This is the water tower across the street from the Ogilvy Building.

It’s on top of the Salvation Army building.

Last year, said Salvation Army had tons of treasures to find.

This year, not so much.

Still, it’s a pretty cool water tower.

Love

D

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This is a shot I took on Monday of wire hanging on the 11th floor. The 11th floor will be the (or at least one of the) creative floors, and will totally kick all the other floors asses!!!

Okay that’s not necessarily true. I’ve heard 2 is ‘sposed to be sweet with its billion foot high ceilings. And the Eyepatch studios will, I’m sure, be awesome as well. The rest of you will have awesome floors too.

That cover every body? Okay, cool.

HAPPY COLD DAY!!!

Love,
D

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Hey everybody!!

I got to go to the Ogilvy Building yesterday.
It was pretty sweet.

As you probably know, if you’ve been keeping up with this site at all, I’ve gone over there a bunch, but nothing really changes on the outside of the building. There was the installation of the new windows, but other than that, it’s been pretty uneventful in terms of progress on the outside of the building itself. But yesterday, I got to go inside.
As I’m sure you could tell from the shots Chris sent us a couple weeks ago, it’s still very much a construction project. They’re putting up the ducts (with no evidence of duct tape), installing the electrical infrastructure, and putting up walls.
Either way, the point of this is that I now have access to the inside of the Ogilvy Building, and will be able to update you with new photos and words much more frequently.
Here are some shots I like from yesterday.
Love forever
D

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Last night, I went to see a DJ called Girl Talk at Terminal 5 on 11th Ave., just a few blocks from the Ogilvy Building. It was kind of crazy to see that many people over in an area of town that’s usually reserved for auto dealerships. It’s also a sign of how the area is changing. Between Terminal 5, The Daily Show, and the Colbert Report, the street’s getting pretty darn hip. And with the introduction of one of the biggest ad agencies in the world, I have a feeling there’s gonna be a bit more commerce than just Daisy May’s BBQ and the Landmark Tavern.

Either way, Girl Talk is the king of mashup, the genre that takes toms of songs and, well, mashes them together. He takes pop songs, and mashes them with classics, or jazz, or rap, or hip hop or any combination of anything you can think of. On stage before the show, there was nothing but a table with a lap top and some monitors. Girl Talk, who was featured in the first of the “I’m a P.C.” ads, comes out to monstrous applause (this show, like its Saturday night counterpart was also sold out), starts the music, and is joined by about 50 adoring fans who are given the task of keeping the dancing going all night long. And dance they do. It’s a very energetic time, to say the least.

If you feel like seeing him, you can catch his last show at Terminal 5 of this “Feed the Animals” tour on Tuesday. If you like dancing to nonstop music, you can’t go wrong.

Also, here’s an interview of Girl Talk.
he’s part of the digital revolution, so pay attention, OgilvyOne.
Girl Talk Interview

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I’ve already gone on a rant about how I believe that 11/11 should be Armistice Day, as it is still in the rest of the world, but I’ll reiterate. Armistice Day, by the way, was a day to commemorate the end of World War I, and to honor those who served in it. But in America we don’t celebrate it any more. We’ve taken the day given to a few, and made it about all veterans. Now I’m totally for Veteran’s Day, I just think it should be it’s own day. On that note, maybe every war should get its own day, the day it ended. We should celebrate that day every year. That way, maybe we can keep war in check by not having enough days to keep having wars. (It probably wouldn’t take too long)
Either way, Tuesday was Veteran’s Day, and it was celebrated here in New York at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, just a block from the Ogilvy Building. And guess who was there? America’s Number 1 Lame Duck President, George W. Bush!!! That’s right, the 43rd President was probably looking at our precious new building yesterday. But he wasn’t the only one celebrating there. Hundreds, if not thousands of veterans including many who served on the U.S.S. Intrepid were here as well as were tons of tourists from New York, the rest of the United States, and around the globe. As you can probably imagine, security was tight, and the area was crowded, but there was still a light-hearted, celebratory atmosphere there.
Here are some photos I took of the Intrepid, and the other US battleship that came in to occupy the dock traditionally reserved for cruise ships, as well as a video of the ceremonies. Watch it at home though, it’s an hour long. See if you can spot the branded content in it. (It’s really obvious)
Finally, I’d like to personally thank all the veterans here at Ogilvy, as well as any other military personnel that didn’t serve in a war. Without you, America wouldn’t be America.
Love forever
D

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Here’s another glamour shot of the building. The Ogilvy Building. I took it a little while ago, and didn’t retouch it at all.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the new building, and I’m guessing you have too. But I haven’t heard any of your questions. So this is a call to action. Send me questions at Daniel.callahan@ogilvy.com, and I’ll sit down with either Gunther or Cynthia as frequently as possible and ask them some of the best ones. I haven’t asked either of them about this, but they love you all so much that I’m sure they’d be able to make the time.

 

So go ahead! Ask away!!

 

Love forever

D

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D came to me and said we could make all of these images into a video for the site. I agreed and made this video. Music is by Jon Shina.

 

-Patrick

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Cold and rainy and blustery October day - can April be far behind?

Cynthia and Jose arranged a walking tour for a number of us today.  Today was my first walking tour of the new digs since last December, around the time we signed the lease.

Lots of progress - a LONG way to go.  But that’s how these things work. The infrastructure of the building takes a lot of time and seems a long way from habitation - but the surfaces are a lot simpler.

First off, it was good that my initial impression of the building as a cool space to work was validated.  At 5 pm on a dark and rainy day, it was bright and bathed in natural light.  Almost any where you sit, you are surrounded by huge windows on either side of you and have an epic New York view.

I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and lived in LA for a long time - both great places in their own way, but there’s something special about being in New York and being part of the Greatest City in the World.  The light, the energy, the history - New York is the center of so many things… Compared to World Wide Plaza, you feel much more a part of New York.  While we were walking around, one of the huge cruise liners undocked and set sail.  The Intrepid is back in in port with a sign saying it opens November 6th (though wandering across a carrier deck in the middle of the Hudson on November 6th may make you the more intrepid one.)

Anyway, walking through, you really feel the epic-ness of the project and what you bite off when you bite off 600,000 square feet.  I snapped these pix with my camera phone.

The elevator that takes you to the 11th floor - one of two creative floors in the building.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Intrepid, from the elevator.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The elevator shafts.  Er, sans elevator.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From the 11th floor, a view of the 2nd floor garden space.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Parts.

 

 

 

 

 

Should we leave the center columns unfinished…or paint ‘em white? Register and comment. 

 

Lots of natural light.  Great views.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Load Out.  (Apologies to Jackson Browne, Running on Empty.)

Every floor has lots of windows and lots of light.  I like that.

 

 

 

 

This is the view of midtown when you get off the elevators on the 11th floor.  A fabulous space for art.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the second floor.  High ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows (almost).  I was actually a bit worried that the lower floors wouldn’t be as cool as the higher floors (I’ve been in NY too long?) But the ceilings on One and Two are actually significantly higher than the rest of the building (which are quite high.)  I think the second floor is going to be
very dramatic and impressive.  And though it doesn’t have the soaring ”skyline” views of the higher floor, it still feels very New York, very
cool.

The 2nd floor terrace viewed from the second floor, north wing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At Ogilvy, there are no politics, right?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The boutique Vue Hotel , nearing completion across the street.  Note the fantastic roof restaurant and garden under construction.

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So I did some homework last night. No, I didn’t work on the campaign for my copywriting class that I’m taking at the up and coming New York City advertising school, The Mission. Instead, I went out in our new neighborhood, Hell’s Kitchen for a Hell of a night on the town. (yes, I know that was a terrible pun) Specifically, the brand new, mint conditioned bowling alley Lucky Strike Lanes. And just like Don Draper’s first campaign, with a product of the same name, it was a big hit. The swank new digs right off the West Side Highway is, to say the least, a little nicer than where I usually bowl, a dive bar in Brooklyn called the Gutter. No, this place has it all. From the moment you walk in, and the doormen take your coats, you realize that this is a step up from any regular bowling alley. They even make you take off your hat (unless it’s a fedora).

 After you’ve had your coat and hat taken, you see some fairly famous pop art. There’s a portrait of Andy Warhol, and even some signed work by Ogilvy-friendly street artist-turned advertising pioneer Shepard Fairy, who has a mural up outside the men’s room on the 5^th floor here. The bar is something out of an upscale club from the movies, or… you know… New York City.

 Then there’re the games. The first thing you notice is that the bowling shoes are all new, and don’t make you instantly recoil. The balls are new as well. In fact, you’d be hard pressed to find anything that wasn’t brand new in the whole place. Then you get to the lanes, which are pretty perfect, and instead of sitting on those nasty bowling benches you’re used to if you’ve ever gone bowling, they have leather couches with nice wooden coffee tables. Above the pins are huge projector screens that rotate through an array or really cool art both moving and still. Since it was a Monday night in October, football went on half of the screens at 8:00, and then the World Series at 8:30. (Go Rays!!) The gutters are lines with multicolored Christmas lights, and a waitress will come sit with you and take your order before you even change your shoes to take your drink, and/or food order, for which the menu is quite inventive for a bowling alley. There are also about ten pool tables lined up in front of the lane if bowling isn’t your thing.

 Now here’s the down side. It’s not cheap. I don’t know about you, but I went to college in Ohio, where a game of bowling costs only one dollar on a Sunday night, and two dollars every other night. These games are a bit more pricey. It’s ten bucks per person per game, and five for shoes. That means one person bowling two games is $25.oo. That’s $11.oo more than at the aforementioned Gutter. Still, if I made a little more cizash (that’s street talk for money) I might be there every single night. 

 All in all, I have to give Lucky Strike a good review. We were treated well by the very friendly staff. The drinks were cold, the couches were comfortable, and I bowled amazingly well. 

-D

 

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Remember this stuff?

Seems like just yesterday I was rolling around in the grass with not a care in the world. Now it’s so cold I need a jacket to wear over my sweater.

But for those super hot months (since it seems to be either hot or cold these days) there is a wonderful patch of grass on the water just a block from the Ogilvy Building. It’s right next to the USS Intrepid, about which Im sure you read just recently on this very website.

And while we’re on the subject, remember that the Intrepid re-opens its doors as a museum in just a few weeks. It’s a perfect journey for any of your kids who plan on getting drafted for the next U.S. war, where ever it may be. It’s also fun for those less sceptical than I!!!

Either way, roll in the grass now, while you still can. I hear we have a huge blizzard coming next week.

 

Love

D

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