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Sep 27, 2026
[Volume 1 Issue 1.1] BEN JAMES: His First 30 Days as Crispin's New CCO (part 1)
[Volume 1 Issue 1.1] BEN JAMES: His First 30 Days as Crispin's New CCO (part 1)
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Transcript
0:00
This is great. I really appreciate you doing this. This is exciting. No, I'm just...
0:03
I know you ha- I can only imagine what you have going on right now with, with the timelines and stuff, so I appreciate you making the time. [laughs] It's good. This is exactly what we should be doing.
0:11
It's, like, a great way to share what's happening in real time.
0:14
[upbeat music] We can literally just jump in if you wanna just start chatting, so- Yeah, man.
0:37
Anything, I'm, I'm ready to just be with you. Cool. So, it's good to be here. All right, so week, you're in week two in the new job. What, uh, how has the week been going?
0:47
Like, what have been your kind of biggest focus areas this week specifically? Yeah. So yeah, I'm week two, new gig, which is wild because in some ways it has an old gig vibe to it just based on what it is. Yeah.
1:01
Um, and it's exciting. So, the thing I'm focused on the most is listening to the team. Yeah. Um, so this week... Like, I live in New York. We have an office in New York in the World Trade Center. Mm-hmm.
1:15
Um, we have an office in Houston, and I went to Houston Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this week and spent time with the team. We have an incredible group of designers, incredible at design systems, package design.
1:33
It's like, it's just like, it's like culture packaging. It's like soul- Hmm... with respect kind of work that's going on. Um, it- they're in Houston.
1:42
It's like they're inspired by the national park system in the kind of work that they do. It's like- [laughs]...
1:48
there's really interesting kinds of things going on, and they're doing work like this, like sticky fingers package design. Oh, yeah. Right on. I know that. [laughs] We actually use that stuff. Yeah.
1:59
So they, they, they do that here. That's cool. And, um- So what's the, like the da- What does that mean? What's the day-to-day look like? Is this like one-on-ones? Yeah. Is it like team meetings?
2:07
Like, how does that shake out? Yeah. So, you know, the primary thing is to create space to have one-on-ones. So, I set it up to have make it have casual vibes.
2:18
It ended up having a bit of formality with it, but the people here are just beautifully transparent and open about what they wanna do, you know, their dreams and what they wanna make.
2:32
And so I've now had 25 one-on-one meetings in two weeks. Nice.
2:37
And I've taken all of the things of that in their dreams and their ideas, and, like, the things that might get in the way, and we're looking at how do we design
2:48
the system that we want to do things like, you know, newsroom social, creative media- Hmm... and packaging. And that combination of things is the thing that's gonna help us invent the future. Um,
3:06
I have also created, uh, Wednesday wall reviews. Wednesday wall reviews. As things got, um, very,
3:19
you know, post-pandemic technology, sharing things via Figma boards- Hmm...
3:25
and, and Google Slides and Teams meetings, and we have people all over the country, so people join from a thing, and then they move to the next thing. It was like we're bringing back wall reviews.
3:38
We're just gonna look- Like physical. Like, you mean like in the- Physical... like in the... Yeah. Like this corkboard. Yep. And I'll set this up where we can look at it, but
3:46
this corkboard is really filled with work that, you know, the place has done and is the kind of stuff that we wanna do. Yeah. And so as part of the wall reviews and as part of the one-on-ones, we have
3:59
in New York, it like is a, a maker named Michaela who, uh, I noticed, you know, Michaela has been making the alphabet with breakfast. [laughs] Okay.
4:12
And so I was like, "You know, Michaela," and, and, and that's kind of the mode too. Everything's like, "Yes," and like, you know, but this is the breakfast alphabet, super cool and yummy. You know?
4:22
It's like- [laughs] And, you know, it's- S-... it's, it's beautiful, you know? And- Are these, are these for, are these, is this for work you're doing?
4:30
Are these concepts, or is this just stuff that you're doing like as you're- No, like this is... Yeah. It's, uh, right now it's, like, just...
4:38
That right, that right there is an example of something that's, like, out of Michaela's world- Hmm... and, like her, you know, own interest. So she made that and, and it's like one of the- That's very cool...
4:50
one, one of the challenges that we have is like, you know, when people are in, you know, remote environments and they can meet on the Teams meetings and stuff, they can't necessarily see- Hmm...
5:01
the things that drive each other.
5:03
It's even hard in agencies now to understand, like, a lot of agencies talk about this of like, "We don't understand quite what's even going on," and it's like you used to be able to go into an agency and you'd be like, "I see what this agency does," you know?
5:16
Yeah. Like that kind of thing. So we are in the middle of putting the people and what inspires them on the walls. And so that's literally- Nice...
5:26
you know, like that's what's going on behind us is like, you know- Whoa... uh, my barista made this. [laughs] You know? And, and, and his, his Instagram handle is Pray Thing, and it's beautiful, you know?
5:39
That's great, yeah. And I was in the coffee shop a few weeks back, and he was just painting this on cardboard, and I was like, "Dude, like, this stuff is, like, incredible." And then
5:52
I have this great relationship with my barista, and we just, like, got to talking, and I was like, "I'm taking this new job," da da da, in the same conversation.
6:01
I came back like a week and a half later, and he's like Hey, this is for your new office. Oh. Yeah. Right on. That's cool. And I, and I was like, "Wow." And I go, "What can I give you?" He's, "I want nothing monetary.
6:12
I don't want there to be that kind of an exchange." Like- Yeah... like, um, "I'm just inspired to hear about what y'all are doing, and, like, you know, just take this and, and be part of the inspiration now." And so,
6:27
um, so, so that's things. So this week I've focused on one-on-ones, weekly wall reviews, the- Is the... Not, sorry, not to interrupt. Is the, is that... 'Cause we've talked about this before.
6:37
Is, is the physical space, is that what you're already kinda like, is this, is that part of that? 'Cause I know we've talked about before- Yeah... like, you designing the office and, like, kind of- Yeah...
6:44
being, doing that part. That's what this is. Yeah, totally. Um, the, the physical space is very important. Um- Yeah... and I think a creative culture needs a physical space for people to connect. It's, it's not,
6:58
it's not the suggestion that we're going back to some mandated five-day thing, you know? Yeah. It, there's still remote, and there's still a need to be in lots of places, and we have people in lots of places. Yep.
7:10
But there's definitely a kind of work that just gets faster and more inspired when you can be together. So- Yeah... um, you are seeing, like, we are in the room that we're calling, uh, right brain. And- Nice...
7:24
this is the right brain room, and next door is the left brain room. Hmm. And that one has a boardroom table in it, and we're also gonna put some cool wallpaper in it.
7:31
We're not gonna make it a boring, uh, left brain room. But like- Is it, I can't re- Is it new space? Is that why? Is it, like, are you redesigning where they've already been? Yeah.
7:38
Or is it- So, um, in New York, for example, uh, Crispin is, is part of a group of offices in Stagwell, and the momentum at Crispin is really strong.
7:51
So, like, we've actually taken over a space where, um, it's, it's built like it can be, like, a, a social newsroom. And so- Yeah. [chuckles]...
8:03
uh, we are able to, um, create social newsroom models at Crispin, um, that, you know, we think you, you really can't get anywhere else.
8:12
And, um, it'll be because of the way that we're structured, the way that we're built. And I'll tell you about Thursday's thing too if you want, but, like, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, like yesterday? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
8:22
So in addition to this stuff, like, on... So Wednesdays are wall reviews, and then Thursdays we're doing chop it up, and we call it chop up the algorithm. [chuckles] And so we're getting these really long tables.
8:36
Like, uh, Houston has a really long table in the middle of the main room. Nice. And we all just gathered around the table, and we're, we're printing our algorithms.
8:46
So, like, we're taking screen grabs of what is coming at us, and then we are printing out what we see, rather than just, like, sharing the link with each other. Individually?
8:57
Like, you're, like, the, what, like, the individual profiles and their algorithms? Is that what you mean?
9:01
Yeah, like, um, I've, I took, uh, screen grabs of mine in a 10-minute period on August 1st at, like, 4:15 in the morning. Nice. Yeah.
9:11
So I was like, "This is what's in my algorithm at 4:15 in the morning on Saturday, August 1st."
9:18
And I showed it, and I was like, in a 10-minute period, it's like, and it's, it's like you can totally tell I'm, like, a marketing nut because- [chuckles] Yeah... it's like this is the funnel.
9:27
This is the difference between creativity and brand strategy. This is your friend Seth Matlins interviewing a CMO. Yeah.
9:34
This is, you know, someone who was on your team at The New York Times named Rachel playing the piano. That's the one that I spent the most time with, just Rachel playing the piano.
9:42
[chuckles] And then it went into, like, here's an ad, but it didn't have any narrative structure to it or anything like that. Hmm.
9:49
But it was an ad 'cause it said ad in the top left corner, and you could buy shoes from it. But it didn't have the traditional narrative structure at all. I don't know what agency did it, anything like that.
10:01
But I was like, "I like that." And then, you know, and then I moved on from it, and it was like, here's some fonts that will inspire you. Here are ways to organize complex ideas into, like, visual systems.
10:14
And it was like, and then, like, Taylor Lorenz doing, like, AI-generated stuff. And, like, in 10 minutes, it was like I saw all that. Yeah.
10:25
Like, you know, influence on what we think the funnel is, influence on what we think the word strategy is, something that is an ad but isn't an ad based on what we think an ad is, you know? And so
10:40
the real point is chop up your algorithm. Like, don't just screen grab it or send the link. Like, screen grab it and print it out, and then have a discussion about what is happening in your algorithm, you know?
10:53
Like, the stuff that inspires us right now, like, my daughter was dancing in a bodega the other day, and she was just, you know, dancing, looking at the camera, and just moving and grooving and doing- Yeah...
11:07
these things, and I, I didn't get the video capture of it.
11:10
So I went back later, and I, like, shot the front of the bodega on the mat where the security camera was, and then I just went into ChatGPT and described the situation I had been, and then placed, like, a kid dancing there.
11:26
And so then I was like, "Well, that's what- Huh... I'm doing with it now." Like, that's what we're doing to be inspired in how we're making things, is I was like- That's interesting...
11:39
I can be inspired by the moment now, and I don't necessarily even need to, like, violate a trust of, like, showing [chuckles] my kid and the inspiration or anything like that. But, like- Yeah...
11:50
go back and find exactly the thing, and then recreate authentically what happened so that then we- That's really cool...
11:56
can say, "Hey, the goal is to create some natural real things like that, and create things like social newsrooms."
12:01
So we're calling, uh, Thursdays at 10 o'clock chop up the algorithm, where we- Sit down and we chop up the algorithm, and we look at, um, like some intentional time together to share things free of technology, but talking a lot about technology.
12:16
So this is part of-- So this is... Okay, so just to clarify, this isn't part necessarily like, um, icebreakers or anything like that. This is part of... You're implementing this as part of the new way of working almost.
12:25
Like this is something that's gonna be weekly as part of work. Well, it's-- Yeah, totally. It's, it's a mix of both. Yeah. It's, it's a chance to get people around the table talking and give everyone
12:38
a chance to g- have a voice. Like, everyone brings culture into the agency. Yeah. Like- Did you bring th- Is this from somewhere else, or was this new?
12:44
Is this an idea you brought from like a, a, a different role or a job before? No, I, um- Or is this something- No. Ch- chopping up the algorithm was created specifically for what I saw in the opportunity at Crispin.
12:57
Um- Yeah... it's actually built off of the spirit of what I knew working at it 25 years ago as a studio artist and a studio intern. Hmm.
13:08
We had these amazing tables where we had X-Acto knives, and we were cutting out boards and putting them on, you know, mat boards.
13:16
I was part of the lucky team that helped mount what was the, the Burger King pitch in like- Hmm... you know, '03 or '04. Hmm.
13:26
And so we stood around that table, and we would cut out the ads out of paper of the things that we wanted to do. I,
13:38
I cut the IKEA lamp spot out of that team's expression, so I could see it coming out of the printer. Hmm. And
13:48
as a young person joining the industry, I had this experience where I got to learn the way that work was made by really having like a physical, tactile experience with it. So we did that around, you know, a studio table.
14:05
Hmm. And they're like these nice butcher block tables and those kinds of things. And so we're even on the hunt for a good table right now. Yeah. But we're not gonna let our lack of table stop us at the moment.
14:16
But like the idea was like, okay, it's 25 years later, and there's some ethos in that that was good, and there was some stuff that happened in that past that we gotta leave there, you know? Yeah.
14:31
But we live in different times. We live in inventive times. We live in with a different internet. We live with different talent market. We, we live with different client expectations. And so it's like, what could we do
14:48
to motivate people to share about what they're seeing culturally? Yep. And so we're gonna take 30 minutes a week, which is one-80th of the 40-hour work week. Hmm.
15:03
And we're going to spend time together in real life chopping up the algorithm, and it's pretty simple. Anything that you see that inspires you, you screen grab it, throw it on a Google Slide.
15:16
You can do this in your phone. It takes five minutes. You see the thing, throw it in the slide. When you come to the office, you print it out, you bring it to the 10 o'clock chop up.
15:25
So we did 10 o'clock chop up in New York last week, and we did 10 o'clock- Hmm... chop up in Houston yesterday, and it's gotten some really interesting results and provocations, and that's the purpose. It's like,
15:43
let this settle. It's not a presentation where I'm trying to sell you on something. Yeah. And it's not a presentation where I'm trying to report on the results of something. It's not a presentation where I'm trying to
16:01
explain the case studies that I saw at an award show or something. Yeah. It's like, it's like these are images of what is influencing me right now on the little rectangle I carry around in my pocket. Totally. And like
16:18
too often, we just grab and share the link and send it to somebody, and we're like, "I shared it." And like your mindset when you do that is like they saw it, they registered it, they thought about it.
16:29
Even this happens with email. Yeah. You know, it happens with Teams messages. Like, "Hey, you got that, right?" And it's like, "No." Hmm. Like I...
16:38
You know, like there's a lot of stuff coming at us in so many different ways, so in order to help brands and businesses really think about the way that they break through all that noise, we have to chop up the algorithm.
16:52
So- That's great. I'd imagine it's like helping you too, like right now, just even just get to know everyone as well. It's, it's- Like that layer... amazing. Yeah. It's like it's...
17:01
You know, and, and we've talked about this. It's like there's super intimate things that go on in your algorithm. Hmm. There's stuff that like- Oh, yeah...
17:09
we know that there's things that we're not sharing with each other, and we're, we're telling each other like, okay, what are, what really are the limits of like, you know, like what's the kind of work that we wanna do?
17:22
Like what do we wanna be inspired by? What is the kind of brands that influence us? It's a, it's allowing a lot of conversation really quickly about like- Yeah...
17:34
how we think of strategy, how we think of creativity, how we think of creator. All those things are named things that there are a lot of creators and influencers and B2B people and personalities.
17:50
LinkedIn, oh man. [chuckles] Like they're telling you how it works, you know? Yeah. And we're like, "No, no, no. We're, we gather around a table.
18:00
We look at this stuff together, and we're looking at each other and saying, 'How do we want this to work for us?'" It's our time- And we wanna make something very, very special.
18:10
Like, what, what are we, what are we making out of this? Yeah, I love that. That's such a great exercise. The, and just the engagement alone, I would imagine, is gonna, like, pay dividends down the road.
18:20
Like, you guys doing this together, like, on a weekly basis. It-- I think, yeah, that's such a cool thing. Um, okay, let's jump ahead. What's, uh... So that's, that was kinda the focus areas. What about, like,
18:30
which I'm sure there are a few, what about, like, problems? Like, issues, things you're still trying to solve.
18:34
Is there anything-- Is there one or two kinda top of minds that you were kinda dialed in this week, where maybe it was something you weren't expecting or?
18:40
I'll tell you what, I, I got great advice from, like, a peer CCO in the past, um, and, and other ones. Like, CCOs are-- it's a, it's a strange club and a strange job, you know? Hmm. Um, but
18:58
really trying to focus on, like, the three clearest opportunities and then, like, three challenges. And we're telling people,
19:08
like, "Hey, where you see an opportunity to do something with the brand work that you're doing, raise your hand and we're gonna make things happen. And then if you see a challenge coming your way, um,
19:23
raise your hand in time that it's not such a challenge that we can't do anything [chuckles] about it." Yeah. You know?
19:28
And, and so, um, that's kinda the, the way to do it, and then getting to know the whole agency and what's going on. I think, um,
19:38
what chopping up the algorithm is also doing is telling us a lot about the way that we actually work with technology. And- Hmm... this is very common. It's happening everywhere.
19:51
It's like there's teams meeting in all kinds of different ways, and 5 to 12 people come together on a conference call, and it's like, well, how much time is really time well spent in exactly what we're now doing together?
20:06
Are you being pinged from something from someplace else? Are you able to pay attention to this right now? Like, what's going on in your life that even has you at home right now?
20:15
Like, you know, like, and, and, like, why are you there, and is there something we can be doing with that? So, like,
20:21
we're, we're, we're thinking a lot about our relationship with time because the time is very valuable, and time well spent means good business for clients that we work with. Hmm. Are these, like, active conversations?
20:31
Like that, that kind of, not that it's time management, but you know, even just a higher level of thinking about how you're doing it. But is that in your day-to-day when you're meeting these new-- It-- Was everybody new?
20:41
Did you know anybody going into this, like any of the team or? Yeah. I mean, I know Maggie Malik, the CEO- Yeah... very well because, you know, uh, Crispin is part of the network I've been a part of for four years. Yeah.
20:58
And so I've been paying attention to and taking part in, and even being part of, like, you know, media leverage discussions with Crispin for a long time. So I knew Maggie very well. Yeah. Um, Freddy Dabaghi,
21:12
um, who leads the media part for Crispin. Hmm. I've known him for a very long time.
21:19
Um, we admi- we introduced a practice where we were spending time with, you know, media brands, uh, four years ago, thinking about the future of media brands.
21:28
And, and Freddy and I started talking about the future of media brands, uh, four years ago. Hmm. So we're, we're thinking about, you know, media two years out right now. Um- Hmm...
21:40
I was friends with the chief operating officer, uh, Laura Eater. Um, being a part of the same network, I could come by for two years every quarter and say, "Hey, what if we tried it this way?
21:53
What if we tried it that way? What if we tried it this way?" Hmm. So had a good relationship with them. And then, um, I've admired the work that the creative team here has been doing.
22:06
Um, there's an art director here named Emily, um, who, uh, you know, she's working a lot on a lot of the Samsung work that is going on here now. And I know her, um, from past things.
22:19
There's, you know, different capabilities that are a part of this. I know some of the people from just kinda, like, past agency ethos kind of things. Yeah.
22:28
Um, it's a, it's a unique situation because we know each other pretty well. We haven't worked together, uh, in this way before, but we're bringing together, you know, high quality, high volume, high velocity.
22:41
The aim is to be distinctive, different, inventive, and breakthrough. And I think inventive is the key word, is we're, we're working on inventive ways to get, uh, messages, uh, through what's going on out there. Yeah.
22:55
Right on. That's cool. So okay, last thing then. What's, uh, so I mean it's literally Friday, almost end of day.
23:00
What's, uh, what are-- what's one or two priorities looking at, like, next week, like, going into next week for you? Well, it's funny. Um,
23:08
if I give you the full honest answer, my priority on, like, a Friday afternoon of the, of what I think about is time to just rest and spend with my family. Yeah.
23:16
And, and, uh, that's a real kinda, like, work-balance thing. Um, I mean, I-- You can see through some of that I share, I, I'm really inspired by my life. Hmm. And, um, I'm inspired by my friends and family.
23:31
So we have a client, DSW Shoe Warehouse. Hmm. Uh, and I'm gonna take my family shopping at DSW Shoe Warehouse this weekend, and we're gonna- Oh, nice... we're gonna walk around DSW Shoe Warehouse.
23:43
The girls need shoes anyways to go back to school here in a couple weeks. Um, so that's one thing. The other thing is, you know, uh, I use Saturday mornings between 5:00 AM and 7:00 AM- Hmm...
23:57
to sit down and reflect about what happened in the week. I draw reflections of the week, and then I send that in a team note to the whole team on Monday. And- Oh, interesting... I try to say to them, like, "Look
24:14
These are all the things that I remember put together in these mind maps, and I'll show you some of my mind maps. Yeah.
24:21
But I go to the team and I say, "These are all the things that I'm reflecting on and that really touched me, and things I'm thinking about you."
24:28
And then, you know, the hope is, is that we get the same kind of exchange from them. And so that really ends up setting the tone for what then can become the week.
24:38
Um, I try to set up every day, like, okay, this is what today is gonna be like. Hmm. And, you know, uh, be really present in these kinds of things as much as possible, um- Yeah...
24:52
with people in these conversations and with the work as much as we possibly can. So structuring it up to think about, okay, how are we thinking about the work? How are we thinking about our relationship with clients?
25:05
How are we thinking about the talent market? How are we thinking about where are the opportunities that we should be doing something next? How are we collaborating with other agency partners?
25:15
How are we collaborating with production companies and experiential teams and all these things?
25:21
And so we're really building a structure of like a weekly schedule where we portion out time to look at all of those different things. That's really cool.
25:30
How long-- What's the-- The mind mapping is so cool, especially since you share it with your team and everything.
25:33
That's so, I mean, that's so great for so many reasons, but just the connection alone to each other and like them getting that from you and like your mind, it-- I think that's super. Have you always done that?
25:43
Like how long has that been? Is that just this role or have you done that?
25:46
Uh, I learned to mind map, mind map at the University of Texas at Austin in, uh, the fall of 1999, and it, uh, influenced me on a deep, deep level, where mind mapping taught me how to put a concept in the center of the page and then allow like the nonlinear thinking to go in different directions.
26:10
So I've done it for years. It, it's a practice that's kinda gone up and down, but, um, it happens that about six months ago, I started doing it again really heavily, um, usually between like 5:00 and 7:00 in the morning.
26:25
And- Yeah... um, and so it's a way of like trying to pull together the thoughts in a, in a coherent way, but it's, it's pretty nonlinear.
26:34
It's like, okay, I can see the connections of what we're doing, and I think, um, you know, really advocating for moving, you know, the thinking process back to something like that, like time well spent. Yeah.
26:49
Letting your mind sit with something very, very intentionally, um, to like- When did you, when did you start sharing it with teams, though?
26:56
I think that part's, that, that's interesting 'cause like [clears throat] doing it yourself- Yeah...
27:00
is one thing, but like the, the fact that you're actually sharing it out and using that as like a form of communication almost is fascinating. Yeah. Um, so that's new. Okay. Uh, I've never done that. Like, um- Huh.
27:12
Yeah, yeah. I, I probably from time to time there was something that I'd send to somebody. Yeah. It's funny, I, I, uh,
27:22
even in chopping up the algorithm, I went into like my Apple photo thing and I searched algorithm, and it was pulling up mind map things from like May of 2018, you know? Wow. And- Yeah...
27:37
it, it-- I can see my relationship to thinking about it then. A lot of AI was being mentioned at that time, like in my- Hmm... sketchbooks and things, and so I printed that out as part of chop it up.
27:49
But like, um- That's so cool... when Maggie called me and we talked about the possibility of this becoming real and something, you know, that we'd considered for a long time,
27:59
um, that weekend I sat down and I drew something and, you know, I kinda, I found the inspiration. I traced it, you know- Yeah [chuckles]... off of my sketchbook. But, and so- Yeah...
28:10
so my, my uncle, I, I printed this text out because this is a text message with my uncle- [chuckles]... uh, Keith in Dallas. I told him, "Hey, I've got this new job," you know? So he, he was writing, "Awesome.
28:25
Full circle to, to greatness." And it's a fun story. I drew the feeling, and then, and then I wrote the plan. Interesting.
28:33
Wait, so wait, the, the thing that you just printed off, is that just-- That's on the wall, right? Like that's the- Yeah, like, um- Yeah. That's cool.
28:39
So I printed it out and, you know, one thing that I did is I looked up, I looked up material on every creative and person at the agency I could find, like LinkedIn, their portfolios- Yeah, yep...
28:55
any of that kind of stuff. So
28:57
I pulled that kind of stuff from my life, and then I started talking to the creatives and I would, I would say like-- I'd go deep into their websites and I'd say like, "Oh, Michaela, the breakfast font," you know?
29:09
Like- [chuckles]... print that out. So I took Michaela's breakfast font, and I took this text from my uncle, and I put 'em like side by side, and at least for now,
29:20
you know, that's, that's the decoration for the space, you know? Yeah. It's like... But, um,
29:27
that was the thing is like I drew the feeling, then I wrote down the plan, and like it, it literally went-- It was about like that. It was like- Hmm... you know, all right, bull ride, you know?
29:38
I told Maggie, I was like, "Never change your shirt two seconds into a bull ride," you know? Like, you know, kinda thing. And, you know- Yes... you can make all these like fun things with it. But it was like,
29:49
yeah, let's, let's give this a go. Let's try it, and then we get back on and try it again, and then get back on and try it again. We'll travel around, you know, we'll tell good stories. It's exciting. It's exhilarating.
30:01
It, it's showmanship. It's, it's fun. And so, um, I sat down, I drew that out, then I wrote down the plan. Curiosity and ambition, and it's like definitely spending time with the team with those two words a lot.
30:16
Like- Yeah... be really curious about new media Have ambitions to create new models. Hmm. Like, we're gonna create ideas that come with business plans, you know? Uh- Hmm. Yeah...
30:30
we're creating ideas that, um, are really gonna move brands into new kinds of social. And so all of this stuff, chopping up the algorithm, thinking about our spatial design,
30:43
looking at the feeling and being very intentional and saying, "What is this feeling?" You know? And talking- Yeah... about it with one another, all of this stuff has been created
30:52
so that we can sit together and, and be a very, uh, special future-forward, uh, agency together. That's exciting. I mean, you're like, [laughs] again, week two, you are full throttle it sounds like.
31:05
There's no ramp of, like, getting to know and, like, kinda easing your way in. You're like... I mean, you're doing it from day one it sounds like already. That's ex- that's cool. That's exciting.
31:13
We're giving it a go, man. It's like, uh- Yeah... it is very, very exciting to take part in something new, and I think that what's especially exciting is this agency brand has always been about creating new things.
31:28
You know? Hmm. Distinctive, different, inventive, breakthrough things. And so I think inventive is, you know, the methodology. Curiosity and ambition is the spirit. Inventive is the methodology.
31:43
Like, and so we're creating all the things that can really connect us so that we can do that really, really well, and we want this to be a place that people wanna come by, uh, partner with us to do new and interesting things, and, um, help a lot of businesses break through with new and interesting ideas.
32:00
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