At TWBA/Chiat/Day, they play on the power of disruption. I've heard of the infamous ad agency numerous times through Professor Stefl. Everything about this agency screams unique - from its yellow exterior to the futuristic white tunnels that lead you into the office space. During our tour of the company, we saw shipping crates turned into meeting rooms, and full length basketball courts scattered throughout the property. It was absolutely amazing to see how innovative this company is - whether it be in their ad campaigns or their office design.
We heard from Abigail Weintraub and Connor, a former LMU M-School student living the dream marketing life. For Connor, he luckily landed a job in the gatorade department of Chiat after graduating from the M-School. On the other hand, Abigail took many twists and turns during her life. She moved around from Ski Instructor to a "Devil Wears Prada" assistant eventually making her way to Chiat as a Planning Director. While she was telling her story, I thought to myself, Wow, that is exactly how I feel. She didn't know exactly what she wanted to do, and she didn't feel like she was qualified for the initial marketing job she was offered. But over time, she eventually became the Planning Director for Chiat's Gatorade account that has made so many inspiring advertisements.
I think the most interesting take-away from this visit was the power of disruption and its application to our M4G projects. Chiat takes ordinary conventions and flips them around to challenge that ordinary thought. For example, the Abby Wambach commercial was one that I had seen when it had just released. It was amazing to hear more about the idea behind the ad and what that meant for the sports industry. Honestly, it made me tear up a little. What Chiat did was think about the convention about how "heroes" and sports atheltes want to be remembered in a grand way. But how do they create an ad that goes against that thought?
"Forget Me" is the spot they created that encouraged people to be greater. While Abby will be a legend forever, she wants people of future generations to be even greater than she was. One simple word, disruption, can change the way you view all of the issues you face. It is truly amazing how disrupting a category can lead to amazing ads. I think that this topic of disruption truly captures the way that people at Chiat think. They are creative, innovative, but most importantly they know how to turn heads and create buzz.