Hasta La Creative!

And I thought Fast Company loved ad agencies. Take a read of USA Today‘s profile of Modernista! The McPaper gushes over the Boston shop because it’s not like other ad agencies. You see, it’s all about ideas. The other agencies, just ads. So, for the first dozen grafs we learn that Modernista! is doing non-ad stuff for clients like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Alas, 75 percent of its work is still making those pesky ads for brands like Hummer. The article quickly shifts to talking ads—and the agency—in breathless terms. Some favorite lines: “Ad historians may someday point to that moment as the very nanosecond when Cadillac’s image popped a cultural wheelie.” “All they really wanted was to create ads on their own terms.” “Regardless of who wins, the [Rockport] lawsuit is a clear message that few agencies dare to deliver to clients: Don’t mess with us.” “Modernista’s offices are wacko. You take a freight elevator to get in. Employees sit playing chess in the middle of one workroom. An eclectic CD library lines a wall of one floor.” And don’t even get them started on the agency’s Web site.

—Posted by Brian Morrissey