Crispin Porter + Bogusky has launched an incubator fund to support its employees’ own creative initiatives. With five staff members across the creative, planning and support teams currently involved in the project, the first employee initiative to go live is Creative Director Jim Eyre’s “Yellow” exhibition in Paul Smith’s Beak Street, London, store, which launched this week.
Jim Eyre, whose exhibition in partnership with Paul Smith runs from 17th October for three weeks, joined CP+B London earlier this year as Creative Director, working on the agency’s Turkish Airlines and PayPal accounts. Originally trained as an architect, his appreciation of lines, structure, shadows and space (and his ability to find beauty out of the most mundane objects) is a hallmark across Eyre’s popular Instagram account. The exhibition at Paul Smith’s Beak Street store now brings his work into the offline world. He said of his exhibition: “This is one of the reasons I wanted to join CP+B. Feeling not only liberated but actually supported to do your own thing; with flexibility during the work day - keeps your inspiration levels up and your work output fresh.”
Jim Eyre (left)
Dave Buonaguidi, Chief Creative Officer at CP+B, said, “As Oscar Wilde said, ‘You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.’ I agree with him; we have a building full of very creative, entrepreneurial people here, and there is a huge amount of creative energy to tap into. Everyone here seems to have a creative side project on the go and we do everything we can to encourage that; it creates confidence, more energy, a great atmosphere and I believe leads to better work for our clients. Jim is a great multi dimensional talent with lots of passion and that’s why we are really pleased that he works here.”
The backing offered by CP+B to vetted projects through the fund includes gift-in-kind help with branding and design; PR and digital as well as material support such as additional holiday leave. Other employee projects in the “Do, Don’t Say” pipeline include fashion items, culinary products, and a gismo to help raise awareness around breast cancer.
