• by September 9, 2008

Founder and CEO, Big Spaceship

For Michael Lebowitz, going to work means driving a big spaceship and playing with cool new ideas every day. A cross between art school chic and nerdy science lab, Lebowitz's Brooklyn-based digital shop charts its own path.

Take, for example, the independent shop's 2008 awards, which include Cannes Lions for the HBO "Voyeur" campaign (in partnership with BBDO). It scored a Grand Prix for Integrated Promotional Campaign; a Gold Cyber Lion and Gold for Integrated Film; a Silver for Use of Digital Media; and Clios in the Consumer Targeted Site and Video-Moving Image categories. There's that Primetime Emmy nomination for the enigmatic campaign in the Interactive Media, Fiction segment. And those are just a few of the nods.

Big Spaceship's work for "Voyeur," Lebowitz says, showed how a traditional linear piece of media could be created and adapted natively into a digital environment without a loss - and actually a gain. "There's been a trend to just slap video online, and it's ineffective. You can't just expect people to sit through your ad online. It needs to be authentic and engaging."

"There was something authentic there that had to do with how it was put together," he adds. "It takes a lot of work to let that piece of work do the talking. It's subtle. It's about slowly pulling people into the experience." The agency took a piece of film written and planned by BBDO and translated it for the digital world. "They shot a beautiful piece of film."

Corona Beach rests on the premise that Corona owns the perfect, relaxing moment. Cramer-Krasselt took Corona to the beach, and Big Spaceship made the site relaxing. "There's not too much exposition there. You have to trust people to be smart and engaged enough to find their way through something, and if they don't, there's still value there." Lebowitz's passion for the craft and design of digital storytelling appears limitless. "I'm a contextualizer. I talk to clients and potential clients and I know what's possible. Hopefully I know how to talk about this stuff so that people get really excited. There's no room for repetition anymore. You have to innovate each and every time now."