We went to San Francisco for a 2 day workshop session with Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, and I just got back a little while ago. Tuesday we were awarded a fantastic project doing [super secret amazing project] on [super secret kickass technology] for [super secret world wide brand client], and Wednesday morning we flew out to start concepting with the client and to meet with the vendor supplying the [super secret kickass technology].
As some might be aware I've never even been to the US before starting to work in Los Angeles - my first period here has been somewhat chaotic, as I landed in the middle of wrapping up a really complicated data visualization for [not so secret client] in Australia. I helped wrap up the final details on the implementation and also liaison between various parties in the project. With out team and the agency at the Pacific, the backend team in Stockholm and the client in Australia this made for a couple of busy days spent cursing over time differences and doing 2 AM conference calls. I was pretty beat after doing this, and the morning after it was all done we were on a flight to San Francisco.
San Francisco is one of the most beautiful cities I've ever visited, and I only got to visit a small part of it - but I'm so in love already. The streets are amazing, and driving into the city is a blast + they have some madass taxi drivers. Ours was named Big Dog, and he drove like a maniac. I found myself looking for his "Like" button, but since I didn't actually dare trying to tap him, I'm just gonna say his praise here. Check out how the clouds seem to roll down the mountains like an avalanche - view from being stuck on the freeway.
We're doing a killer project, and working with a mastodon like Goodby, Silverstein and Partners is going to be so much fun. I actually found myself admitting to the agency that I couldn't believe I'm getting paid to have this much fun - and fun it will be. The Acne team is fucking awesome to work with, and we supplement each other really well. And it's been interesting to see how things work over here - there is definitely more approval work and more layers of approval than I've been used to. I've sort of moved a step down the food chain, since we're not working directly with the clients, so that obviously adds 1 extra layer of approval, but even within the agencies there are layers to go through - but whatever, we're just gonna roll with it, and to be honest it really doesn't bother me that much - that's what the business is like I guess.
I can't really share any of the work until we actually release it, but I promise you it will be über-cool and one of the coolest projects I've ever worked with.
We went out with the client after the first day had ended. Had a great dinner at a place called Gitane where everything was so "cute" according to the Goodby EP and my boss.
It was a great dinner ending a cool kickoff session. I'm truly pleased with how easy it is to get into conversation with everybody over here, and this dinner with a bunch of people I've never met before really proved that. I'm once again looking for the "Like" button. And this morning demonstrated yet another weather phenomenon me likes:
And my wife is arriving Saturday - just two more days. Can't wait to see her. She had a big farewell party at a friends flat tonight, and I skyped with them during our lunch break, where they were already pretty junk. They put a bunch of stuff on display for the webcam - stuff that I'll miss over here. Like a can of Tuborg, a can of Carlsberg and a bowl of ham salad which they then proceeded to drop into the keyboard of the computer holding the webcam. That was absolutely hilarious, but I had to get off the call soon after that, as I was having it in the agency office, and the drunks on the other end of the wire were starting to get me in trouble being inappropriate on my display.
Tomorrow will be spend with half a day off while I clean up my flat and do laundry before my wife arrives Saturday. And tonight I'll have a full nights sleep for the first time in a while. Looking forward to it and pressing the "Like" button for the third time this evening.
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