We have this lovely little ad hoc thing at the agency called, unimaginatively enough, Breakfast Club, where every Friday morning, four or five people at the office provide some breakfast for the rest of us. Over the months and years, the Breakfast Club has become a nice way to end the week by sharing a cup of coffee and maybe a homemade scone or a bit of egg casserole.
Last Friday, the scheduled Breakfast Club hosts did the unprecedented and waved off at the last minute due to an unfortunate confluence of client travel and personal illness. There was disappointment–not getting your danish can do that to you. One note on Facebook conjectured Breakfast Club had been given up for Lent. Hardly.
First thing Monday morning, a Spartan offering of donut holes and coffee sat on a break room table, an intentionally underwhelming display meant to be, as a tweet from @jennylui read, “Just a little something to whet ur whistle before we blow ur mind. At 4 pm.”
By mid-afternoon, the rhetoric had escalated. Tweets and emails promised “the single greatest breakfast club ever.” That was all–no explanation, no hint of their plans.
Four o’clock arrived and a far larger crowd than usual gathered at our main meeting room to find an amazing troika: a proper English breakfast, vodka drinks, and the DePaul Mens a Cappella group, DMaC. For the next hour or so, these college undergrads worked their way through a varied catalogue, from Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer” to a surprisingly moving rendition of Toto’s “Africa.” Pure, multi-octave voices, loose but conscious choreography and an undercurrent of collegiate wit created a deeply engaging performance that lived up to its billing. And provided an unprecedented backdrop to eggs, beans and crumpets.
From dashing expectations to wildly exceeding them–if you can ever get a shot at redemption and nail it, the effect is twice as impactful. Well done Ron D’Innocenzo, Jenny Lui, Mike D’Amico and Josh Witherspoon: John Hughes himself would have been proud.
And whoever has Breakfast Club this week is so hosed…
By Dennis Ryan, CCO, Element 79