The Day That Re-Affirmed My Love For Advertising

In front of me, just past the Surf Board Bar, stood a full hardwood basketball court complete with a rack of balls and a custom, full feature scoreboard. A woman passed in front of me loosely gripping one end of a leash while the other snugly hugged the neck of her pug dog. This may not seem like such an odd picture but I wasn't in any gym or park, I was in an office. An office building full of professionals who are good at what they do, damn good. I was within the walls of TBWA\Chiat\Day - Los Angeles, the third highest-rated advertising agency in the world according to the 2011 Pencil Rankings.

The American Division of TBWA Worldwide, TBWA\Chiat\Day was formed after a 1995 merger of the TBWA and Chiat\Day agencies. They have offices located in New York, Nashville and Los Angeles and a lengthy list of big name clients including Nissan, Gatorade and Apple. A friend of mine had relocated to Los Angeles in an attempt to work for the company after obtaining an advertising degree from the University of Oregon. It took some persistence and tough skin but Colleen soon found herself hired on with TBWA\Chiat\Day as an assistant on the Nissan account and hasn't looked back since. At TBWA\Chiat\Day personnel is hired by individual account, Apple differs from Gatorade, Absolut and Infiniti differ and so on.

Guest Pass

Colleen, now a near Account Exec for Nissan, invited me out to the office for lunch last week. It was a little trek from downtown Los Angeles located just near the 405, not too far from LAX. I got there in decent time and pulled up to a friendly security guard who directed me to guest parking in front of the main entrance. It was unlike any office I had ever seen before. I ascended up a set of stairs that led to a reception area where I was warmly greeted by a woman at the front desk. As I told her I was waiting for Colleen, she created a name-badge for me. Even the guest pass was outside of the box, it was vibrant with colors and somehow managed to mention scooters on it. I expressed what a beautiful office it was to the young lady behind the desk. She gently laughed at me with the you-haven't-seen-nothin-yet kind of tone. She was right, I hadn't seen anything yet.

Front Entrance

Colleen met me and led me through the breezeway that hovered about fifteen feet above the parking lot and connected the reception area and the Costco-sized office building. The space was bustling with people. Some hustling from place to place, others casually strolling through the terrain of desks, mobile whiteboards full of marker and park benches, yes park benches. A tree-lined park sat smack dab in the middle of the office and had visitors conversing over sandwiches from the cafe upstairs. Colleen told me it was the meeting place for interviews and such.

She gave me the grand tour showing me the account segregated areas, the eateries and the basketball court of course. I was amazed. The energy in the entire building was upbeat and the vibe was fresh, granted it was a Friday. This wasn't an office full of employees, it was a collaborative environment of creative genius upheld by individuals with one goal; to kick ass at their jobs. Sample work of various accounts lined the walls, Apple computers graced each desk. The former Chief Creative Officer and now Chairman and Global Director of TBWA\Worldwide, Lee Clow is notorious in the advertising community. His office sat on the ground floor visible to all. It was very simple and transparent. Much different than those of Roger Sterling and Don Draper on AMC's hit show Mad Men. Although he was not present inside, I still stopped to take a look at it. What an honor to be standing in front of it and yet it felt so normal. That was the best part about it, one could not look at the office or it's environment and pick out the company hierarchy, from execs to assistants.

After deciding to make the move from the business school to the school of journalism and communications to focus on advertising so late into my academic career, I felt shaky about my decision. I needed something to reassure my passion and desire for this industry. I found that something the day I visited TBWA\Chiat\Day. For that, I could not be happier.


RD