I LOVE NEW YORK - WORKING IN ADVERTISING IN NYC.

I don't hate working and living in New York. Quite the opposite actually. It's a lot of fun. There are a lot of smart people. And the sharpest competition on the planet. There is the legacy that you can wrap yourself in. The culture of innovation and creativity. The youthfulness and vitality. And the strong outlook towards the future.

You can feel all of this every day.

"Ok, ok...bullshit," you say. Cynics tell a different story, and this city has a unique breed of them too. They say it is hard to combine a love of family with a love for work. And yet, it can and does works for me.

I came to New York to do what StrawberryFrog had been doing in Europe for several years - to Spark Cultural Movements for Brands. Moving StrawberryFrog's headquarters here in 2007 was one of the best decisions we've made. The city is alive with inspiration. People come here from across the globe. There are clients looking for the world's finest strategic and creative excellence. There is talent looking for a home. There are people looking for ideas and inspiration. There is creative talent from everywhere like Brazil, Germany and Sweden. There are clients popping in from London, Montreal, Tokyo, Mumbai, and Texas. There are some amazing souls in this city – all kinds, all sorts. There are writers, kings and queens, iconoclasts, politicians and ambassadors, dishwashers and poets and engineers and visionaries and people who speak a million different languages. There is a wide happy mixture of Catholics and Hindus, Jews and Baptists, Muslims and Buddhists and Mormons, Atheists, Panthesits and Agnostics - and adfolk.

There is art like you’ve never ever dreamed of.

I don't think this city belongs to anyone, but rather it is a city for everyone. It is the world's city. And in this city of creativity and commerce, ideas are born and they are funded and they are harvested. Inspiration is abundant. Opportunity seems always to be around every corner.

Whereas San Francisco is the technological capital of the United States, New York is the big ideas capital.

It's surely not the only place where ideas come from; they can and do come from anywhere. But here, they seem to grow naturally out of the fermentation. The very heartbeat of the city is thundering. Goosebumps just appear when I’m walking to work. It's kinda strange really.

New York is getting nicer. People are kinder, gentler even helpful.

Talent from across the state, the country and the planet move here in search of fun and adventure. Ever since the Dutch opened the first business in Manhattan, this island has been the cross paths of culture and ideas. It has always been a exciting place. Even during this current economic recession, this city is alive and changing to meet the brave new world that is emerging right in front of our eyes.

From the terrace at StrawberryFrog's worldwide headquarters on Madison one can see the sun shine across the city. Our offices are light and sunny for New York standards, as most agencies are typically housed in old warehouses. Our glass pond enclosure is open. It's a place I love to arrive every morning.

It is in this forest of huge conglomerates that we came four years ago from Amsterdam to start StrawberryFrog. The city we came to was a huge coniferous forest, a terrestrial biome with huge advertising conglomerate skyscrapers that reached up to the heavens. Underneath there were brittle needles strewn across the floor. It was not the easiest place to plant our business seed. But we managed to do so - against many odds. And a sturdy sappling grew. Four years later it is a strong tree that is looking upwards.

They say you cannot like or dislike New York City. Rather it is the city, people say, that either likes or dislikes you. I'm hoping we stay on its good side because I just love it.

Surrounding the city is a valley of deep lush green forest and a little further along the 487 east is one of the most beautiful beaches in the Americas. Long Island is a place that makes living and working here extraordinary. Surfing is an hour away. Jones beach is a wispy broad beach with fishermen and women wadding in the surf catching sea bass and blue fish.

It is a special life and a special place.