The last major ad agency to leave Madison Ave.—why TBWA\Chiat\Day New York is moving on
TBWA\Chiat\Day leaves the street that was once the beating heart of the ad industry to build a new legacy.
Fransebas
Madison Avenue, which once housed the likes of BBDO, DDB, Young & Rubicam and Ogilvy, has long been the go-to shorthand for the advertising industry. But now, the last big agency left on the famed New York street is moving out.
TBWA\Chiat\Day New York packed its bags from that storied street to move to the Daily News Building at 220 East 42nd St. Although the agency, which has operated at 488 Madison Ave. since the mid-'90s, is only a 10-minute subway trip from its old home, it sees its move as symbolic of a significant change in the ad industry.
“I’ve never had a three-martini lunch,” joked Troy Ruhanen, CEO of TBWA\Worldwide joked, referencing AMC's “Mad Men,” which popularized the idea of Madison Ave. for those outside the industry. The term dates back to long before the TV show's 2007 debut. Ruhanen said if it weren’t for the show and the #MeToo movement, the idea of a “Madison Ave.” might not still be as prominent today.
Now, he said, the term evokes an outdated mindset and a way to reference “classic advertising” that doesn’t fit with TBWA’s branding, which is centered around innovation. “We don't like being referred to as an advertising agency; we're about total brand experience,” Ruhanen said.
The industry has been distancing itself from the location for years. A 1989 New York Times article referenced the advertising industry “quitting Madison Ave.” Though agencies today are scattered throughout the city, many of them have opted for spaces in trendy areas such as Manhattan's SoHo, Chelsea and the Financial District and Brooklyn's Dumbo.
To announce the move, TBWA\Chiat\Day commissioned an ad to run in today's New York Times with copy that reads: “The last ad from the last big ad agency on Madison Avenue.” In the ad, TBWA remembers some of the iconic campaigns that came out of that era including Volkswagen's “Think Small” (DDB) and Wendy's “Where’s the Beef?” (the now-defunct Dancer Fitzgerald Sample).
“Thanks for being our crazy industry’s stomping ground for all these years,” the ad reads. “You were home to some famous agencies who made some pretty amazing work over the last century or so.”
Unlike its Madison Ave. space, which had three floors, TBWA\Chiat\Day's new office will be on one floor and follow an open space model for its roughly 400 employees.
“You build up natural hierarchies when you've got three floors,” Ruhanen said. “I think in this instance, we’ll have everyone on the same floor and then it's all open plan. I have no office. It's very much about trying to bring everyone together.”
The move is also being used as a way to instill a new in-person policy, according to Ruhanen, who said the agency will require employees to come in three days a week after moving into the space on Jan. 17.
Related: Agencies struggle to get employees back into the office
“When you have the right space, people will be there more than three days,” Ruhanen said. "We’ve noticed a lot of interest in getting back to work in the last three or four months. I would say particularly people that are under [age] 27 are yearning to be back at the office and learning. It's really been the older generation of 35 to 55 that have been harder to get back to work.”
Prior to the mandate, the agency’s office, on an average day, would be filled at 25% capacity, according to Ruhanen, who feels that remote work has “hurt creative” over the past few years.
Ruhanen said he believes there’s still effective work and innovation, but the quality of advertising across the industry has declined.
“If you take the last bunch of festivals, no one talks about great work right now,” Ruhanen said. “And I honestly do believe that’s been a consequence of what’s happened of being apart. We’re just seeing much more excitement about getting back together and doing work together.”
He added that while work over video chat is “productive and effective,” it’s also “time sensitive” and “awkward.”
“When you're developing work and strategy, these conversations can go on forever, and it needs a lot of sparring and it needs the environment. “Here,” Ruhanen said, gesturing to a Zoom screen where he was speaking for this story, “you're afraid to trip over each other, you can't read the body language, you can't physically get behind something.”
The new space will take up the 14th floor of The News building. In 2016, Omnicom signed a 15-year lease for the building’s 11th-15th floors. Other agencies in the space include PHD Media, Organic and Cline Davis & Mann.
The entrance of TBWA's space will include a gallery wall featuring childhood photos of employees. The floor will also feature a library and four “unique cafes” that “feel like little coffee shops or gathering spots to take a break or a change of scenery,” said Amy Ferguson, chief creative officer of TBWA\Chiat\Day New York. TBWA will also decorate with wallpaper featuring the agency’s work.
The design is meant to blend “the best of what worked before the pandemic with where we anticipate the future of work will be,” said Nancy Reyes, CEO, TBWA\Chiat\Day New York. “Our space had to include the best of the office and the best of what people have come to love from working at home—there are loud communal spaces, quiet spaces and everything in between.”
