jay/day

I hadn't realized we had so many C/D alums who were affected by Katrina. In addition to Darren Isabelle (see posting below), Neilan Tyree also lives there, and here is an update on Neilan from another C/D alum, Nancy Hill:

Neilan moved to New Orleans about a year ago. Thankfully, he got out last Saturday before Katrina hit. He is staying with his family in Ohio. He has no idea how long he will be "homeless" as he's being told not to even bother going back for the foreseeable future. As always, Neilan is remaining positive and is already trying to figure out how to "rebuild New Orleans" single-handedly. If anyone wants to find him, they can e-mail me: nancy@nanhill.com.

Posted by alburty at 02:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Stories about people getting fired. Now what could be more fun that that?

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Posted by alburty at 07:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Got this note from Darren Isabelle this morning, who is a licensed massage therapist in New Orleans. (We had the best jambalaya together when I had dinner with him there a couple of years ago.)

Hi! This is just a quick note to a lot of people to say that me and mom made it out of New Orleans Sunday morning and made it safely to Houston (after 19 hrs on the road). I hope and pray everyone is ok. Smooches, Darren

Posted by alburty at 09:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Introducting a new category of jay/day postings I call "schADenfreude" - ads you are thrilled some other idiot created. Our first installment?

Some media planner is surely hiding under their desk this morning about this ad placement for ATA Airlines in the New York Times on Saturday, which offered a special fare of $89 to New Orleans on the very weekend a Category 5 hurricane was bearing down on the city. I'm not sure whether a lot of travellers would be thinking of New Orleans as a good vacation spot right now, at least until the city is rebuilt and the toxic chemicals have been removed.

Posted by alburty at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's a slow day here in the jay/day newsroom, so I will post this picture of me and this fine goat.

See more.

Posted by alburty at 12:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Ah, the pause that refreshes ... your consciousness. Kabbalah Energy Drink is "a citrus-flavored carbonated beverage which contains taurine, B vitamins and caffeine, and is infused with 'Kabbalah water.'"

Oh mercy. I can see the headline now: "It's 'Kabbalah-nated!'"

Visit

Posted by alburty at 04:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Any time you are concerned that you don't have any talent, just take a little digital stroll over to the Museum of Bad Art.

Visit

Posted by alburty at 06:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I received a 13-word email the other day from Steve Juliusson, who merely said he’d worked at C/D LA from 1988-89 and asked me to add him to the “found list.”

Being the tough blogmaster that I am, I wrote back and demanded more information, including a photo.

I had always thought Steve as a writer, because he was always so happy-go-lucky. (Why I think this should be an attribute of writers is beyond me, as I’m now a writer and pop antidepressants like they were M&M peanuts.) Anyway, here’s the great stuff I got back from Steve Juliusson …

I remember you well, but I never knew you spelled your first name with an "a". Were you in finance/administration? I thought you were a cheerful numbers guy, but maybe you were a cheerful AE.

Other people have taken me for a writer as well. I guess it's because I'm such a wit and bon vivant. I was an A.D. and worked with Ty Montague on Reebok and Royal Caribbean, and I also helped out a little on Nynex and New York Life. Bryan Buckley was my original partner, but he left two weeks after I got there to start an agency. I was probably more "happy-looking" than happy at that time, since I was separated. I got divorced the year after C/D. Because of the marriage stuff, my stint there was kind of a touch-and-go; I was only there 13 months.

(I kind of liked/hated Chiat Day because it was always crazy and I already had a full helping of crazy outside of work. It was a very dynamic but unpredictable place where you got the feeling that anything was possible workwise. And maybe otherwise.)

I moved back to Chicago to work at McConnaughy, a boutique agency, for a few years. We won quite a few awards but I left to go to O&M NY (Bill Hamilton) when McC was struggling. I was there from '92 to '98 and got in the One Show a few times, then freelanced in NY until the end of '99. I moved back to Chicago and freelanced until I went to Euro RSCG Tatham in 2001. They imploded at the end of 2003 and now I'm freelancing and I'm involved in a franchise sandwich shop with two other partners.

I got remarried in 2002 to Anne Albrecht, who's a photographer's rep I met at Tatham. She's great to be married to. We just had a baby girl, Annika on July 28th.
I took a long time for me to have a baby, but she's really just the best baby and worth the wait. (I suppose you have a kid or two and already know that...)So now I'm more happy than happy-looking.

As requested, I've attached a photo. That's me at the top of the frame, being burly.

Steve Juliusson

To clear up Steve’s memory on two points: I originally worked in Print Production and Traffic, but ultimately became the head techie. I reported to “finance,” only because nobody else knew what to do with me. Also, I do not have any children. A) I pitch for the other team, and B) my inner child is four-years-old and would surely throw a tantrum if presented with the competition of another sibling.

Stevan Alburty
(yes, my first name is spelled with an "A." My father screwed up when filling out my birth certificate.)

Posted by alburty at 01:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I rarely report on what's happening at TBWA, but I thought this article was fascinating. It's from today's edition of The Peninsula, the daily newspaper in Qatar. (Hey, I'm well-read, what can I say?)

Al Jazeera appoints TBWA\RAAD for campaign

Al Jazeera International, the 24-hour English-language news and current affairs channel has appointed TBWA\RAAD for its global marketing communications campaign, a company release, said here yesterday. Several agencies pitched for the account to provide marketing communications support for the channel when it broadcasts globally in the first quarter of 2006.

The agency will handle the global advertising campaign for the channel as well as related above and below-the-line activity, supporting Al Jazeera International's senior executives and the corporate communications team.

Lindsey Oliver, Commercial Director at Al Jazeera International said, "We are extremely pleased at the appointment of such a highly respected and experienced global agency who will be working with us on the world's most exciting television project. We are creating broadcast history as the first English language international network based in the Middle East."

Posted by alburty at 03:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A noble project to expand the richness of the voices we hear by letting you read news blogs from people around the world.

Visit

Posted by alburty at 10:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ok, it's mid-August. Nobody is at work anyway, so I'm just going to be posting some completely stupid fun stuff that may or may not have anything to do with Jay or advertising or alums. Here's our first diversion: a collection of "vernacular photos" of people doing completely ordinary things, like sleeping or chewing gum.

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Posted by alburty at 01:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Some of Oxford University's most famous chalkboard creations. Who needs Powerpoint to express a good idea?

View

Posted by alburty at 10:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here's a fun website. Just poke around with your cursor. (Will probably not work if you're using an older computer or use AOL.)

Visit

Posted by alburty at 01:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sharon Teal Conklin keeps wondering Whatever Happened To some of the illustrious people we used to work with. If anybody knows their whereabouts, please turn them in ASAP.

Sharon's list ...

Dave Platt
Michelle Salmon
Tom Swearingen
Jean Lehman
Robin Miller
Jill Howell
Dan Kripphane (spelling?)
Doris Fogg (Found! See Eve's comment below!)
Abby Lippman
Phyliss... I can't remember her last name to save my life.
Plus a really cute receptionist with big hair who seduced Steven Jobs.
Morty Baron

Sharon, by the way, now lives in Spokane, Washington, the hometown of yours truly and Eve Luppert.

Posted by alburty at 01:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Some old friends have contacted me recently and I have requested photos and biographical information from all of them so I can post them here on this site. In the meantime, here's who has showed up within the last week or so ...

Dan Duffy (C/D LA 89-94) who is at Hungry Man ... Terri (Foye) Gray, Director of Local Broadcast at Kastner & Partners ... Lily Katz who is now at Evans, Hardy + Young Inc, an agency in Santa Barbara, California, got married again and is now known as Lily Smolenske ... Stacey Lippman ... Dick Sittig

And here are some alums who have now vanished, as their email addresses are bouncing back. If you know of their whereabouts, please let them know I'm looking for them and have them send me their new email address:

Elyse Roth, Nick Cohen, Trish Ibelli, Richard O'Connell ...

Posted by alburty at 12:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Hey, a great friend of mine is recruiting for this positon as s Sr. PM for MSN. The job is in Redmond (Seattle). Check it out and give him a call if you or someone you know is interested. Just back from Seattle myself and always knocked out by how beautiful it is.

Sr. PM, End to End Advertiser Experience
Job Number: 134014

This position is a strategic role, responsible for defining the optimal end-to-end experience for MSN advertisers and evanescing competitive best practices across strategic MSN projects.

The primary objective of this role is to influence the overall success of MSN by effectively representing and advocating advertiser needs through the creation of a consistent framework which enables MSN business leaders to address the needs of their global community, while simultaneously meeting internal business commitments.

Read more:

Sr. PM, End to End Advertiser Experience
Job Number: 134014

This position is a strategic role, responsible for defining the optimal end-to-end experience for MSN advertisers and evanescing competitive best practices across strategic MSN projects.

The primary objective of this role is to influence the overall success of MSN by effectively representing and advocating advertiser needs through the creation of a consistent framework which enables MSN business leaders to address the needs of their global community, while simultaneously meeting internal business commitments.

* Identify & evangelize competitive best practices which drive up advertising business & satisfaction
* Define E2E experience model to ensure the optimal advertiser experience is clearly defined across MSN Lifecycle stages (sales, products, operations, and support)
* Increased NET RELATIONSHIP Satisfaction across targeted MSN advertisers
* Improved quality of advertiser Beta testing ¨C 25% YOY improvement in PF Accuracy Rate
* Serve as a CPE evangelist across top 5 MSN projects in order to drive adoption of CPE best practices & deliver an improved E2E experience for advertisers

Additional responsibilities include:
* Influence adoption of a advertiser-based CSAT framework by building and sustaining strong relationships with business leaders, program managers, developers, sales and advertisement professionals across MSN globally, as well as PSS, and other BGs as appropriate;
* Manage and evolve this CSAT framework in order to drive the highest levels of advertiser satisfaction & operational excellence; and
* Promote consistency in usage of this CSAT framework, ensuring consistent and predictable communication surrounding the strategy, progress, roadblocks, and next steps.

Demonstrated knowledge of the MSN Ecosystem and Internet Service Provider community, as well as direct experience creating, driving, and measuring customer/advertiser satisfaction programs. Strong communication, collaboration, organization, negotiation, and project management skills are critical, as well as proven ability to represent Microsoft in a professional manner. A BA/BS degree or equivalent work experience expected. Expect 25-40% travel.

For consideration, please respond by emailing a Word version of your resume to: a-stevsh@microsoft.com.

Posted by at 12:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Brad and Kelly Wetmore. See more bio info here.

I just received an email, with a forwarded press release, from Sharon Stanley, who simply was Chiat/Day for many, many years. Office manager, human resources, earth mother - Sharon did it all, and she was responsible for many great hires, including yours truly in 1977.

Here is a note from Sharon ...

Just like you, I hired Brad Wetmore as a "go-fer" while we were still at the Biltmore. And like you, all he needed was to get a foot in the door and was off and running! 2 of my best hires...if I do say so myself.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 20, 2005

REEL FX DALLAS HEADQUARTERS EXPANDS CREATIVE EDITORIAL CAPABILITIES WITH ADDITION OF EDITOR BRAD WETMORE.

Dallas, Texas -- Reel FX Creative Studios added Editor Brad Wetmore and Producer Rhonda Moore to their Dallas team. With more than 19 years of advertising experience, Wetmore brings an original voice in creative editorial to the Reel FX team.

Brad Wetmore joins Reel FX from Mad River Post where he was an integral part of campaigns for Apple Computer and Jack-In-The-Box. Brad worked with director Tim Burton on a French TV commercial for Hollywood Gum and also with director Phil Tuckett on a documentary of NFL Films for The History Channel. He edited Home Depot’s Silver Anniversary campaign for The Richards Group, and created spots for T.G.I. Friday’s (Deutsch Advertising), Albertson’s (Duncan and Associates) and a 100th Anniversary spot for Havoline Motor Oil with Director Scott Gillen of A Brand Apart.

With studios in Dallas and Pasadena, Reel FX is team of more than 100 animators, visual effects artists, art directors and audio engineers producing projects for commercial and entertainment purposes. The company’s 74,000 square foot Dallas studio houses seven visual effects suites, four audio suites, as well as art and animation departments. From national commercials to feature films and television programs, Reel FX has the talent base, technology and state-of-the art facilities to turn any idea into priceless media.
###

Posted by alburty at 11:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Look who just showed up in my mailbox: Andy Law. Andy ran C/D's London office (along with David Abraham), and then the two of them went on to found St. Luke's, which I wrote about in Fast Company magazine in 1996. [I got email from readers for years after I wrote that article. No other piece I've ever written generated so much response.]

Andy, along with Praveen Kenneth, has started a new ad agency called Law & Kenneth. (Although that ampersand is actually a flame, but more on that when you visit their website.)

Andy has a book out in the UK called "Experiment at Work: Explosions and Experiences at the Most Frightening Company on Earth." The title alone should make you want to buy it, which you can do from Amazon's UK website by clicking here.

Now, what makes Law & Kenneth interesting to me is that one of the people on their advisory council is Dame Anita Roddick, founder of the Body Shop.

One of my favorite C/D stories, and one I dine out on whenever I feel like dropping names, is the time I went to Anita and Gordon Roddick’s estate near Aberdeen, Scotland, with Andy and David and Marty Cooke and Merry Cutler, I believe. (Anita: "Paul and Lynda live just over there." As in McCartney.)

This was in the early ‘90s, and the Internet was just rearing its head, and I was brought to Scotland to talk to Anita about the importance of this new technology called the World Wide Web. (This was when Netscape was still called "Mosaic.") I brought my Mac laptop and dialed into the Internet using Compuserve and started my demo by showing her what chat rooms were like.

She was instantly fascinated, and asked me to take her into a gay men’s chat room! I did so, and she adopted the persona of a 35-year-old man somewhere in New Jersey and started to chat online (with me doing the typing) with some guy in Florida, who had no bloody idea who he was really chatting with! Finally, she had me type “Have you ever used ‘Mango Body Butter’ during sex?” And with that, I said “Anita! You cannot entice this poor man as an excuse to buy your products!”

Later, at the dinner table, I mentioned how much I respected Laurence Oliver as an actor. She then proceeded to do a mercilessly wicked imitation of a hunchback Laurence Olivier doing “Richard III." I’ve never been able to watch Olivier with a straight face again!

Posted by alburty at 08:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

courtesy of the Dede Dalton McMahon collection

A picture of Bob Perkins (who was President of Perkins/Butler, our direct marketing division, and then became President of the New York office.) Now here's the scary part: I run into Bob at least once a year ... and he looks exactly the same. I suspect he's receiving injections of some sort of bovine liver extract which keeps him eternally youthful. Either that, or he has some sort of contractual agreement with Satan.

---------------------------------

After posting this entry, I heard from Bob!

Well, I don't wear "braces" any more, but other than that my deal with Satan seems to be holding up. I'm now President of Consensus Research Group, a global survey research and marketing communications consulting firm. Its a great job and focuses me on what I found most interesting about advertising: research based communication strategy. I still snow ski, work out (although I've never found a spot as great as the Bob Perkins House of Pain in the old 79 Fifth Avenue office) and love New York City. My partner, Joni Evans, and I live in the city and spend weekends in upstate New York.

Posted by alburty at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Every time I do a mass mailing, I get dozens of "bounce backs" (emails that cannot be delivered because the recipient has left their company.)

Folks, this is advertising. A job's existence is as ethereal as fudge left on a desk. If you receive the jayday mailings at your work address, please consider writing to me (see address below) and giving me your HOME email address. I don't mind sending the mailings to both a work address and a home address. It's really no trouble.

Also, some people complain that they cannot view this site properly. AOL users, especially. It's because your browser software is not very current. This site uses something called "style sheets," which are only supported in browser versions issued within about the last two years. If you haven't updated your browser software in two years, chances are this site is unreadable by you. (It occurs to me that if you can't view the site, you aren't reading this message! Oh well, I tried.)

Steve Alburty
Your jayday host

P.S. The other fun thing I find out when I send out these mailings is who is on vacation and when they're coming back. This is information of admittedly useless value, but I find it somehow comforting to know when you're all out there enjoying yourself. As I used to say to Jay every time he left on a trip, "Bring me a present!"

Posted by alburty at 01:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Bobby Hershfield posted such a great comment on the Creativity Now entry, that I thought I'd elevate it to that of it's own item:

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 alburty at 06:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This conference room ain't big enough for the two of us.

Visit

Posted by alburty at 04:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)