Episode One:

The One Where Kyle Meets the Village and Goes on a Pillage

I have a confession to make. I really never was a fan of the TV show Friends. To be fair, I wasn’t exactly in the target audience when the show debuted in 1994 (a day after my 6th birthday). I have seen my fair share of episodes though (thanks syndication!) and one thing I’ve always enjoyed is the way they title their episodes in the way any casual viewer would recall it to a coworker at the water-cooler. So like any good creative I’m using it as inspiration (stealing it) to help add some structure to my blog posts over the next few weeks.

A lot like the pilot episode of a sitcom, my first week at Havas WW Australia was focused mainly on getting to know the characters. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to arrive during a particularly busy week for the office in terms of culture, culminating in a big mid-year party on Thursday night — The Village Pillage. More on that later.

The first thing that struck is how comfortable the folks in the creative department are with on another. There was such a natural chemistry that I assumed the team had been together for a long time. But as I got to know my new coworkers, I discovered something surprising — many of them are almost as new to Havas WW Australia as I am. So while it seems effortless, I’ve learned that the culture being nurtured in the office has been hard fought and carefully built.

I got to see that care first hand when I was treated to trip to the cinema where the leadership team debuted some of the latest work and a new internal positioning for the agency. Seeing the passion my coaches Seamus and Stu have for the work and the culture they’re building was incredibly inspiring. They’ve created a new guiding philosophy for the agency that is as simple and pure as I’ve ever encountered. They know that Havas WW Australia is a great agency to work at, but their goal is to make it the best agency you’ll ever work at.

Part of what makes me believe they can do it is the close connection between media and creative. Perhaps more so than any other Village in the network, they seem to be nearing seamless interaction between the two agencies. They strive to bring complete ideas to the table, with media team members being brought into discussions often, even if the client in question has not necessarily retained their services. They have recently gone even further, uniting the Media and Creative strategy teams under co department heads. Not only does the collaboration make the work stronger, it makes the entire culture of the Village stronger as well.

And finally on Thursday night we, well, pillaged. It started with a scavenger hunt through Sydney that eventually led us to the party venue in Kings Cross. It was great to have some fun with my new coworkers and have a chance to meet even more people from the agency, including many folks from Havas Media and Red.

You know what they say about the Village that pillages together…