Breaking Down the Walls: A Fear Street Saga

Did anyone else read Fear Street? According to some, there are Goosebumps kids and there are Fear Street kids (R.L. Stine must have been raking it in in the early 90s). Eventually, those kids grow up to become either beer or wine drinkers, Browns or Steelers fans, Jen or Angie supporters....there are some teams in life the don't accept co-membership. While I experimented with Goosebumps, I was Fear Street all the way. While my favourite Fear Street series was definitely the Fear Street Cheerleaders set (zombie cheerleader bathtub brawl? yes please!), one that has always stuck with me is the 99 Fear Street series. Well, at least the first one. After that we get voodoo doctors, colonial flashbacks, and movie-within-a-movie-within-a-book tie ins. Whoa bessie. Anyways, in the 99 Fear Street set, evil lives within the walls on the house (very Amityville Horror). But not in the metaphorical sense. There is actually majorly evil crap in the walls of the house.

It is this expert knowledge (I'm like the Dian Fossey of teen lit) that made me tremble in terror when my boss picked up a sledgehammer yesterday and slammed it into the coral-coloured walls of The Jupiter Drawing Room. You see, we are changing from a more closed-off office type setting to an open plan, so we can all share ideas, yell across the room at each other, and smell one anothers lunches. Bliss. Haha - in fairness, I'm actually pretty excited about it. We have an absolutely brilliant creative team here at Jupiter but I have not gotten a lot of exposure to them as they sit in offices down the hall from Graham and myself.

Anyways, this symbolic sledging may have been exciting for some - the creatives were beaming with joy as each took a swing towards breaking down both the physical and emotional barriers between management and creative - but I was very concerned. Had anyone looked into the history of our buildings? Were they built on an ancient burial ground? Did the attic contain any corpses harbouring murderous grudges? And was anyone paying any attention to how close we are to Halloween!?

As I scanned the halls for signs of demons - checking the walls for pea soup splashes, inspecting the creatives for red irises or devil's marks, sniffing the air for any foul or otherworldly mists or fogs - I noticed something else in the air. Optimism.

I know - how corny does that sound? However, especially during this awful recession we're in, workplace optimism is a hard thing to find. And though I've had a wonderful start here at Jupiter and everyone has been fantastically welcoming, you cannot help but notice that on some days everyone just seems a bit run-down. It's that typical October feeling - what have I been doing all year and what do I have to show for it? And seeing these walls knocked down really seemed to help the attitude of some of our creative employees who I think have been feeling a bit neglected.

A bit of background: 49% of The Jupiter Drawing Room was purchased by WPP (the company I work for) in a deal that spanned nearly two years and just concluded last month. I for one am super happy about the deal, as it enabled me to come work here. However, as this deal was a long and arduous process, it took up most of the time of my boss, Graham, the founder and chairman of the TJDR. This has taken Graham away from his traditional duties. Normally, Graham would spend some time each week in the role of Creative Director - coming up with ideas, approving/amending work, rallying positive attitudes, and giving the creatives some individual attention. Graham has been quite successful in this director role - in fact, he's one of the most successful people in the history of advertising in that regard. According to one article (he doesn't often talk himself up, so I am forced to Google him), he has won "22 Cannes Lions, 23 Clios, 11 One Show Pencils, 23 London International Statues and 70 Medals at The New York Festival." Upon entering the office each day, I'm surrounded by so much gold I sometimes think I'm sharing an office with Meryl Streep. Cannes Lions are like the Oscars of advertising, and as I am a Leo, I enjoy staring at them and imagining my acceptance speeches upon winning them ("I'd like to thank the Academy for recognizing me as best actor...er....for best press advertisement...") or at least thinking about how I could make them into candelabras when I'm old and retired.

The point of that spiel is that the creative team here at Jupiter really wants Graham around. He hasn't been so successful without reason - he's a fantastic and rewarding director. So seeing these walls go down was a resounding sign to everyone that he is back in action and is eager to work alongside them. It was a really wonderful thing to see. I know that open plans can go wrong. One company I worked at previously had an open plan, and instead of instilling a feeling of togetherness there was just an area in the one corner where the management sat and no one dared to venture. If you got close, it was as if the temperature dropped about 10 degrees. But I really feel like Jupiter intends to make it a true open plan, where people are openly collaborating and sharing. I can just seem myself swirling around in my office chair, chatting to different people and then getting to work. One step closer to my dream of being an 1980s business-person.

So, instead of Satan emerging from the crumbling walls of Jupiter, we got a big old dose of togetherness. While we won't be singing "We Are Family" on the streets of Joburg anytime soon, I think it will help to make an already great situation even better. I may just keep a bit of holy water in my desk though - just in case.

Have a great day!

Mike