(Ad Age) Once home to agencies like BBDO, DDB, Young & Rubicam and Ogilvy, Madison Avenue has long been shorthand for the advertising industry. But now, the last great agency that remained on the famous New York street is leaving. It’s about TBWA Chiat Day.
Although the shop, which has operated at 488 Madison Ave since the mid-1990s, is now only a 10-minute subway ride from its former headquarters, it sees its move as symbolizing a significant shift in the advertising industry.
“I’ve never had three martinis,” quipped Troy Ruhanen, CEO of TBWA Worldwide, referring to the AMC series “Mad Men“, which popularized the idea of Madison Ave. for those outside the industry.
Now, he said, the term evokes an old-fashioned mindset and a way of referring to “classic advertising” that doesn’t fit with TBWA’s innovation-focused brand. “We don’t like being called an ad agency; we’re all about the total brand experience,” says Ruhanen.
The advertising sector has been distancing itself from the place for years. An article from New York Times of 1989 referred to that industry by “abandoning Madison Ave.” Today the agencies are scattered throughout the city, and many of them have opted for spaces in fashionable areas such as SoHo, Chelsea and the financial district of Manhattan and Brooklyn.
To announce his move, TBWA had an ad published in the NYT: “The latest ad from the last great Madison Avenue agency.” In the piece, TBWA recalls some of the iconic campaigns of that time, such as “Think Small“Volkswagen (DDB) and “Where’s The Beef”?” from Wendy”s, by the late Dancer Fitzgerald Sample.
“Thank you for being the cradle of our crazy industry for all these years,” the ad reads. “It was home to some famous agencies that did incredible work over the last century.”
Unlike its Madison Avenue space, which had three stories, TBWA-Chiat-Day’s new office will accommodate a single story and follow an open-space model for its nearly 400 employees.
“Three floors created natural hierarchies,” explains Ruhanen. “I think in this case, we’ll have everyone on the same floor and it’ll all be open plan. I don’t have an 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 the executive, who said the agency will require employees to come in three days a week after moving into the new space.
