As 2013 draws to a close and the industry grinds to a halt (well, perhaps that’s wishful thinking), we’ll try to provide some interludes between the spate of agency holiday cards and the like. Below, we have a memo/pep talk from Robert Harwood-Matthews, president of TBWA\Chiat\Day New York who refers to his staffers as “pirates.” Why? Well, according to those in the know, the pirates term was coined years ago by Jay Chiat himself, whose mantra is “It’s better to be the pirates than the navy.” Hence, the have skulls & crossbones on flags, basketball courts, lobby floors and TBWA\C\D websites (there is a section on ‘Pirate Culture’ on the LA site and the logo’s emblazoned on the main page of the New York site as well. Anyways, read on.
“Pirates,
I’ve just realized that today marks 15 months for me here in NY and the end of my first full year at the helm. I wanted to say thank you to all of you for your support. It has been an honor to serve you. It’s no mean feat to go from weathering significant financial losses at the end of 2012 to be sitting here a year later with a new hand picked crew and a bunch of new business opportunities.
We have a wide range of new skills in our armory and I learnt yesterday that we are now the most diverse TBWA company in North America which is exciting.AdvertisementWe’ve done this together and you’ve all made significant efforts, gone the extra mile and done it with a smile (mostly 😉 We are going to hit the ground running in January. Kyla will be here on the management team to lead a significant focus on new business and we have several pitches and opportunities to prepare, starting with our first on Jan 6! So make sure you get some rest, reboot and come back hungry for success. I want 2014 to be the year you make the best work of your careers.
Thank you
Robert”