The Art of Listening

No matter which job sector you work in, you’ll benefit from adopting a knack for listening. If you deal with other humans, you will need to be able to build relationships with them—and relationships are built upon good communication.

Culture, Advertising, LeadershipAshley VillarrealFebruary 11, 2020listening, agency, creative, jobs, relationship, client, marketing, advertising, information, smart, change, media, politics, brand, science, ideas, content, Lit Hub, articleComment

Remembering Project Fruitcake

Once a upon a time, we created a fake holiday campaign to turn fruitcake back into America's most loved wintertime treat.

AdvertisingAshley VillarrealAugust 24, 2018fruitcake, project, parody, joke, funny, comedy, creative, media, agency, san francisco, group, test, subject, holiday, gift, Drake, store, grocery, bad, grossComment

Pick Up The Phone

On average, email takes up roughly 23 percent of an employees workday. For every email they receive, it takes them about 16 minutes to refocus after receiving an email. That's while already receiving an average of 304 weekly business emails.

Culture, AdvertisingMike OsgoodJune 18, 2018account, agency, average, best, bond, business, cell, client, computer, connection, contact, creative, desk, email, employee, engagement, feedback, future, media, meeting, mission, office, opinion, partner, phone, project, relationship, school, small, speaking, strategy, talk, team, thought, top, weekly

For a Stronger Brand, Find a "Black Hat"

As I sit here typing this, Mark Zuckerberg is mea-culping live on CNN about Facebook’s privacy breaches. In parallel, our good friends (forgive the sarcasm) in Russia are endorsing their candidates for the 2018 U.S. elections. Not to mention, the credit reporting agency Equifax has—well, the kimono isn’t just open, it’s gone.

Advertising, Culture, NewsTom GearyMarch 26, 2018advantage, agency, benefit, best, black, brand, business, campaign, company, content, critical, data, Experian, Facebook, failure, finance, hat, headline, impact, important, Mark Zuckerberg, marketing, media, mistake, perspective, Prudential, retirement, Schwab, smart, speech, startup, strategy, success, tech, technology, thinking, tomorrow, transform

Superheros Who Code

One of our favorite clients is Pat Renzi. She’s a quiet juggernaut in insurance, a director at the consulting firm Milliman. We were interviewing her for a story when she mentioned this program in Seattle, The Ada Developers Academy, designed to help mid-career professionals get into coding.

Culture, DiversityTom GearyNovember 11, 2017academy, Ada, agency, best, change, coders, coding, diversity, engineer, hacking, industry, inspiration, job, LGBT, media, Milliman, photo, POC, program, resume, San Francisco, school of thought, staff, STEM, story, success, tech, top, video, womenComment

Coffee With a Purpose

San Franciscans love their coffee. We’re willing to wait in lines 20 people deep. We’ll wait 15 minutes for our (painfully slow) pour-over. We care about how our coffee beans are sourced, roasted and sold. We likely know our baristas by name, and paying $6 for a cup of joe is completely justifiable.

CultureTom GearyJuly 21, 2015#, ad, advertising, advocate, agency, alternative, Bay Area, best, city, clean, coffee, compost, content, creative, cup, department, distinct, documentary, eco, energy, environment, guerilla, Instagram, local, marketing, media, mugs, organic, passion, recycle, reusable, San Francisco, school of thought, SFE, social, top, Twitter, unique, United States, video, waste, writing

The Measurement Myth: Humanizing Social Impact

In advertising, creativity is measured to “ensure” the right message hits the right audience. Many times this analysis paralysis is the quickest way to hinder creative expression and innovation.

Diversity, AdvertisingRachel NewellMarch 17, 2013agency, audience, awareness, Bay Area, best, business, campaign, company, connection, difference, ethnography, evaluation, growth, human, impact, initiative, Jack London, market, media, message, myth, potential, product, professional, research, results, San Francisco, scale, small, social, study, top

Oh, do we have thoughts