The first thing I noticed at Zipie HQ was a mannequin in a bathrobe. Naturally, it completely wigged me out. Full-service digital advertising agencies are not, apparently, for the faint of heart. In our morning meeting, I learned everyone’s names—including the mannequin. He was our own Cousin Eddie from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. Not only had I missed his famous trooper hat, but I’d also not seen a faux Snots who was hanging out somewhere else around the office. Totally normal.
After a few blog edits and a brief orientation, our phenomenal Traffic Manager asked if I’d seen Christmas Vacation. I hadn’t. (And haven’t...) We watched a few clips together and she handed me a job: Write a press release for our client, Paul Miller Motor Company. No big deal. To get Lexington in the holiday spirit, Paul Miller Motor Company’s owner, JP Miller, had not only found an old station wagon, he also strapped a 12-foot Christmas tree (with lights!) to it and set it outside the Paul Miller Ford dealership. We didn’t stop there, though. We also found a vintage RV, placed our Cousin Eddie and Snots on the scene, complete with a hose strapped to Eddie’s hand. We needed to tell Lexington all about it. Together, we recreated an entire scene from the beloved holiday movie—sans black water tank waste, I might add. Thank goodness.
What I learned from my first day was not how quickly Zipie turns jobs around, or how fun our work environment is (although those two things are definitely true). I witnessed, and got to be a part of, one of Zipie’s best qualities: teamwork. It took nearly the whole office to pull the stunt off: Social took behind-the-scenes photos, Creative flew drones, Accounts orchestrated the day and client communication.
We did it all in a day and we did it all together.
So, yes, I can tell you about the pizza we’ve eaten in eight-hour meetings and the games of Mario Kart I’ve played and won over lunch. I can tell you about our hotdog roller in the kitchen, the massive lists we keep to get jobs to clients as quickly as possible, or the cat balloon floating to my right. But, what I know about Zipie after this week is twofold and better than all of that: It takes a lot of teamwork to make something awesome. And I love it.
- Haley