Tools of the Trade is an AgencySpy feature to help highlight the many tools that help make advertising and marketing folks successful. The tools can be anything that helps people perform at their top form, from a favorite drafting table to the best software program to a lucky pen, a vintage typewriter or a pair of headphones.
Next up is Dmitrii Osipovskii, interactive creative director at Tampa agency PPK.
Dmitrii Osipovskii poses with his adjustable height electric desk.
What is one tool you use all the time at work, and how does it inspire your work?
One of my favorite tools that has improved and inspired my work is my adjustable-height electric desk. More specifically, it’s the Flexispot model off Amazon.
Why is it your favorite?
The granted benefit of an adjustable height desk is being able to mix up seating and standing throughout the workday for improved circulation, which affects the entire body, including brain, making you feel more energetic. However I found another, somewhat unexpected, way it positively influenced my work.
It’s no secret how short our attention spans have become. Constant flow of information, entertainment, and stimulation has got our monkey minds scrambling for the next shiny object, as social media and smart devices have conditioned us with quick dopamine hits. On top of that, as many can relate, various parties, stakeholders, and tasks constantly compete for our attention. Barrages of scheduled meetings leave you with a confetti of short time slots to work with while, on the contrary, the best work comes from deep, focused, and prolonged periods of concentration. And this is where, surprisingly, the adjustable-height desk can bring some respite into the cacophony that is a modern work day of a creative director.
More specifically, I found that switching from seating to standing, and vice versa, allows me to enter a different work frame of mind or pattern. I stand up for tasks that require more urgency and intense focus, since standing is less comfortable and promotes presence. I sit down for more prolonged periods of work that require creativity and more of an unbounded, blue sky approach. I switch to whatever is the opposite when I feel like things are getting stale and I’m losing energy.
How did you acquire your tool or hear about it for the first time?
Electric and adjustable-height desks became a fad recently, and once cheaper versions became available on online marketplaces, I thought I’d try it out.
How does it help you be successful?
Mind affects the body, but that also works the other way around, and so, I’ve found my adjustable height desk to be an outstanding productivity tool. Prolonged and more purposeful periods of focus means more (and better) work done.
Does it have sentimental value?
Now that I’m writing for this column about it, we’re kind of starting to bond…
Do you think your tool could go TikTok viral? Why or why not?
Yes. I think anything can go TikTok viral for better or worse, the key is the delivery. In this case the approach is probably one of your typical “I bet you didn’t know that” and carry on with the not-so-evident benefits of height-adjustable desks described above.
We want to know what tools you use to make you successful. If you’d like to contribute or know someone who would want to be featured in Tools of the Trade, contact kyle.obrien@adweek.com and fill out our survey.