So. Okay. I'm going to admit it. We all have idols in the business. CPB has always been mine. What's great about the story behind that agency is when they started, they were all people who couldn't get jobs at Fallon, or Goodby, or Wieden.
Then, they all hunkered down in Miami and decided to do their own thing. They were so driven by the rejection and hungry to prove that they were just as legit, that arguably, they have surpassed their competitors in many respects.
So, I've admired their work over the years. It's always ballsy. It's always breaking the "rules." I look at their work a lot and say, "F(*&# Crispin" because that is the work I want to do. So, I was really excited to see the man who is able to sell through this type of work and really relish in the experience.
He was selling me a B-cycle.
no. Not a bicycle. A B-Cycle.
And while he was selling me a B-Cycle, he was selling me the fact that his ad agency has the full-on capability to create a new product; a new service; pull together the players to make it happen; and then also workshop the designs/architecture to make it reality.
(side note here: best part of the preso... he's going through his preso, his PC starts failing. Someone in the audience yells, "Want to borrow my Macintosh?" Laughter erupts.)
Anyhow. A B-Cycle is a similar business model to IgO or ZipCars. Timeshare model, but for bicycles. I think, a really responsible cool idea. We should promote bicycles and esp. in the cities. It's social awareness and green endorsed, what's not to like?
Mostly, I was looking for how he presents. What does he do to captivate an audience? How the hell does he sell something like Subservient Chicken??
Frankly, he takes his careful preparation and turns it into a casual, off-the-cuff, insert-a-swear-word-here-and-there kinda layin' out the facts way. He easily takes what the assignment might have been, but then switches the perspective of it. "GM is really convinced they want to sell cars, but the people really just want a solution for transportation, not more cars." It's this type of swift intelligence that makes it so compelling.
Whatever it is. It works. It comes off sincere (spare me the tears a bit there Mr. Bogusky when talking environment) and effective. The crowd was riveted and followed with more questions than time alloted.
Some great quotes in the preso:
I apologize for any profanity contained in this fucking presentation.
Can an ad guy bring bike sharing to america. (his first slide) No. (his second slide)
The art of sticking your nose where it doesn't belong.
Our business model. (Crispin)
A holding company for smart people
no silos
no timesheets
focussed on business
momentum vs. deliverables
I'll stop gushing now, but it's always the smartest thing to study people you hold in high regard. You learn, you adapt and last time I checked, there aren't too many agencies more successful then they are.
Check out more on B-Cycle. It's a cool program, and well designed. Hope it can reduce our emissions and make this world a bit cleaner. It's even better an Ad Agency is trying to break the current model. Let's just say, SXSW paid off in the inspiration dept. today!
thx.
Great post, Joe! Thanks.
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