Twenty-Five Hour Workday in 3, 2, 1 go!

By  |  January 26th, 2012  |  Posted in , ,

1/27, 10:04 am: You and Who liked the campaign! And we couldn’t be happier. Or tired-er. What an amazing opportunity for us at Crowley Webb to really know what we’re capable of when given a mission and a deadline. The folks at You and Who — Dan, Katie, and Mike — were wonderful to work with. It’s not every day you get a clients in the door who are so artistic, warm, eclectic, eminently tech savvy, and kind.

We laughed. We cried. We hurled (well, only one of us) and we wouldn’t have it any other way. Thank you, You and Who, for the opportunity to do this work for you. You deserve it and we know there’s no limit to your success. Enjoy!

1/27, 8:20 am: The team leaders are in the big conference room putting the finishing touches on the super-fab presentation for You and Who.

The rest of us are just sort of milling around waiting for You and Who to get here. We kind of don’t know what to do with ourselves. Eat donuts? Rue that last Red Bull? Check for more survivors under the desks?

Well, you can be in on the action when the show starts because we’ll have the webcam in the conference room. Tune in for the finale! Please ignore the rumpled hair and wrinkled clothes. And be thankful it’s not smell-o-vision.

1/27, 7:30 am: “Here Comes the Sun” is literally playing over the paging system right now. And yet, it is not being received with the gladness and appreciation it so richly deserves. Go figure.

So, our pals at You and Who will be here soon to see our presentation of their advertising campaign. We’re all a little giddy. Some of us are a little grumpy, and some of us are a little screechy, in fact. But we’re getting all the decks and stuff together and doing a run through. Very. Excited.

1/27, 6:40 am: The teams are coming together and the whole shebang is beginning to gel. Media, PR, creative, promotion, we’ve got it goin’ on, people.

This is really a perfect project for us because it not only illustrates how much we care about our clients, but also how much we care about each other. This is not a gigantic, impersonal agency where coworkers are just faces you pass on the way to the copier. We know each other. Each employee at Crowley Webb pulls his or her own weight. There’s no hiding here. And it’s that confidence in each other’s talent and capabilities that makes it possible for us to do the work we do, and do it well.

For real, we go all out for our clients. We always have. We always will.

1/27, 5:32 am: Is it officially morning? Amazed that we’ve been working for 20 1/2 hours already. Only 4 1/2 hours left. I think we’re going to miss this day when it’s over.

1/27, 4:33 am: Every time we look up, another hour has passed. Busy hour, this last one; tightening up the social media plan, fine tuning art and copy, programming web sites.

Some people have gone AWOL and we suspect they are curled up under a desk somewhere in the far recesses of the Crowley Webb office sleeping. They don’t know what they’re missing!

Is that daylight we see? Or merely the glow of Fort Erie across the river? Eh, either way, the brightest things around here are our ideas.

1/27, 3:30 am: We just got our 22nd wind. One cranium circumference contest later and we’re good to go. (Mr. Reiling was, shocking no one, the winner with a 24-inch noggin.)

The website and print thus far are really gorgeous. We hope You and Who and you will like the work. We’re looking forward to presenting it to our fantastic client in 5 1/2 hours.

Work is what we do, after all. Yep. Work work work.

1/27, 2:07 am: Oh, is it 2 am already? We hardly noticed. Plugging along, not getting punchy or irritable at all. One great thing we learned tonight is that you can make tea with Red Bull instead of water. Delish.

The media team has way more energy than is strictly necessary, but we don’t resent them.

The designers’ retinas may be permanently bedazzled from staring at their computer screens for 17 hours but, damn, that art looks good.

1/27, 12:46 am: It’s tomorrow! We made it. Only nine more hours to go.

This just in: The ping pong table is going back up! Yes! And we’ve been refortified with pizza and wings from La Nova who, like Crowley Webb, is proud to be from Buffalo, NY.

On the DL, some of the crew here just filmed a group confession. Said confessional/blanket across the alcove has seen a lot of action tonight. Should we post our employee’s innermost desires and diatribes? If any material turns out to be appropriate for the general public, heck yeah!

On the campaign front, something is brewing in the large conference room. All kinds of creative types are in there, stroking their chins thoughtfully and looking at stuff people made. Stay tuned.

1/26, 11:40 pm: Aaron just left, but before he could take the elevator down to the sidewalk and sanity, he snapped a company picture. That’s something we’re looking forward to posting. Kind of. (How can you have bed head without ever going to bed?)

The ad copy is coming fast and furious now and the message is really shaping up. Do good, feel good.

And we’re all feeling pretty good, thanks. Especially the folks on the 5th floor, judging from the shouts and laughter floating down the stairs. Sure, SOME of us have to work while others whoop it up playing Apples to Apples. But that’s OK. We’ll just bide our time until they fall asleep and then break out the Sharpies.

1/26, 9:59 pm: We’re officially halfway through the 25-hour day!

Just wrapping up the photo shoot and getting some designs together. Lookin’ good.

The yoga class was a big hit, as in some of us hit the floor falling out of tree pose. We had a hard time rousing some people out of savasana (a.k.a. corpse pose), but in the end, we came away from the class more focused and energized.

Also, we’d like to take this opportunity to gently urge everyone here employ their brand-spankin’-new official Crowley Webb toothbrush.

1/26, 8:48 pm: Twelve more minutes until the yoga class begins! Get out your sticky mat and downward dog with us. Thanks to Evolation Yoga for lending us an awesome instructor.

Meanwhile, on the 5th floor, the PR group is hard at work composing a cool strategy to promote outreach and spread the You and Who message.

1/26, 7:50 pm: A bunch of lovely young people are here getting their pictures taken in t-shirts for the You and Who ad campaign. There’s music playing, lights flashing, people saying, “Yes, give me the eyes. More! You’re a tiger. Grr.” OK, maybe not that last bit. Photographer Aaron Ingrao’s work is amazing and we’re really looking forward to seeing the finished product.

1/26, 6:31 pm: Well, that’s a relief. We just finished presenting concepts to You and Who. Dan said, and I quote, “We’re super excited.” You’re not the only one, Dan.

Fifteen hours, give or take, to get this baby done. On it.

1/26, 5:55 pm: All righty, then. Our website and blog is back online and we’re back with more news.

If you’ve been checking in on the webcam feed, you will see a large white shape on the left of the screen. That would be an enormous sheet of paper that our models will stand on/in front of during the photo shoot. You may also see various Crowley Webb employees posing and looking all pretty, testing out the backdrop.

Our concept presentation to You and Who is in five minutes. FIVE MINUTES.

OK, we gotta run and show this thing. Hope they like it!

1/26, 3:29 pm: Just left the war room. Sketches on the wall, the smell of dry erase markers in the air, talk of brand boards and concept deadlines. We are not panicking at all, just so you know. Everyone is super excited about the creative, but it’s a secret for now.

The people upstairs are talking PR and mandatory fun. No one is napping. We just spotted a giant basket full of chocolate bars. All good.

1/26, 2:35 pm: Busy, busy. The Buffalo News stopped by for a chat, so look for a mention of Crowley Webb’s Twenty-Five Hour Workday contest in the next edition or online.

Also, the epically talented Buffalo-area photographer Aaron Ingrao is at the agency setting up for the photo shoot tonight. Did we mention we’re having a photo shoot tonight? If you’re interested in modeling You and Who t-shirts, email steven.molenda@crowleywebb.com for more information. We’re looking for people age 18–25(ish) from diverse backgrounds. Payment will be in snacks.

1/26, 1:44 pm: Sorry this is late, but we had a very special visitor. And he brought tacos. If you’ve never had a meal from Lloyd Taco Truck, don’t come sniffing around here, because we’re not sharing. However, if you’d like a veritable fiesta in your mouth, the location schedule is posted on their website. Today the Lloyd truck will be at Fetch Logistics at Northpointe Business Park.

Yep, we’re keeping the eats local. Western New York has fantastic restaurants and the foodie culture keeps on growing. Breakfast today was provided in part by the Armor Inn Tap Room in Orchard Park, and there’s a rumor afoot that dinner will be supplied by Curley’s in Lackawanna. So the eating is good at our can-do agency here in Buffalo.

Oh, and we’re also working on an ad campaign for You and Who.

1/26, 12 noon: What’s happening in hour three, you ask?

Dan and Katie from You and Who are cozily ensconced in our office, just offscreen of the webcam.

It’s almost lunchtime and I’m sure we’ll have a scrumptious meal brought in. Right, management?

Thank you to Artvoice for stopping by. We love Artvoice, and not just because we can see their office from ours. Be sure to pick up a copy.

Here’s a posting from our partner is this crazy endeavor, Business First.

Our Flickr feed is rolling. No embarrassing photos. Yet.

1/26, 11 am: You can watch the magic happen via the live webcam on our website. We just found out that we reached our maximum capacity of simultaneous viewers (eek!), so we switched to another live feed. Now millions of people around the world can see us walk by the ping pong table while shoving croissants in our mouths.

1/26, 10 am: We just met with You and Who to go over the creative brief. Now that we’re all fed and caffeinated and on the same page, our team will work on developing concepts. Creative juices flowing. Brainstorming storming. We are off to a fantastic start.

It’s 8:30 and the gang’s all here. We’re starting off the day with an agency breakfast to help fuel the next crazed 25 hours. We cannot wait to get started on You and Who’s advertising makeover. Whee!

We will be updating this blog every hour, as well as our Facebook and Twitter (#cw25hr) accounts, so check in often to check on our progress/sleep deprivation.

 

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