At Chiat/Day, will this be the agency of the future? -- Overhaul in the Works Portends Radical Departure In the Way the Agency Will Do Business

At the Venice, Calif., offices of Chiat/Day, 40 employees test computer programs, telecommunications and team configurations. Psychologists study reactions and employee behavior. Agency president Bob Kuperman, aware that the staff is sensing a radical change in their work environment, pens a weekly “Dear Kupe” column to answer nervous staffers’ questions.
The agency that’s pioneered so many of the trends that helped put advertising on the corporate map is about to begin what may be its most critical experiment of all–an agency of the future model that could forever change the way ad agencies operate.
“As a test case, the ad industry is going to be watching Chiat/Day in great detail,” said Tim Bajarin, president of high-tech consultancy Creative Strategies in Santa Clara, Calif.