RE-BRANDING A GIANT
Recently, I took a tour through an old industrial building in Manhattan.
Once upon a time, it was a toy factory.
Today, it's the home of a hipster ad agency.
That hipster ad agency is called Grey Advertising.
Yes, THAT Grey Advertising.
THE OLD GRAY LADY OF MADISON AVENUE REBELS
If you know anything about Grey, you probably know that it's one of the largest ad agencies in the world, with offices in about 90 countries.
Grey used to have New York offices right near Madison Avenue, and had been in that location for almost half a century.
In a business known for the transient and impermanent nature of its employment, Grey had people who'd been there for entire careers.
Grey was monolithic.
And if you know anything about monoliths, you know they tend to be kinda large and cumbersome.
It seems that things had become such at Grey. When AdWeek magazine would do their annual agency report cards, Grey would get high grades for business practices and not such high grades for its product.
THINGS HAVE CHANGED
Grey has downsized. During The Turmoil of the last few years, people were laid off.
And Grey moved from its home of nearly half a century.
What's interesting about that is they haven't merely moved.
They've morphed.
They've gone from a stodgy, old-fashioned, hushed, wall-to-wall carpeting, New York glass-and-steel existence to a young, edgy, in-your-face position of prominence in an old factory building.
The rabbit warren of offices that used to house the creative and production departments are gone.
Instead, dozens and dozens of people now work together in large, open spaces of an architecturally deconstructionist retro environment that, apparently, made a lot of people uncomfortable.
THAT DISCOMFORT APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN A GOOD THING
It shook things up. It's helped make Grey edgier and more vibrant. And it's positioned Grey as a hipster joint that creates better, more vital work.
You've seen the E*TRADE baby, of course (a creation that pre-dates the move to the new digs).
Grey is raising its profile to become known for really good work.
They've weathered the storm of the financial meltdown and have come out on top.
COULD THEY HAVE DONE THIS FROM THEIR OLD, LESS HIP DIGS?
Possibly. The E*TRADE baby was created there.
But I would posit that this new, non-traditional location has done a couple of things.
One is that it has shaken up the status quo inside.
Change is uncomfortable, and the resulting discomfort has made for better, more creative product.
But two, and perhaps more importantly, the new, non-traditional location is a bold and high-profile metaphor for Grey's change.
THE NEW GREY IS IMPORTANT AND SYMBOLIC
It's a symbol of new beginnings, of edgy, current thinking, and of aggressive, cost-effective ideas for 21st century advertising.
Tor Myhren, the Executive Creative Director responsible for this paradigmatic shift, has done something you don't see very often.
He's done exactly what he would probably tell a lot of clients to do.
His facility is an outward example of edgy, dangerous work.
NOTHING IS SAFE IN THERE
Least of all, stodgy old ideas.
In a way, these offices are 1984 all over again.
But instead of one dark, Ridley Scott commercial and a good looking blond track star, there's a bald, thoughtful looking man throwing a hammer and shattering the walls of an American advertising icon.
In a time of drastic and constant and rapid change, he's forced a potential dinosaur to adapt and survive.
In a time when America's big businesses need to do the same, could there be a more appropriate evolution--and a better example for the rest of us in the marketing food chain?
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