thehappycorp global

the future of thehappycorp

doug jaeger — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 22:04:26 +0000

The past five years have been an invaluable learning opportunity and I am incredibly grateful to everyone who has been involved in our happy little project. thehappycorp has been a lesson in taking a great idea, setting up shop in your apartment, and making a run at an industry that does not always welcome the “new and different” with open arms. We learned a lot, and had a lot of fun. We were mostly happy, and we still are.

Building and working with the thehappycorp has afforded me the opportunity to work on some amazing projects. The work that our team has done for Brooklyn Brewery, Idealist.org, LVHRD, and the MoMA (among others) stands out as some of the best I have ever been a part of and I am incredibly proud of it.

More than the client work, or the chance to learn the ins and outs of owning a company, having the opportunity to build my own team and my own space has been the most amazing experience of my life. With the help of my partner, Matt Spangler, a new kind of creative agency was born, and from its inception thehappycorp global was on a mission.

Early in my career I realized how much power the creative work we do in this business really has and while it is sometimes easy to disassociate ourselves from the brands and products we help sell, thehappycorp was created with the notion that this disconnect was dangerous. Throughout our existence thehappycorp has tried to work with brands we believed in, on projects that would truly increase global happiness. This was both our greatest motivation and our greatest challenge.

At the end of this week thehappycorp will go into a kind of hibernation. When a company is built on and driven by a truly great idea, it’s hard to really make it stop. Our good friends and some of the best team members I have ever worked with have created Future Friends and will be taking the reigns on all our current work and carrying thehappycorp torch a little bit further into the future. My partner, Matt Spangler, will be heading out into the world of consulting to focus on branding and marketing projects. I will be joining the full service firm TAXI to take on the challenge of the newly created position, Director of Innovation. I am incredibly eager to bring the enthusiasm and spirit of thehappycorp to an agency in whose culture I truly believe.

That thehappycorp is closing up shop does not sadden me entirely, the simple fact that we created it and kept it going for more than five years proves that there is a place in this industry, this city, and this world for the kind of thinking and the principles that thehappycorp stands for, the employees who worked with thehappycorp wanted to be here because they believed in those principles and will certainly continue to, regardless of where they work. They are all wonderful and incredibly talented people.

As for me, TAXI did not hire me in spite of my motivations for starting thehappycorp, but because of them. I have put everything I am into this company and that it is time to move on is difficult, but my beliefs have not changed, in fact, this experience has only taught me to work harder, smarter, and more resolutely than ever to help effect the kind of change I have always dreamt of seeing, in the business and in the world.

Thanks for tuning in everyone, it’s been super fun and I hope to hear from all of you in the future.

doug jaeger
founder
thehappycorp global

Say Hello to Your Future Friends.

your friend — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 17:00:08 +0000

Happy Monday! Today we’re excited to announce the launch of Future Friends, a new shop some of our old friends are opening across the bridge in Williamsburg. With some former happycorpers at the helm we know they will be doing good in the world while producing amazing work. We wish them all the luck in the world and are eager to see what they’ll create.

buy.thehappycorp.com

your friend — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:40:42 +0000

We truly hope that you are content and, of course, that you still have room on your credit cards. Why? Because thehappycorp, which up until now has only offered our goods and services to those of you who could visit us at our SoHo office or attend our NYC events, has opened our ports to the world. Since change is good, we’ve changed our policy and will now offer our services, and our designs, over the internet. We have a wide selection of goods, services, and experiences to choose from. We hope you will enjoy your new, unfettered access to our brains.

Boards Creative Workshops

your friend — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:38:03 +0000

Title: Boards Creative Workshops
Location: Park West, Chicago, IL
Link out: Get Tickets Here
Description: “You know those ideas that you wish you had? The ones that make the hair on the back of your neck stand up, that cause you jitter with excitement or seethe with just a little bit of envy? We’re bringing some of those amazing, forward-thinking and energizing ideas, and the creative innovators behind them, to Chicago on May 19.”
Start Time: 12:30
Date: 2009-05-19
End Time: 16:45

Join Streetwars, soak strangers

your friend — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 15:16:38 +0000

Get on board with the team from Streetwars this spring for their three week water-gun assassination tournament.

From June 1st through June 22nd join the hoards of supersoaker packing maniacs chasing each other around the city. Streetwars will provide you with a picture of your target, plus his or her address and home and at work, your only mission, get them wet.

Winner gets cash, watch your back!

ADC Awards Gala

your friend — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 12:49:25 +0000

Title: ADC Awards Gala
Location: 106 West 29th Street, NY, NY
Get Tickets: Click here
Description: Join the ADC for their 88th Annual Awards Gala on Thursday, April 30, 2009. This year\’s winners will be revealed and celebrated at this festive night at the ADC Gallery. Corbis Creativity for Social Justice Award recipients will also be named and receive cash prizes.
Start Time: 19:00
Date: 2009-04-30
End Time: 22:30

Boards Creative Workshops called

your friend — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 16:41:28 +0000

This May thehappycorp is taking our show on the road. Doug will bringing his unique presentation format to the Boards Creative Workshops to help them “re-ignite your creative libido.”

The Workshops will take place at the Park West Chicago on May 19, 2009. If your in the midwest or just want to stay in the loop, keep up to date with speaker and agenda changes by visiting the BCW website.

F5 comes to town

your friend — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 18:10:23 +0000

The F5 conference descends on the Roseland Ballroom April 16th and 17th and with it comes some of the most creative minds the world has to offer. F5’s organizers have made it clear that theirs will not be just “another design conference” and have ensured this by assembling one of the most exciting and diverse speaker line ups we have seen.

Some highlights include the following:

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow
Media Molecule, celebrated developers of LittleBigPlanet
Jonah Lehrer, editor at large for Seed magazine, author of How We Decide
Ed Ulbrich, co-founder of Academy Award-winning Digital Domain
Acclaimed photographer/filmmaker Charlie White
And thehappycorp’s own Doug Jaeger

With speakers like these and free drinks F5 is shaping up to be one of the best investments we can think of, hopefully we’ll see you there!

Brand New Rules, or what to do in a crowd during lunch.

your friend — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 00:41:42 +0000

Sometimes we let our kids out to play with our friends. This time it was our founder, Doug Jaeger. He was asked to speak at the PSFK conference, and he made a statement about the state of the marketing universe. The discussion was lead by Gil Linton of the jones, we quote here from iamtheweather.com>>

Summary: If you want to get peoples attention, take it. Measure it later, but why bother.

Seriously it was too difficult to hear what was being said. Not that it seemed too much was missed as people read prepared statements! with their pontifications about brands and analytics and metrics.

Panel saved when Doug Jaeger got the mic to answer a question about what to do, and he stood up on the chair, raised his voice to a low shout and climbed all over the people in the first row. Embrace discomfort, get out of your safe space, experiment, push. “Believe in your ideas and execute as soon as you have them, not after it’s been tested.”

So we ask, will you give us the Mic, with your brand, we promise we will behave.

Not just another Heeb

your friend — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 21:26:52 +0000

Today we received the Music Issue of Heeb Magazine. We last hungout with Heeb on it’s 12th issue (love), when we were living in our 56 Spring Street Location. For weeks we chatted about fonts, paper thickness, and we even did some illustrations. We are excited to see such amazing guest editors, and amazing editorial. We hope to see you all at the next heeb event.