Success Quote by Jay Chiat

Chiat’s name is basically welded to late-20th-century advertising’s swagger: bold ideas, high taste, and a willingness to make clients uncomfortable in the service of being unforgettable. So it’s telling that when he points to his biggest influence “outside of advertising,” he doesn’t reach for another brand wizard or business sage. He reaches for Frank Gehry, the architect famous for buildings that look like they escaped the tyranny of straight lines.

The intent isn’t just name-dropping a cultural celebrity. It’s a quiet manifesto: the best advertising doesn’t come from studying advertising. Gehry represents a discipline where form is a provocation, where the object announces its presence and forces the world to negotiate with it. Chiat is claiming that creative work should behave the same way - not politely slot into the market, but reshape how the market feels.

The subtext is also defensive, almost strategic. Advertising is routinely dismissed as shallow persuasion. By aligning himself with Gehry, Chiat elevates the ad-maker to something closer to a civic designer: someone building experiences and meaning, not just moving product. It’s an argument that commerce can borrow the seriousness of art without losing its edge.

Context matters: Chiat helped turn agencies into cultural factories in an era when brands wanted to be lifestyles. Gehry’s rise signaled a parallel shift in architecture toward signature, spectacle, and authorship. Chiat is admitting he wanted that same “starchitecture” for campaigns - work that can’t be ignored, and can’t be mistaken for anyone else’s.