As the end of the school year approaches, and many counting down the days ’til graduation, keep in mind Ogilvy’s 8 Habits – especially those few joining our Associates program this fall! As an Associate who relocated from New York to Los Angeles to pioneer the North American Expansion of the program, I’ve chosen to act upon the 8 habits to ensure professional and relocation success.

Of course, we can all recall the 8 Habits, but to cogniscently bring them to life in our actions, now that is special.

1. Courage. Many of you have already embraced this first habit by your willingness to relocate for this position. This is only the beginning. Keep Ogilvy’s 1st Habit with you at work. Be courageous enough to ask questions in meetings, courageous enough to be vocal in strategizing, and courageous enough to brand yourself as an individual craftsmen of culture. Be courageous in your new city. Get lost in the subway system, try food from a street vendor, and take alternate routes to work – explore your surroundings.

2. Idealism. You’ll be in NY, LA, Chicago, or Atlanta. Arguably four of the greatest cities our continent has to offer. Use this habit to take advantage of your new home base. As David Ogilvy said, “Dream humongous dreams, put on your overalls, go out there and build them.” Interpret this on your own accord, and don’t you dare move to one of these cities without putting this habit to use.

3. Curiosity. Remain acute when going to/from work every day. These cities house historic landmarks, restaurants, and famous tourist attractions. Be open. Go to them. Make this journey of yours worthwhile.

4. Playfulness. Ogilvy isn’t the environment for stoic employees. As a future Craftsmen of Culture, you are surely attuned to this. The playfulness exhibited by Ogilvy and its workers makes hard work less hard, and the workplace more enjoyable. Playfulness is the grounds of which Pervasive Creativity is bread.

5. Candour. Do you have an opinion? State it. Think a brand’s positioning can be more focused? Tighten it. Have a different way of solving a problem? Offer it. Candour -‘nough said.

6. Intuition. Allow your unconscious to guide you in your rotations. You’re here because the assessors believed in your intuitive ideology at Super Saturday, your problem solving methodology, and so much more. To quote Mr. O, “All our finest thoughts and best ideas are not the work of the logical mind, but gifts from the unconscious.”

7. Free-spiritedness. Did I mention that you’re moving to a spectacular city, to work for a spectacular Marketing Communications company? Work hard, but play hard also. Offer your help to an external Ogilvy team, head to the dive bar around the corner with some colleagues and go to that museum down the street on a Saturday morning whim (okay fine, Saturday afternoon).

8. Persistence. Never allow your obstacles to defeat you: Persevere until you’ve defeated them. Be it a meeting gone awry, a struggling competitive audit, or even a lousy roommate – Dig deep with determination, and prevail.

It should come as no surprise that the current Associates class is one diverse group of people. And when we filled out our little bios (that you can find here), we each had to pick our favorite street-strutting song, a staple when you’re living in the city. That’s even truer now as the warmer spring weather makes the three-avenue walk from the subway to the office a bit more fun. So here’s our humble (rockstar-status) playlist of our faves.



What songs would you/do you rock the city streets with? Sound off on our Facebook page or on Twitter @ogilvycraftsmen.

p.s. For further inspiration, this is what we’re talking about.

Our job requires us to be brutally honest and totally dedicated to the truth. If someone asks us for our opinion and we don’t offer it, our answer is not only dishonest, it’s worthless!

Candor can be a tricky thing. In many interpersonal situations, being too candid can often get a person in trouble. However, in an industry like advertising and at a company like Ogilvy, we are only as good as our ideas and opinions. David Ogilvy used to warn about the tyranny of politeness, and the reality is that true candor is often a refreshing change from a totally honest and unvarnished opinion. After all, you can only make a spark when the stone and flint are moving in opposite directions.

If you could connect your tweets, personal experiences and resume, what story would they tell? Last night, the Young Professionals Network here at Ogilvy pulled together top leaders in the social media space to talk about the best online resources for developing and curating your online presence.

We live-tweeted the event last night and today, we have the video! It was a great event with an amazing panel, including our very own Associate, Nicole Cardoza!

Behold the fourth installment of The Ugly Duckling, a cautionary tale of creativity told by Ogilvy’s Worldwide Chief Creative Officer, Tham Khai Meng.

The following excerpt discusses how to take your ideas to the next level. Enjoy.

SuperSaturday is just a few days away on March 24. That happens to be the same weekend that the first Hunger Games movie is released. To honor your sacrifice of forgoing seeing it on opening weekend (which you all obviously would want to do), we created a little video parodying the trailers for the movie. We have listed a few actual tips for SuperSaturday below, but before you get to all that, check out the video to see what’s in store for all of you. And remember…The World Will Be Watching…

Alright, hopefully you’ve watched our goofy video. Now, here is absolutely EVERYTHING candidates need to know before the big day:

• Show your personality.
• Read and listen to all instructions carefully.
• Don’t be afraid to think outside the box.
• Wear business casual clothing. No need for suits and ties, unless that’s your style.
• You do NOT have to be an Ogilvy history buff. Don’t worry about us…we’re interested in learning about you.
• Don’t put on a show. We want to get to know the real you.
• Almost every Associate thought they totally bombed SuperSaturday so don’t over-analyze your performance.
• None of the candidates know what to expect on SuperSaturday so don’t worry, you shouldn’t either.
• Please do NOT actually fight each other to the death…that wouldn’t be very profesh.

Alright. That’s it. Good luck to all of the candidates and see you on Saturday!

2011 Associate Tatiana Cruz shares her perspective on pervasive creativity.

“Pervasive creativity means infusing your work with a sense of creativity at each possible avenue. From the vantage point from which you first tackle a problem, to the set of tools you apply towards the solution. It means being risky and carving out a previously uncharted path with your thinking – applying new principles, directions and motivations to your strategies.”

What does pervasive creativity mean to you? Tweet us @ogilvycraftsmen with the hashtag #pervasivecreativity.

None of the current Associates were able to attend SXSW this time, but, for the second year in a row, Ogilvy Notes provided a series of visual summaries of the biggest and best keynotes and panels at SXSW. This year, they partnered with Behance, BuzzFeed and Percolate to provide prints from the previous day’s keynotes and featured speakers both at the convention center and online at ogilvynotes.com. Check them out, and let us know your thoughts on Twitter @ogilvycraftsmen.

2010 Associate Grant Tudor shares what pervasive creativity means to him.

There are moments each day — some big, most small — to think as you wouldn’t normally. Most probably go by unnoticed, which is forgivable; we’re stretched cognitively thin inside an agency. So relying on dependable ways of doing things makes today a bit easier.

But sometimes, we spot them, and we say so. Remember that time you realized that a powerpoint presentation is a wholly inadequate way of presenting an idea? And you suggested that new way instead? Or that time you reflected on how sweet that barista was this morning, and how your client has a very serious retention problem, and how these things might be related? And then you said so?

Look out for moments!

What does pervasive creativity mean to you? Tell us @ogilvycraftsmen with the hashtag #pervasivecreativity.

Here’s a third passage from The Ugly Duckling, a cautionary tale of creativity told by Ogilvy’s Worldwide Chief Creative Officer, Tham Khai Meng.

The following excerpt discusses what advertising is not. Enjoy.