Having been in the planning stages for a couple of years, TBWA\Chiat\Day California has opened the doors to its Media Arts Lab. Overseen by president James Vincent with a staff of 77 spanning creative, media planning, interactive and other disciplines, the Lab, (or MAL) stems from TBWA Worldwide chairman/CCO Lee Clow's belief that an agency should embrace and influence all areas where brand meets consumer. Choosing the principals of the agency's Apple creative group, including ECD Duncan Milner and CD Eric Grunbaum, Clow has encouraged MAL to, as a feted campaign once put it, "think different".

"Every point where you touch the consumer is an opportunity to market yourself," says Milner.

"With Apple, the brand itself dictates the stories we tell," says Grunbaum, offering the Lab's sole client as an example of the MAL methodology. "Apple is Apple in its advertising, its products, in its retail experience - there's no disconnect."

Such across-the-board brainstorming is made easier at MAL by bringing media back into the fold with creative, accounts and other disciplines and creating a transparent environment.

Says Milner, "It's about breaking down the artificial barriers."

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