You Shoulda Been There

Ep. 5 - Ben Jones is Global Creative of Unskippable Labs at Google, and was on numerous client projects in the formative years of AGENCY.COM... he's got some stories to tell!

Episode Timeline

2:50 You just gotta not suck

4:56 We're doing "2020 Okay."

6:10 How it all started

9:30 Can I start TODAY?!

12:50 I tended to be the "Pitch Pony"

15:10 Two Texaco Stories

18:25 The thing I remember the most is the Churn

22:20 Creative effectiveness in the video world

25:40 Realtime Coffee Freshness System we developed

27:55 The Lucent Business Card interface

28:20 The Jumpman 23 non-text Interface

30:25 Sphere of Genius of Tim Carrier around banner optimization

33:00 Pitching "The Laser that Blows Stuff Up" concept

36:30 Remembering the Creative Directors

38:30 How AGENCY . COM won the biggest global brands

40:05 Stumbling into massive cultural problems in large corporations

40:45 We won the global rebranding for HP... that was never going to work

42:05 Winning GS. That was a biggie.

46:20 What are you excited about now?

Ep. 4 - Eamonn and Andy talk about how they got started, creating pioneering firm Online Magic and experience joining & expanding AGENCY.COM all the way to and through the IPO.

Episode Timeline

5:05​ Eamonn humbly declares inventing the Internet

7:04​ Andy from rocker to Internet epiphany

10:18​ Landing the Economist gig

12:20​ Andy's NYC Move

12:50​ "Do you guys build Web sites?"

13:40​ Of course we can!

14:00​ Chan Suh challenges Eamonn's claim

15:04​ "Did you have ambitions for global domination?"

17:32​ "How did you meet Chan and Kyle?"

19:45​ Going out to first dinner with AGENCY.COM team in NYC

23:45​ The cultures never really came together

29:20​ UK General Election site

31:30​ Winning (being handed) Manchester United site

35:45​ One Engine Many Channel

39:10​ The Tyson/Hollyfield sites

42:03​ Completing the IPO road show

44:50​ "50" Levels of Education

48:20​ It definitely became less fun (post-IPO)

50:05​ "Did Andy pay back his Marxist father?"

52:50​ What are you up to these days?

Ep. 3 - SCOTT MAGER, Principal at Deloitte Consulting, was employee number 4 at AGENCY.COM and a founding member of "The Pit" which is where all the magic happened. He also built the original BIG RED BUTTON™

Episode Timeline

2:08 Dress-Up Fridays Origin

3:30 How I Found AGENCY . COM

6:10 Creating the First Hitachi Website (With Visuals!)

9:35 Tapenet™

11:15 The Originator of the "Geek & Tell™"

12:57 The Move to 665 Broadway

14:30 Urban Desires - You Could Do Anything

17:20 Creating the Big RED Button™

21:60 "I'm a designer, but I'm also color blind..."

26:55 The First Gif89a Ad Banner for Apple... within an hour of release!

27:57 Live-Streaming the Concorde in Times Square

31:30 The Immersibility Index

36:45 Pep Talk: "Figure out what sucks. Don't do that!"

38:45 Why it Really Hurt When Scott left

39:40 "What have you carried forward from those early days?"

46:18 Perfecting Your Craft

47:50 How Do You Translate "Small Company" Spirit into (very large) Deloitte Digital?

Chan shares how he discovered coding and the World Wide Web while running marketing for Vibe Magazine, working for Quincy Jones and Time Inc. One thing led to another, and he was in the middle of the Internet storm.

5:00 - How did it all start for you, Chan?

7:40 - You could have Text AND Pictures on the same screen!

12:17 - I did NOT want to do advertising.

15:20 - How did you meet Kyle?

21:15 - We started with $80 and a checking account.

24:10 - When did you make the move?

27:38 - Culture of Curiosity

32:20 - What was a big deal for you back then?

35:15 - If anyone tells you they know what they're doing, they're lying or delusional!

37:35 - Once you got into the "Fortune 500 Club"...

39:15 - I asked, "Is AmericanExpress.com registered? No? Can you hold that for me?"

42:40 - Being a startup... I never really trusted other startups.

47:00 - When Omnicom came to visit

52:00 - What did you take from those early days?

Kyle shares his journey from aspiring actor in NYC to the creation of online magazine Urban Desires; the World Wide Web Artists Consortium (WWWAC); and AGENCY.COM, where he served as Chief Creative Officer of one of the first and largest digital Web agencies of the era.

3:26 - Why Early Days Were Remarkable

8:00 - How Kyle Got His Start

13:08 - "The world just changed!"

19:20 - Clay Shirky and "Geek & Tells"

23:35 - Working with MetLife

25:50 - How Ritesh Joined AGENCY.COM

29:30 - "The PIT"

32:55 - Winning British Airways Account

46:02 - Hiring 30 people in 30 Days!

50:14 - The Creation of TAPENET

52:03 - What's Happened Since the Early Days