Towards the end of 2009, five OneMethod employees started to behave awkwardly as they attempted to hide something. The rest of the staff postulated on what they could possibly be doing and ended up guessing that the allusive coworkers were either in a fight club or a sex club. Or a sex-fight club. At the 2009 holiday party, the mystery was put to rest as the five individuals took to stage and revealed the OMB: The OneMethod Band.

Members

Jen Woodall: Lead Vocals/Account Executive

Steve Miller: Guitar/Creative Director

Rob Pilichowski: Guitar/Designer

Dylan Upper: Slappin’ da bass/Designer

Scott Pasko: Percussion/Project Coordinator

By no means am I trying to compare my management style to Mr. Ramsey’s, but there are some key guiding principles that I believe I share with him in our pursuit of the holy grail of success.

As you embark on the next part of your career on our team, I’d like you to be on board with some of the guiding principles that I look for from new (and existing) members of our close-knit crew.

1. There is no corporate ladder here

If you’re concerned about job titles, this is probably not the place for you. Anyone here can have a voice if they step up to the mic. I would like for you all to have the title of CEO, because that’s the way I want everyone on the team to think. Let your inner-entrepreneur come out.

2. I’m ok with being your stepping stone

I know this will not be your last job and I am okay with that. My commitment to you is to help strengthen your skill set and strengthen your portfolio/resume, as you’ll strengthen ours. Don’t look at your time here as job, but an opportunity. This concept is a big difference in mindset, so always be aware of it.

3. This is not a ‘job’

Don’t do this for the pay check or start watching the clock. If either of those things are your primary motivation, this is probably not the place for you. If you do this for the love, we will make sure to provide an environment and opportunity to flex your creative and strategic muscle. You will get what you put in, plus more, so make sure you want it bad enough.

4. Leave your ego at the door

This one’s pretty self explanatory, so I’ll leave it at that.

5. Have ridiculously high standards

I have been plagued with this disorder for  many years now — often times to the detriment of better business judgement. It is contagious (in most cases), and you will eventually be plagued with it as well. You need only accept your fate and produce the highest quality of work possible to help ease the pain.

6. Take ownership

This is a boutique shop. Everyone needs to have an entrepreneurial mindset. We do whatever it takes to make things happen. Don’t allow yourself to be defined by your job title. That’s a pretty big departure from the expectations of most places, so be prepared.

7. Sharpen your pencil

Continuous learning is not an option. It is a must. And not just for my sake, more importantly, yours. You need to stay relevant and grow with the industry and the company. Becoming stagnant can destroy a career. Stay motivated to be the best.

8. Think

I don’t mean to be condescending here. I just want you to use the same thinking you would use in your everyday life in your work. Think things through fully and always ask yourself how you can do better than just the expected — and do it.

9. Good is the enemy of Great

I truly believe this, and I will definitely call you out on this. All I want is for you to be better than you think you are and you’ll have the entire OneMethod team to help you get there. That doesn’t mean we won’t ever settle for good (sometimes reality sets in), but my goal is to always aim for great — and I know you can/will too.

10. Welcome to the family

We’ve had people come and go… and come back again. And I have made some lifelong friends with some of those very people. To me, work is life and I look forward to spending the next while with you (however long that may be). Let’s work on some cool stuff together!

PASKO DUNKS! Season 1, Episode 1.

I have recently had the privilege of being accepted into the OneMethod tribe of advertisers. There are no words to describe the initiation ritual I had to endure that are publishable on the Internet. But to properly study your subject you must become one of the clan.

It’s Anthropology 101. Or something. I dunno. I studied Film.

My foray into this strange world has given me the opportunity to make a few interesting observations.

Firstly, the morning ritual is very important to the start of each day. Without the assignment of hunting and gathering tasks, the tribe would surely starve. So we come together, caffeinated beverages in hand, to start our day together. We are not unlike a group of unsightly orphans deciding the rules to a game of ‘Pick-Pocket the Foreigners’. Also, the morning ritual is apparently optional.

The second observation was a rather startling occurrence at first, but has since become second nature. As it turns out, a little mild racism keeps spirits high during the daily grind. We laugh and no tribe members are truly offended, but I suspect there is a line that shouldn’t be crossed, not far off in the distance. It’s really just a matter of time.

The third and probably the most defining feature of the tribe is that public humiliation is not only accepted; it is encouraged. If two members find themselves in a minor miscommunication, they will verbally spar in front of the tribe until one, red-faced, cedes defeat. An event such as this may take hours, or even days, to be resolved. On the other hand, such an event always produces better hunting and gathering results.

This is the basis for my pending thesis, but I will have to observe them a while longer to reach more thorough conclusions.

In all seriousness I’ve loved my first two weeks here at OneMethod, you guys are, in fact, the opposite of unsightly orphans.

Want to read more from Tyler the creator intern? Follow him on Twitter.

Its essential reading – but it’s also a lot of reading. So, for my fellow time-challenged agency people out there, I’ve summarized the thoughts and philosophies into five chapters: Process, The Brief, Information, Strategy and Ideas. Over the next several weeks, I’ll be uploading a new chapter (in the aforementioned order) for you to review, challenge and adapt to your own creative process.

Enjoy.

PROCESS

- Ideas are company driven (garbage in, garbage out).
– Your client is your ‘Creative Director’ They’re the first and last decision maker in the creative process. They provide the initial problem and they sign off on the final artwork. We have to make sure they are monitored and handled carefully throughout the process.
– You need mutual respect/trust with the client and agency.
– Fear is a significant factor and a significant idea killer on all levels of management – Be fearless.
– Have passion for the product. Through passion comes conviction and enthusiasm.
– Mediocrity is liked by everybody because it offends nobody. The basic requirements to avoid mediocrity are trust, honesty and openness.
– Good is the enemy of great. Don’t accept good – only accept great.
– Clients buy conviction, not an idea. If we’re convincing in what we sell and that it’s the best, it will be perceived and accepted that way.
– Sell the idea, not the execution.

OneMethod has always been entrepreneurial in spirit. And for the past 10 years we’ve celebrated that spirit. It’s what keeps us going and keeps us excited to do what we do. As we approach our 10 year anniversary, we wanted to mark the occasion with a party, but we wanted the music to reflect the idea of celebrating a decade, so we recruited two of Toronto’s best DJs to mix together all the classic songs that inspired us over the years. That mix then got played at SPIN Toronto as we celebrated 10 years with our colleagues, friends and family. You can check out all the pics here

OneDecade: The Mixtape is not only the first time DJX and Mastermind have collaborated on a mix together, it’s also a damn good tape so grab that and enjoy.

Download — OneDecade: The Mixtape

The Making Of

While creating OneDecade, we had pleasure of rolling with DJX and Mastermind while they took a trip down memory lane and went digging in the crates. #ClassicShit.

PEOPLES

November at OneMethod saw us welcome back old friends and meet some new ones. After a few months of battling crime, evil, and infection, KB came back to the studio and a tall stack of deliverables (sorry homie!). Kev is one of our many talented designers and also the creator of the Go Man comic series. In addition to welcoming back KB we also welcomed, for the first time, Linda Lee, a digital project manager extraordinaire. After I get to know Linda well enough to make fun of her, I will return to the post and edit it with a sure-to-be-hilarious quip.

PROJECTS

Over on the Faceplace we launched Target Vacations’ Trip A Month project, which is as you may have guessed a contest where Target Vacations gives away a different free trip every month. The idea is simple yet radical and has so far been nothing but a success (we just hit 15,000 fans). If you haven’t entered yet, do so now. Moving from travelling to tacos, we also had two La Carnita events that could both be dubbed… whatever the spanish word for successful is. The first was at November’s Toronto Underground Market and it was nothing short of maddness.

People sprinted, tweeted, and feasted, and after all the achiote settled we had served over 800 tacos. A few days after TUM we fired up the deep fryer once again and took our tacos to Toronto’s hippest of hipster haunts (I type this in a loving way), the Drake Hotel. La carnage continued at the Drake and set us up for a few more high profile pop-ups in the near future. What else… well, we’re currently working on some pretty incredible projects that have us following notable small business owners for Quickbooks and digging deep into the crates with Toronto’s most respected DJs: DJ Mastermind and DJ X.

X and Mastermind are helping us put together a mixtape for our 10 year anniversary party in January so stay tuned if you want to watch a behind the scenes video and download the compliation.

PROPAGATION

I don’t want to get too into this one yet, but let’s just say OneMethod is growing.

PRAISE

We kicked off the month receiving this ADCC merit award for our 2010 Holiday .Gif Site. The site was once referred to as “quirky” and definitely has some charm. We also had two videos featured on Engadget. Both were videos for Nokia phones, the Nokia Asha 300 and Nokia Asha 303, with the latter being OneMethod’s first video to receive 100,000 views on YouTube.

PLUS

OneMethod officially joined Google+. Yay! We think? We’re actually not entirely sure what that means, and apparently a lot of other people feel the same. But in any case, we’re there, wherever there is.

A brief history goes something like this…in 2000, GQ commissioned type designers Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere-Jones to design a signature sans serif for their magazine. Gotham was the result. Although the digital version hasn’t been around too long, the signage that inspired the font has been around since the 30′s. The aluminum signage at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in NYC was one of the major inspirations for the font. A more in depth history of the font can be found here.

The clip below, from the movie Helvetica, features the designers themselves talking about the inspiration behind the font. Warning: strong nerd content.