Another in our series of what makes the big boys & girls tick.
James Cooper has most recently bat n’ balled in his notable career with Dare and Another Anomally to be recently appointed Senior Vice President, Interactive Creative Director of Saatchi & Saatchi NYC. It’s a another big role where he seems to be successfully marrying work and play. Play being Ping Pong.
James, what’s the fascination with ball control and how’s it influencing your output?
I once met Johan Cruyff. Before Zinedine Zidane came along Cruyff was widely considered to be the third best footballer in the world, behind Pele and Maradonna. I would say that Zidane has proved that he is up there in godlike status because he won the World Cup and the European Cup scoring in both finals – one an outrageous LEFT FOOTED volley. He also headbutted Matterazzi in his last game ever which makes him a fallen hero.
Anyway, I digress.
Johan Cruyff is the thinking man’s footballer. He once did this:
No one had ever done that before. But the main thing he is known for is coining the term ‘Total Football’. The idea that any player should be able to play in any position. This is not to say that there aren’t players who are better at scoring goals or making tackles but the idea being that if you appreciate what everyone else does then you will improve the team and yourself.
Over the last few years I have been thinking about Total Art. The idea that these days you need to be a Renaissance Man – you need to be able to do a bit of everything. The proliferartion of creative media has necessitated that.
It’s no longer good enough to be a decent writer (perhaps it never was, not to be a true great) you have to know about Art, Music, Architecture, Film, Fashion, Cooking, Knitting and of course Football. I’m very interested in all of those, apart from the Knitting. But there was a knitting craze last year you know? I do all of this when not working. However I tend to have my best thoughts when I’m not ‘working’. Which is both a blessing and a curse. I try to turn the internet off at the weekend but of course have become addicted to send little 140 character messages about what I’m doing.
And then there is Ping Pong.
I’m not really sure where that came from. I used to play as a kid. I played with a friend who is now Andy Murray’s coach. He is always on the telly sitting in the box. I started a magazine called Celebrity Ping Pong because I had been doing digital work for so long that I felt like it would be good to produce something tangible. I also thought it would be a good way to meet cool people when I moved to New York. And it’s true, I’m now friends with Judah Friedlander from 30 Rock. I’m not expecting to make any money out of Ping Pong but it’s a fun thing to do outside of work.
I have a friend, Ryan, who designed an amazing table that is part conference table part ping pong table. It’s now in my office. I have meetings on it and then play the odd game. It keeps the mind ticking over.
Check out the ‘mag’ here;Â cppmag.com
