Creative Company: How St. Luke's Became "The Ad Agency to End All Ad Agencies"

Why does Fast Company magazine call St. Luke’s "the ad agency to end all ad agencies"? How can a company function, let alone thrive, when it has "eschewed conventional hierarchy in favor of the flattest possible organizational layout and the craziest ever decision-making process"? And why on earth would some of the most talented and sought-after minds in the advertising world forsake the fabulous perks available to senior managers and risk everything for a company where no one has even a desk to call his or her own? In Creative Company, the chairman and cofounder of St. Luke’s answers these questions and many more. Andy Law writes candidly and enthusiastically about breaking the agency mold and organizing a company in a completely different way. St. Luke’s is nothing if not different—to many, the agency described in this remarkable and challenging book may hardly sound like a business at all. In 1995, a small band of highly creative people who loved the work but hated the workplace established a company designed not only to get the most out of them, but to give the most back—a company in which creativity, curiosity, versatility, and a sense of fun are assets to be celebrated, not encumbrances to be left outside the door. Law recounts how many St. Luke’s employee/owners discovered new sources of satisfaction, hidden talents, and even entirely new careers as they encouraged each other to experiment, learn, and grow. Meanwhile, the agency’s annual billings soared to more than $90 million in three memorable years. Complete with revealing tales of advertising legends such as Jay Chiat, Bill Tragos, Frank Lowe, and the Omnicom chieftains, Creative Company offers a fascinating, warts-and-all tour of the advertising industry. It also fires the opening volley of a revolution that aims to do nothing less than alter the "DNA" of business itself and, in Law’s words, "furiously seeks a new, better, more fulfilling, and fairer role for business in the lives of its employees." The St. Luke’s story will challenge your preconceptions, stimulate your imagination, and may even change your mind.

This book tells the story of how the innovative St. Luke's ad agency was founded. St. Luke's has been lauded as a model company for the 21st Century, and it has been much written about in various publications because of its unusual structure and working style — not only in advertising circles, but also as a model for any company in any industry. Law describes and explains the business practice and philosophy behind St. Luke's and examines its application to other companies in other industries.

The St. Lukes story will challenge your preconceptions, stimulate your imagination, and may even change your mind.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [261]-262) and index.

ANDY LAW is Chairman and one of the founders of St. Luke?s, a London-based advertising agency. Previously, he was managing director of the London office of Chiat/Day, just before it was acquired by TBWA.

IN THE BEGINNING.

The Phone Call.

A Way In...

A Way Out...

Air Miles.

A New Job.

1994 - A Golden Year.

Mutiny!

What a Wonderful World.

Fred.

Sale of the Century.

We Go To a Desert Island.

From Lucky Pigs to St. Luke's.

We Are Sailing in a Strange Ship.

CHANGE THE WAY YOU WORK.

21st-Century Business.

Ownership.

Organisation and Exploring.

Daily Life at St. Luke's.

Culture.

Technology.

Output.

CRASH TEST DUMMIES.

Accidents and Emergencies.

In the Bleak Mid-Winter.

Icebergs Ahead.

A Creative Company in the Creative Age.

One Chapter Closes and Another One Hundred Open Up.

STRUGGLE IN PARADISE.

Winter of Content.

Spring in the Hothouse.

The Summer of Love?

Epilogue.

Ten Ways to Create a Revolution in Your Company.

Acknowledgements.

Dramatis Personae.

Some Books Which Have Made Me Think.

Index.