So I love an engaging speaker while I scarf the always killer food at the Hyatt downtown. Yesterday was the best I have heard yet at the Lexington Adclub.
It was Will Gay who’s name means nothing to you. But the name Disney does, right? He works for the "Yellow Shoes Creative Group" agency that is essentially Disney brands in house agency. Wicked…
My man Adam Martin had all kinds of time with him, and I would have loved to have had more as well. Dave C. at P.O. was kind enough to let me sit next to him at lunch where we chatted for a quick second before he spoke to the group. Thanks Dave….
So I am actually new to this branding thing but I am falling in love fast. I suck at design but are really digging the power of a brand the more I get into it. Disney- talk about a brand.
Will mentioned how Disney has to pick out who is going to say after the superbowl, "I’m going to Disney World!" He said that that spot is basically cemented in stone. People want it left alone and love it just the way it is. How cool is that? They’ve tried to tinker… it is powerful as is.
He also spoke about the office culture at Yellow Shoes and how they have all kinds of fun spaces, couches, ping pong and where creativity goes wild. They even had a spontaneous wall of mullet drawings show up! Awesome… Funny, because today I was complimented by an intern of how laid back GT is and how that keeps energy high….hmmm… that company culture idea again.
My favorite part of his talk was the advice he got from an Oscar winning director with a sweet name that I can’t remember… his advice, "Don’t put out shit." That’s so simple. He joked about it. He also repeated it, and I am betting my ass that he took it to heart too! Good advice!
At the end he had Q and A. During, he had showed us several segment that were so far out that they had no chance of making the cut.(funny stuff that was "over the line") He showed them often to us and it was clear there was a pattern of this. I asked him if this was intentional, he said yes. The idea was that you need to hit them in the face with wild material so often that they are used to it. So when something killer comes out they don’t just dismiss it. It might make them uncomfortable, but it also be really awesome.
That "funny, over the line" stuff wasn’t shit.
"Don’t put out shit."— Got it
