Casting is everything.

It was the mid-nineties, a few years before I opened my own shop. There I was at a “meet and greet” alongside my boss, Cliff Freeman, owner and Chief Creative Officer of Cliff Freeman & Partners. We were at the offices of a very famous (and patriotic) clothing brand. Sitting across the table was the label owner himself. He stared us both down for a minute and proceeded to tell us why we were there. He said he liked the agency’s work and that he wanted us to create a Super Bowl spot for him. Before we could respond, he went on to tell us about an idea he had that he wanted us to shoot. It was a spot featuring…him. He explained how he wanted to be shot and the celeb he wanted to star alongside.

The look on our faces went from “Hell yes” to “How can we get the Hell out of here” in a matter of seconds. After listening to his idea, he asked for our thoughts.

It was a rare moment. Sitting across from one of the most popular owners in the world and yet he had no idea what we really did for a living. Or the type of value that an agency could bring to the table.

Before we could answer, Cliff turned to me and quietly said: Bad casting.

Bad casting was right. Not just for the owner’s role in the commercial, but for the type of client he would have been. To this day, I still believe in the casting philosophy.

Whether it’s casting the right actor, the right client, the right life partner, or the right friends, casting is everything.