career in postproduction. She later moved to UNIT9 working as producer on interactive projects. She has produced several award winning campaigns working for global brands and advertising agencies.
Since 2014 Valentina has been Managing Director at innovation studio UNIT9 — leading an award-winning team of over 200 creatives and technologists in 4 locations around the world, working across Digital, Gaming, Experiential, Film and VR.
She was first offered the MD role while she was on maternity leave, in an inspiring vote of confidence for women (of whom there are still few in digital production).
Under her management, UNIT9 has been listed in Ad Age’s Global Production A-List; it has won an Emmy, a BAFTA, a Gold Lion at Cannes and many other awards at the highest international level. It also became the second company in the world to be awarded 100 FWAs.
In the wider industry, Valentina has helped to pioneer the first set of industry guidelines for interactive advertising design development, and a standard interactive production contract.
She is has been invited to a judge or as president of jury for various awards among which British Arrows, ADCE, Ciclope Festival. She actively mentors
young talents in the industry. She was also named among the 20 Ad Age’s Women to Watch Europe 2016.
THENEXTGAG: UNIT9 SEEMS TO BE GOING ALL IN ON VIRTUAL REALITY. IS THAT THE CASE ?
VALENTINA CULATTI: We got into the VR market early. Our studio delivered the first project in January 2014 and we’ve been honing our skills every day since. We go all in from a quality standpoint. VR is a great channel not only for events, but also for marketing and sales. Its distribution is pretty wide now; from 360 video on Youtube and Facebook to interactive VR in app stores and on gaming platforms like Steam. But our offering is much wider than this. We create branded content with digital, VFX, Live Broadcast, TVC, microsite and beyond. VR is just one of many distribution platforms for this content.
TNG: HOW DO YOU DIFFERENTIATE WITH YOUR COMPETITORS ?
VC: We are able to develop and combine an array of creative talent from art, engineering, product design, filing, all the way through to architecture. We have the capability to add niches to create a new form of premium advertising. That’s hard to find elsewhere.
TNG: ARE PRODUCTIONS BECOMING MORE COMPLICATED ?
VC: When I started as junior project manager (I won’t specify how long has passed) it was all about the craft — we just responded to executional RFPs where ideas were provided. Then it became about ideas + craft. As technology becomes more complex, production companies have the opportunity to conceptualize alongside their agency partners.
And now it’s about content. Everything we deliver should be a form of content — something the audience will consume as it is. Is it more complicated to deliver? Well, it’s different. You deliver a campaign like you deliver, say, software. It’s more complex. You need different tools, bigger hammers. But if you know how to use them it’s no more complicated.
Sometimes technology is just a gimmick to hide a poor idea.
TNG: IS ADVERTISING MOVING FAST ENOUGH ACCORDING TO YOU ?
VC: Moving fast enough to catch up with technology? Not necessarily. But I am not sure if that is relevant. Sometimes technology is just a gimmick to hide a poor idea. As a trend it’s hard to say. There are various forms of advertising. Adtech is moving very fast. Print, not so much. Digital is always bumping around.
From our side we create our own market around content through innovation.
TNG: DO YOU SEE A TREND OF ADVERTISERS WORKING DIRECTLY WORKING DIRECTLY WITH PRODUCTION COMPANIES AND BYPASSING AD AGENCIES ?
VC: Our door is always open and anyone with a brief and the right budget can be a client. But we have definitely noticed more brands knocking directly on our doors over the past few years.
As budgets are ever shrinking this is a natural shift, just as there are advertisers bypassing production companies to go off and crowdsource content. It’s truly all about budget, not agencies vs production.
TNG: WHAT DO YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT DIGITAL ?
VC: Pixels, I love pixels. I think of code as a language. I studied semiotics at university and digital struck me as a yet-to-be-explored language that could be manifested in different combinations to communicate. I find it fascinating.
TNG: ARE YOU OPTIMISTIC ABOUT THE FUTURE OF BIG DIGITAL EXPERIENCES ?
VC: As long they can be distributed to an audience, they are relevant. For example, Facebook Live and Youtube Live provide a stage for a new generation of experiential content, all of which is part of the digital ecosystem.
TNG: HOW DOES A PRODUCER GROW INTO A MANAGEMENT ROLE, TAKING OVER THE SALES AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT ?
VC: Managing a company is very much like producing a project once you have the brief, where your assets are people, only your scope is broader and the deadline is longer term. Coming up with the brief is the real challenge and it is a highly creative job that requires teamwork.
However it all comes down to your individual inclination. Not all producers are made to be business managers, nor would they all enjoy it. Some would miss the proximity to a smaller team, the adrenaline of the short deadline and the immediate satisfaction of the deliverable.
In my case I found beauty in company management. It made me grow as a person and gave the whole challenge more purpose. And I promise it doesn’t lack adrenaline, especially when you are handling an innovation-driven production company!
TNG: HOW IMPORTANT IS IT FOR UNIT9 TO HAVE LOCAL OFFICES OUTSIDE OF THE LONDON HEADQUARTERS ?
VC: We technically have four main offices, as it is important to have a local point of presence. However we work as one, like a social network. For instance, we opened our Los Angeles office last year and established a creative presence in Hong Kong this year, allowing us to have a virtuous 24h creative circle — what we call the UNIT9 Silk Road. We believe in remote work as well, so co-location is not necessary.
We work with the best talent on a global scale and Internet is our shared space.
TNG: THE PRODUCTION PHASE CAN BE QUITE STRESSFUL WHEN WORKING UNDER TIGHT DEADLINES OF DEALING WITH NEW TECHNOLOGIES. HOW DO YOU MAINTAIN A HAPPY WORKPLACE IN THESE CONDITIONS ?
VC: My partner in crime would say we leave the door open with a fake £100 note glued on the floor. I’d add some empathy to it ;-)
Valentina Culatti
Managing Director
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