The story of TBWAChiatDay’s Grady flag

Here’s a video about TBWA\Chiat\Day’s “Grady flag,” which hangs in the agency’s New York and L.A. offices. (The video is corrupted slightly but viewable.) In May, The One Club asked agencies to create flags in the style of medieval jousting tournaments for The One Show. Gerry Graf and TBWA thought theirs should show the grinning face of Grady Wilson from Sanford and Son. This  spurred a whole “Grady principle” at the agency, which you could sum up this way: Even if you’re asked to do something (like follow a brief), you don’t really have to.