- Keiji creating art and upping the inspiration and fun with his “GRRRanimals of WKNY” mural:

The truth of the matter is that there are somewhere around 160 people in our office, and there are somewhere around 100 creatures on the stairwell. What that means is that many of the animals are really amalgams of several different people, groups of people, and so forth. Yes, it’s true that some of the creatures are more direct reference to specific individuals, but for the most part the animals are mixes. Literally months of thought have gone into the careful analysis of the bestial representations of various people in the office, and I think in short its best to consider the value of an animal in a more eastern way—that is to say, its all good, even if you’re a pig or a rat. Also frankly, if you think about it, you’re probaby not a dragon, or a liger or like a griffon or something.

Stairwell V2 from Keiji Ando on Vimeo.

- Nick completing his “100 Bands in 100 Days” project and inviting us all to his final show:

The fact that I can find live music in downtown Hartford, CT on a random Monday night amazes me. How I can still see Les Paul, the 93-year old man who invented the solid body electric guitar, every Monday night, have him flick me off for a picture and meet him afterwards amazes me. The fact that I can be asked on stage to perform with a band that’s been together for over 20 years, to a sold out crowd in NYC amazes me. And the fact that I can see 100 consecutive days of live music and still love music amazes me.

- Phil taking pictures of WKNYers in a project (that didn’t start as a project at all) called Rooftop at Seven:

Well I shot Sara and then Heather and those went well so I was like fuck it. LET’S GO.

Three very different projects that transform employees to people (or co-workers to friends) and make me feel more connected to the place and people around here. Not human resource sanctioned or agency funded necessarily (except for Keiji’s paint I think) but permitted (if not encouraged) and extremely valuable.

I caught him on his Yahoo! Live Channel (which I encourage you to check out), and I got him chatting for 40 minutes (as you can see by the time-stamps below). Unfortunately there’s no way record a video conversation, so we kicked it old school and IMed with our live images up on screen. As you’ll see, he didn’t even need my “questions” (I’m still learning how to interview); rather, he just riffed some great stuff off the dome. And I’ve got it here for you to feast on…

What’s your philosophy when it comes to doing?
[ 4:30] akispicer I’ll quote yoda: “Do. Or do not. There is no try.”
[ 4:30] akispicer Can’t think this stuff to paralysis.
[ 4:31] akispicer Fast to beta…stick and move. And honestly, I dunno if the agency/client pace can afford that kind of speed.

What’s on the web have you been interested in lately?
[ 4:32] akispicer Lately? It can shift every week, I have a short attention span with web toys.
[ 4:32] akispicer This for sure. (POST INTERVIEW INSERT: HE’S TALKING ABOUT YAHOO! LIVE.)
[ 4:32] akispicer I’ve noted that we spent some thousands on a vid conference room here…
[ 4:33] akispicer Noone knows how to turn the damn room on.
[ 4:33] akispicer And suddenly all that is felled by democratic technologies like this.
[ 4:33] akispicer No software…no learning curve…no equipment…no manual.
[ 4:34] akispicer Just click and things work right out of the box.
[ 4:36] akispicer Other than this tech…Slideshare…
[ 4:36] akispicer I like how Slideshare is pooling thinking…
[ 4:37] akispicer I am using Slideshare like a Google…looking up topics and seeing how other people are thinking and
[ 4:37] akispicer responding to the same topic.

What have you been doing outside of Fallon?
[ 4:37] akispicer Outside Fallon…Planning For Good.
[ 4:37] akispicer 1500 of the brightest minds in advertising want to collaborate with good causes and make a difference.
[ 4:38] akispicer Ed Cotton has been taking the lead…others of us chip in
[ 4:38] akispicer I am trying to harness the same model for local solutions.
[ 4:39] akispicer We’ve been learning alot about actually DOING what we push in all our decks to clients.

How do you not get overwhelmed by all the new online technologies (“toys”)?
[ 4:45] akispicer It can take a long minute to check emails, check RSS feeds, click on “time waster” links I get IM’d…

How do you make that minute matter (everything you put into del.icio.us, and on the blog, and that you read)?
[ 4:46] akispicer I definitely notice my attention span shortening…but I try to provide value to clients and others thru
[ 4:46] akispicer client blog posting, trends presentations, and day-to-day strategy decks
[ 4:47] akispicer The time suck pays back when you have to deliver an answer to a complex problem and you have all the refs
[ 4:47] akispicer ready.
[ 4:47] akispicer More of my time is being spent with FILING AND LIBRARY RECALL SYSTEMS
[ 4:47] akispicer tagging, using consistent names and redistributing info to parties that could use it
[ 4:48] akispicer Facebook and blogs serve as a broadcast system so that I don’t have to find the people in my networks, I just
[ 4:48] akispicer have to order and organize for their digestion. Its all about connecting the dots for others.
[ 4:49] akispicer My main issue with newspapers, magazines and TV is that I cannot tag and file and forward insightful info.

How does all this impact your role as a planner (POST INTERVIEW INSERT: Planning Director)?
[ 4:50] akispicer I see my role here and with clients as a reporter, or guide.
[ 4:51] akispicer I like immersing myself into these nets and coming back to “report”
[ 4:51] akispicer Clients and agencies are intimidated by these technologies…and often, they just need a Virgil to guide them
[ 4:52] akispicer I like the process of experimentation and synthesis – simplifying it into language that is universal, really.

So everyone gets up to speed and things don’t get lost in translation (like from acct to creative or marketing to operations)?
[ 4:57] akispicer Well, I think social computing holds the potential to get back to communicating, actually.
[ 4:57] akispicer Take today with Y! Live…the designer hit me up on my channel and we chatted.
[ 4:58] akispicer He answered my questions, he asked me a few.
[ 4:58] akispicer When is the last time the head of a major brand “communicated” directly with a customer/user/prospect/person?
[ 4:59] akispicer Social computing FORCES brands and creators to get out here and talk. It is forcing politicians to do the same
[ 5:00] akispicer It is forcing agencies to learn a new approach…
[ 5:00] akispicer Yeah, I think you and I and many others are digital natives so it is not so awkward to imagine getting on our
[ 5:01] akispicer websites and blogs and talking back. Or risking questions from open web.

Risking?
[ 5:02] akispicer We are a bit more improvisational and free form…that is considered a “risk” by most clientele and brands and
[ 5:02] akispicer politicians.
[ 5:03] akispicer Most brands could never do what Y! Live just did, which is open up the windows and let me and you peek behind
[ 5:03] akispicer the curtain and just hold a one-to-one conversation.
[ 5:03] akispicer And that simple tactic makes me a believer and evangelist…

What other brands are bringing people in like this?
[ 5:05] akispicer Much of the innovation is happening out here, amongst people, not necessarily among the big brands.
[ 5:06] akispicer I liked Virgin America’s recent appeal to the masses to get the DOT to greenlight VA to fly.

And what about Brainfood? That seems like an example of you putting it (all) out there for people (including the competition) to see.
[ 5:10] akispicer I have a fundamental issue with hiding information.
[ 5:11] akispicer We all do so much research and info gathering…only to present to 6 people and store/hide the insights away.
[ 5:11] akispicer Brainfood is really about making what we do open and present before the whole agency.
[ 5:12] akispicer Its also about getting creativity and ideas out of the ghetto of “creative departments”.
[ 5:12] akispicer Everyone at the agency contributes. Everyone is important. Let’s share ideas together. And eat free lunch, too
[ 5:13] akispicer I have found that agencies are packed with pockets of innovators in the interactive basements, in the
[ 5:13] akispicer coordinator desks, in the production offices.
[ 5:14] akispicer And these pockets of energy and passion and insight often go untapped
[ 5:15] akispicer So I view my role as trying to source and direct these pockets to make sparks happen.

Hopefully you all will agree, this seemed like a perfect way to end. Thanks Aki. See you soon…without any travel!

Now having been able to re-watch last night’s ads, read some reviews, engage in (limited) conversations, and most importantly awaken from my food+beverage coma, I will report on the day after. Firstly, you may have noticed that above I said convos were limited. Surprisingly, few people at the advertising agency were talking about the commercials today. There were a few mentions of the Coca-Cola work (which I should have mentioned we do here at Wieden in the last post) as well as a bit of debate on the CareerBuilder stuff, which our Portland office does too. As much as I’d like to delve into that one alone, I’m going to hold my tongue as a relatively new guy because I don’t want to be forced to use CB! (I will say that the site is more interesting and would be interested to hear your take on the 4 spots. Do you think the right two were selected?)

Anyway, we weren’t talking about the ads. We were talking about the game. Yes, living in New York had a big impact; however, we’re still at an ad agency (with spots in the game). So if we were talking about the Giants and Patriots in this creative space, it’s probably a safe bet that the cooler talk elsewhere was less about the commercials this year. The point: Context matters. Because the game was actually really good, the spots got less of the spotlight.

Context also matters for each individual viewer. What the previous post should show is how personal reactions can be. Two of the most memorable spots for me (the two about which I chose to blog) were too of the least talked about spots this year. Not particularly positive or negative reactions. A look at the more quantitative measures (the ad polls) shows a variety of results. They are, however, consistent in the number one: Dalmatian training a Clydesdale for Budweiser.

Yet this point should not discount the group setting in which most Super Bowl viewing takes place, and the (not always explicit or obvious) impact that has on each ad’s likability. Groups tend to reach a sort of consensus. Think about your reviews today. Was there any ad you had a change of heart on? (Heart stays in body with change.) Even if you held the minority opinion in the living room, you can start fresh with the consensus viewpoint and have a better chance of having something in common/avoiding a debate today. I’m sure you’re not that easily swayed and you have a spine (just not a heart—check your boss’ office); I’m just suggesting it’s possible you left the party thinking that Life Water wasted its money because Naomi is the worst even if you thought lizards dancing to Thriller was pretty cute.

But the most interesting thing I saw today has to be this advertising review by the Miller High Life guy. He definitely tells it like it is and is more truly the voice of the average viewer.

Crazy props on the turnaround time. If Saatchi & Saatchi did create it, though, it’s a little sneaky (read as: wack) to hype its own Tide spot.

His audience was diverse. It consisted of students (nurses to philosophers to businesspeople from over 85 countries), faculty (and the pray-ers mentioned above), and supporters of the students (grandparents to teens – and younger, but they weren’t listening). He had undergrads and grads receiving doctorates. He had first time graduation attendees and others who’d heard 3+ “commencement speeches” in their lives. So how’d he seem to receive a unanimous two thumbs up?

By being himself. By telling his story of success (and failure). He used his connection to BC (an alumn) and the city of Boston to his advantage but didn’t overplay it. He was able to appeal to the everyman (and everywoman) by being sincere and hopeful. He kept it positive but didn’t shy away from some negative realities. He admitted he’s made a lot of money, but insisted giving back makes him most happy. In fact, he “highly recommended” the business grads make lots of money as well “AND share it with the nurses, teachers, scientists, etc.” My mother described it as all the optimism and challenge of a traditional address but special. There’s a right amount of trite – and he hit the nail on the head. My sister stayed awake after watching the sunrise with her classmates the morning of the ceremony. But he didn’t tell one good mini-autobiography. He told his story sprinkled with mini-stories and relevant cultural references. Calling on everyone from Jack Nicholson (“We can handle the truth!”) to Ted Williams (“even he got out 6 of 10 times”) to Judaism (“tikkun olam,” which translates to repair the world and suggests as he did, the world is broken), he in my friend Jake’s words “won the [audience's] hearts and minds.” He didn’t shy away from religion, but didn’t alienate or make it central. Yes, the Hebrew reference was particularly welcome by our Jewish family but he made “giving” central (in keeping with the Jesuit ideal) and ended by telling all to “Trust in God but lock your car.” (pron. k-ah)

And finally (he joked, “how many of you are happy to hear ‘and finally?’”) he kept it relatively short and sweet.

As someone in the advertising industry, I listened with different set of ears. For example, I was less surprised when he quit his job at 25 when asked to move to Detroit to work his agency’s car account. But I really listened to hear if he gets it. I listened to hear if he was going to address the changes in technology and communication and how they are changing his business and the world. If he’d say “blog” like he understands it and because of that can mock it. If he’d talk about his agency’s funniest commercials or most successful business results. He didn’t. He told a story of perseverance (his agency made $37,000 yr. 1) and togetherness and fulfillment (does it matter the race, ethnicity, or religion of the man or woman who finds the cure to Alzheimers?)

While he and his partners, in his words “modestly named the agency after themselves,” when you shorthand his agency’s name, the C’s usually miss out. But it was clear his agency would embody his values (respect and acceptance, hard-work and sense of humor). If you’re ever in Boston, I’d suggest stopping by.

P.S. It was one of the first agencies (especially in the bigger, more established ones) to turn its corporate website into a blog. It’s very good. Baba Shetty used to be over at Fallon and he’s very good too. Take a look here.