Rolling up an Online Ad Agency Powerhouse: AKQA CEO Tom Bedecarre (Part 2)

SM: What was your expertise in the agency world? TB: I was an account executive. I had both a packaged goods start in the business but quickly got an opportunity to work on some technology accounts. I worked on the Polaroid business as they were getting into magnetic media, selling video tapes and compact disks that were Polaroid branded products. I also launched a camcorder product. Then I worked on a business for AT&T as they were splitting off their computer business and worked on the launch team for what was AT&T’s initial but fatal flurry into computers. That was an interesting assignment. Having gone to school at Stanford and having friends at Apple computer in 1984, that were both on the initial Macintosh team, I got a bug to get back to the Bay area and work in the technology business.

SM: At the time there was no real technology out of the west coast, right? TB: It was just starting. Guy Kawasaki arranged an interview at Apple computer in 1984. I thought that was a great opportunity. I can remember having worked on Madison Avenue where everybody wore dark suits and a red tie every day to work, I thought I would really go casual and loosen up. I remember wearing a tan summer Brooks Brothers suit and tie thinking that was casual wear. When I went in to meet with Guy, he was getting a massage. Everybody was in cutoffs in jeans, and I was the geek in a suit from New York. It blew my mind coming form a conservative business environment in New York City. I ended up taking a position working on the Hewlett Packard computer business at J Walter Thompson.

[to be continued]

[Part 1]

This segment is part 2 in the series : Rolling up an Online Ad Agency Powerhouse: AKQA CEO Tom Bedecarre
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