Creativity Now
One of the best conferences I've ever attended is called "Creativity Now" and is sponsored annually by that uber-hip magazine, Tokion. The conference, which is held over two days at Cooper Union in New York, and costs about $50 per day, is wildly eclectic. The 2004 conference included an interview with Brian Eno, a panel on skateboarding's influence on popular culture, and a panel on marketing a political message with Joe Trippi, John Podesta, and others.
I've seen panels on documentary photography, the history of rap music, and in 2003, I personally got to stand up and beat the crap out of a State Department official about Charlotte Beers' attempts to "rebrand" the U.S. in the Middle East!
The date of the fourth annual Creativity Now conference will be October 15th and 16th, so put that date in your calendar. Feed your head.
Comments
I left Chiat/Day to go to Wieden + Kennedy. I've been at WK for almost ten years and this week is my last week. I'm going to Ogilvy and Mather as a writer on IBM, (after starting as an account guy at C/D.) As I move on to my next gig, I can't help but reflect on my past.
If I was born at Chiat/Day, I grew up at Wieden + Kennedy. Both agencies have been instrumental in shaping me as a person. Both have been experiences I will always treasure. I'm very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work personally with both Jay Chiat and Dan Wieden. They are so different and yet they've had a similar impact on me. In addition, they both surrounded themselves with such incredible talent that I've been lucky to have learned from such great people. Not to mention the fun!
So no matter what's next for me, these emails always reminded of where I came from. I will forward my new email so I can continue to stay a part of the family.
Finally, I remember working on a project for Coke. A seemingly impossible task. Jay stopped me in the hall of the "virtual office" and asked me how it was going. I told him that because so many people were out of the office it didn't seem like it was going to happen. I told him I was stressed because I couldn't pull it off. Jay put his hand on my shoulder and said in a calm, fatherly voice, "Don't worry about it. It's just your job." We ended up pulling it off.
Posted by: Bobby Hershfield | August 1, 2005 04:49 PM