Michael Lebowitz: “We are a funny hybrid animal”
Turning 20 years old in March, Big Spaceship is a New York-based agency that describes itself as a “modern partner for ambitious brands.”
New York, November 13th, 2019
It has grown to 100 employees since it started in its office in Dumbo and seeks opportunities at the cross-section where stories, systems and communities overlap.
Michael Lebowitz is the founder and CEO of Big Spaceship. In an interview with TIA, Lebowitz described the changes experienced by the agency since its beginnings while looking at its future.
He also described its unique culture and the importance of diversity in any organization.
How would you describe a regular day on your role?
There’s nothing very regular about my days. The interesting thing about Big Spaceship, which I love, is that we take new challenges that our collective skills are capable of solving. We are known for doing specific work and try to be focused on people.
We have an incredible diversity of types of work. I don’t think agency is the right word anymore. We are a funny hybrid animal. It leads to a lot of very interesting and varied days.
As a founder, what was the process of starting your own company?
We are soon turning 20 years old and the world has changed a lot during that time. All the challenges are completely different. I was really young when we started and didn’t know about running a company.
Only a few people knew how to make things for the web really well back then. So, doing it and doing it well was enough to start a business. We grew along with everything around us and we were a test case of ourselves.
Big Spaceship claims to be a modern partner for ambitious brands. Could you describe what a modern partner does?
It has to do with trying to be as agnostic to output as you can possible be. We are coming out of a world where business was oriented towards efficiency. That was the modality of the industrial economy, do the same thing as fast as possible with a few defects. All our business structures were oriented around that.
The economy now is much less about efficiency. We can’t take old structures and expect new results. A modern partner has enough elastic to look at the world and see the business goals and a path to it that is giving value to the end consumer. A modern brand is a combination of stories, systems and communities. We put human beings in the center and try to create rich and realistic work.
Speaking about people and culture, Big Spaceship promotes “bringing yourself to the agency”. How do you manage different cultures to build teams that match businesses?
If you were a producer doing a movie you would never say I just want a male actor, give me anybody. You want somebody specific. Somehow with agencies we are still with an assembly line model. That goes against everything I learnt about how creativity and innovation happen. We want to know everybody here, not just their roles but also their interests and background. The more diversity that we have the more we can bring to the work.
What upcoming initiatives do you find particularly exciting?
We are turning 20 but we haven’t yet scratched the surface of what we are capable of. There’s so much potential still untapped here and I love being able to say that. Every single industry has been disrupted by changes on the last 20 years, but we are still working with the same categories such as PR agency or media agency.
My aspiration is that if we weren’t from Earth, arrive here, look at the state of the business and design something to help with those problems. It all starts with people. We need to do it for the industry and draw on the most relevant methodologies, without the template designed for a world that doesn’t exist anymore. My aspiration is to put a dent on that problem.
Fostering employees’ personal projects is important. Could you name any favorites?
It’s not so much about personal projects but about what’s interesting to them. We have a series of traditions built on top of each other. We have what’s called “Money 30” which is 30 minutes all staff meeting. The company gets together and see what’s going on.
We also started six years ago the “world’s greatest person” award. It’s given by the last recipient to the person who they think deserves that honor. The person who gets it has to give a 5 minutes presentation on something that inspires them.
What were your personal motivations to join the IAB Agency Advisory Board and be one of the inaugural board members of SoDA?
Any chance that you have to nudge the industry working towards being better and doing better you should do it. I’ve met very incredible people and good friends from joining boards like that. I was on the first board of SoDA when it was barely an organization. Many years later I rejointed the board and it’s now a legitimate force. I always learn from the people I’m around.
Procter & Gamble is pioneer on having an advisory board to drive innovation. Would you recommend this to other companies?
Many years ago, that was a very interesting board. It was focused on design and it was a great honor to be on that company. We were assembled to give feedback to the groups in the organization on anything linked to design.
It took many forms, but I think that for any organization to do that, they have to have a strong sense of how they might leverage the consultation and the advice they get from the board. It sounds great to get things from experts but you need a methodology to take action on it.
Please share a fun-fact that not many people know about you
I was born in Denmark, but I only live there for the first month of my life. My father was a college professor and taught English and fiction writing. In the early 70s he and my mom did a college exchange in Denmark and had a baby – me.
I had the good fortune to be invited in Copenhagen for the first time since a few yeas back and I got the address of the house that my parents lived in. A woman answered the door and I told her I lived there in 1972 and she asked if Lebowitz was my last name. It turned out she had lived in the house while my parents lived there, also as an exchange student.
If you had to name any influential mentor, who would it be?
I wouldn’t say mentor because I didn’t have anybody professionally that way. My father has had an incredible and powerful influence on me because he is capable of thinking about and seeing the world without too much of every human natural categorization. When I was very young he gave me a stereo as a birthday gift and allowed me to choose my records. He gave me the tools to appreciate music and the ability to find my what through the content. I became a collector of records and still have too many, 2000 at this point.
Imagine you had the chance to travel back in time and give yourself one piece of career advice, what would it be?
A whole lot but most importantly that we are all governed by emotions until we learn to govern them. That’s a lifelong effort. During a long time when someone left the company, I took it as a comment about me and felt frustrated. But the comings and goings of the company are actually its life blood. The people who leave make room for other amazing persons. I’ve seen companies, marriages and children emerge from here. It’s a place that has meaning for many people.
Why did you choose to open your agency in The Big Apple?
I moved to New York after graduating from college. I lived in Manhattan for one month and then moved to Brooklyn, which was very different from now. Brooklyn incubated everything about my life. It was a place where I could afford to live while remaining in one of the greatest capitals of the world. It did the same for our company. Our first office was in the extra bedroom of my partner’s apartment and then we moved to an office space in Dumbo, where we still are.
Have you ever thought about opening an office in another country?
I think about that all the time. We had the good fortune of connecting with the creative community all over the world with conferences and award shows. We have a good reputation in our close global community and I frequently talk to people of South America, Asia and all over the place. I would love to have more connectivity. The hard part is that we are an independent company and never took investment money or sold a portion for the company. That gives us flexibility we can’t do all the things we would like.
Are you currently interested on any global issues?
We brought our sons to South America. We have been travelling with them as early as we could. The best lesson to them is that humans are amazing. There’s a million different ways to live and a million different types of culture and similitudes as well. A huge amount of the problems in the world come from two things very related: not being able to celebrate the difference you encounter and not being able to appreciate the fundamental similarities.
Michael’s Working Preferences:
Android vs iOS:
iOS
Preferred social media channel:
Bery active Twitter reader but not poster. Linkedin is very useful and I spend time on there
Coffee vs. tea:
Coffee
Favorite work snack:
I usually have a yogurt for our snack fridge and maybe cashew
Sitting vs. standing desk:
I'm the only person that has a private office and when we designed the space I did want to feel like an office. I have a big table and sit there or sit another chair as well
Most quoted book:
I end up talking about Sapiens quite a bit now since I've read it
Treasured TV show or movie:
I love the shows now Succession, The Good Place and Rick and Morty
Name 3 artists on your office playlist:
There are different regions of the office as it's a big space. My contribution is that I create a Spotify Playlist with celestial themed songs. It plays in bathroom and halls
Actual project management application:
We use a lot Slack, Google apps, Keynote, Trello, Workable
Preferred business meeting restaurant in your city:
One of my favorite places is Dumbo House with a great view of NYC
Favorite sneaker brand:
I divide time between Nike and Adidas
If you could work anywhere in the world, where would it be?:
Really hard to imagine anywhere other than NYC. I love Barcelona, Istanbul and Copenhagen
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