Getting the call to go over to head office in Portland, Oregon and help out on a project meant one long fun-filled weekend for Matt Boffey, Stuart Harkness and Shay Reading.  Taxis to the airport on Saturday morning at 4am, flying to Amsterdam, then to Frankfurt, then finally on to Portland. 

Working on the plane.

Work, work and more work. 

An encouraging fortune cookie.

Then straight back home. Tired but happy. Or just tired.

Let’s hope the fortune cookie’s right.

This month’s (September issue) of hip US business mag Fast Company (www.fastcompany.com) is, as usual, frustratingly hard to get hold of unless you’re on your way to some executive departure lounge. But it has a wee feature on best business blogs and this month Wieden + Kennedy London’s very own Welcome to Optimism (i.e. what you’re reading now) is recommended. This must mean we’re very cool.

They say –

“Who writes it?
Creatives in the London office of ad agency Wieden + Kennedy.” (Yeah, right.)

“Why you should read it.
(It) gives outside ad rats a shot of the company’s quirky, free-wheeling and, yes, booze-filled culture. We love the pic of Blender Man, the agency’s lobby-based mannequin that reminds people to ‘walk in stupid every morning,’ Brit-speak for keeping an open mind.”

Brit-speak? But cheers, guys. It’s nice to be praised by the mag that strives to make being in business as cool as being in a rock band.