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Ogilvy channels its inner Jay Chiat Everyone wants to know what the agency of the future will look like. Jay Chiat was convinced it wouldn’t involve desks. That didn’t work out so hot, and the desks are back. Chris Wall, co-chief creative officer at Ogilvy, thinks Jay was a just a bit timid: He wants to get rid of the entire office. Wall’s idea, which he aims to put into action next year, is an agency offshoot called Ogilvy Transient. Wall described Transient at the shop’s Verge conference yesterday, and it doesn’t refer to an underbathed creative. It'll be a roaming, experimental agency unit that aims to produce “brand journalism” for clients, with creative types thinking like editors. (I think this means low pay.) Ogilvy Transient’s “band of storytellers” (regular agency slobs, plus sexy outsiders, like a “house novelist” and “independent filmmaker”) will roam the land desperately seeking inspiration and the Big Idea. “We will go where the story is and create on the fly,” Wall declared. One week, the brand story could be hatched in SoHo (lunch at Balthazar), the next at a brownstone on the Upper East Side (er, beer pong after work?), or even somewhere in Hoboken (I quit). Oh, and even better, pace WK+12, the Transient experiment will be YouTubed for your enjoyment. —Posted by Brian Morrissey

November 2, 2006 in Morrissey | Permalink

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» Ogilvy Switches To Roam from AdPulp
Brian Morrissey of Adfreak is reporting on a new idea emerging from Ogilvy. Chris Wall, co-chief creative officer at Ogilvy, intends to launch an agency offshoot called Ogilvy Transient. Wall described Transient at the shop’s Verge conference yesterday... [Read More]

Tracked on Nov 3, 2006 11:24:27 AM

Comments

At least you didn't say "...or even in Second Life".

Posted by: Scaramouch | Nov 2, 2006 10:20:11 AM

if I were a wpp shareholder, i'd be throwing up right now. maybe they should just focus on doing smart work on something besides ibm and occasionally amex.

Posted by: mal evans | Nov 2, 2006 11:22:06 AM

The new yahoo stuff isn't too bad. But this does sound a little cra-zay.

Posted by: dorkus milorkus | Nov 2, 2006 4:06:25 PM

hey, i live in hoboken! ;-)

Posted by: JAM | Nov 2, 2006 6:36:00 PM

If Alex Bogusky gives the same speech everyone declares him a genius and writes articles how CP&B is "rewriting the rules."

What a crap industry.

Posted by: | Nov 3, 2006 12:07:54 AM

I am the editor of Adweak. If anyone has ever wondered why we haven't updated our ad industry mockery, it's because of things like this. We honestly can't write anything funnier than what agencies are writing about themselves.

Posted by: Editor of Adweak | Nov 3, 2006 9:46:18 AM

Sounds like fun. has a mobile coffee machine ben invented yet - they might need that most.

I just visited an agency that has beds above their desks. That looked cool too.

farrukh

Posted by: farrukh: copywriter & journalist | Nov 6, 2006 2:12:01 AM

Sounds like fun. has a mobile coffee machine ben invented yet - they might need that most.

I just visited an agency that has beds above their desks. That looked cool too.

farrukh

Posted by: farrukh: copywriter & journalist | Nov 6, 2006 2:12:16 AM

i think ogilvy needs more than this to turn things around. this is pompass ad crap. and one day chris will see how silly all of this is

Posted by: twin | Feb 9, 2008 11:52:55 PM

I've got an idea: How about if Chris Wall stopped doing the same commercial over and over for every Ogilvy campaign?

Posted by: Ogilvy Insider | Jun 15, 2008 10:51:25 AM

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