What pushes you to think outside the box? Who inspires you to move beyond traditional limits? Where do you turn when you’re stuck in a rut?
At Gavin, our jobs depend on creativity, even that of our bookkeeper, who develops innovative cost-saving solutions every day.
So how do we do it? How do we stay fresh and unique among thousands of other creative agencies?
All in the Details
Think back to when you were a child. Do you remember the first day your parent let you dress yourself? In that pink tutu with yellow tights and a neon green sweater, you thought you were the belle of the ball. Why? Because you stretched your creativity beyond the realm of building blocks.
At Gavin, we let our employees dress themselves. No, seriously: We have a pretty liberal dress code within reason. We dress to impress our clients, but there are some days we strut jeans without penalties.
We believe stretching creativity starts in small doses. Before we get to that “Eureka!” moment, we express ourselves at our desks, in lounge areas and on white board walls.
Surrounded by Inspiration
In a white office with gray furniture under neon lights, do you feel inspired?
Right. We feel the same way.
That’s why our digs are decked out in orange. It’s not only consistent with our brand; the color orange encourages optimism and enthusiasm.
We have niche meeting rooms (check out our home base) and cozy corners perfect for knocking out blog posts without interruption. Our funky lights and ottomans spotlight our quirky spirit. Our retro-cool sofas provide some R&R in the middle of the day.
Got a case of writer’s block? This creative agency cures it with bocce ball and basketball indoors (bonus: these games encourage teamwork, too). When the weather warms, we take our ideas to the streets – brainstorming during walks downtown or while sitting at patio furniture in front of our shop.
The main point is: When we’re surrounded by a fresh and fun atmosphere, we produce fresh and fun ideas. (You don’t have to take our word for it.)
What’s the Big Idea?
When we’re under deadline to produce a campaign, we pull our entire team together to spark the BIG IDEA – the one that’s going to wow our clients with our talent.
During this team session, we start by providing background on the clients, such as services they provide, target audiences and marketing messages. We also provide visuals – color schemes, mood boards, logos and the like.
As we start tossing out words and phrases, we write them on poster paper or a white board. When we run out of space on paper, we tape that piece of paper to the wall and start another sheet – we NEVER run out of space for ideas. Team members keep paper and sketchbooks in front of them, too, so if they think of an idea while someone is talking, they can jot it down. Doodling is encouraged.
If we don’t finalize a campaign during the meeting, we post the ideas on sheets of paper and tape them around the office. Then we ask team members to vote for their favorites or add more thoughts. (Talk about being surrounded by inspiration, literally.)
At Gavin, we place an emphasis on innovative thinking and collaborative efforts to create the campaign that’s going to win big ROI for our clients. (And after we do, you can bet we celebrate.)
