On Tuesday we told you about the World's Fastest Agency (WFA) — a new ad shop that asks clients to wire it $999, direct message it's branding problem on Twitter, and then wait 24 hours for a 140-character response meant to solve all its problems.
While this might seem like a crazy gamble, in the last 24 hours, WFA founder and ad vet Floyd Hayes has received 800 emails including 20 freelance offers from creatives and six internship propositions, as well as three paying clients.
"The briefs have been really good, slightly terrifying, but I think I can do it," Hayes told BI. "The art is getting it to such a small format like a Haiku."
And he doesn't think that the Haiku is overpriced.
"It's quite a modest sum for what you're actually getting: 15 years of experience," Hayes told BI, noting his work for Mini Cooper, Levi's, JWT, BBH, Virgin, and others.
When we asked how such a short message, which has a chance of being misunderstood by clients, could be beneficial, Hayes said that it will aid both companies and agencies — who he hopes to help with their pitch work.
For companies, "it forces a team to focus [their problem into 140 characters] as opposed to waffling on and on," Hayes said. "Granted, this 'focus discipline' could be done for free, but when money is spent everyone takes it seriously."
And for agencies, Hayes explained, "I worked all over Madison Avenue, and sometimes clients just need fast ideas and a different viewpoint. I know agencies dread that call which is like, 'Hey we need a really big idea by Tuesday.' Agencies don't want to say no to a client, but that can really mess with them."
Still, a 140 character resolution does seem like it would be open to interpretation. While Hayes says he won't be providing an explanation of the creative process, "if a client says, 'Hey i don't really get it,' I won't be pig-headed about it."
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