Lewis Lazare of the Sun Times simply can't get cozy with the idea of a direct marketing hustler like Howard Draft sitting pretty atop venerable FCB. But that's the state of affairs today. DraftFCB's Chicago office has a staff of 1100, making it the city's largest shop. But size is not what's bothering Lazare. Like any aesthete, he's concerned with commerce's grubby hands encroaching on the arts, in this case the lost …
Lowe Gets The Adweek Expose Treatment
A very lengthy article in this week's Adweek explores the history of Lowe--both the man and his agency--as it merged and remerged through the years. Lowe's situation is symptomatic of the problems plaguing IPG after its acquisition frenzy of the past 20 years. The holding company, after all, is still subject to an SEC investigation as it struggles with financial controls stemming in part from poor integration of past …
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IPG Studies New Media In A Lab
Interpublic claims to be figuring out the future of media with a new space, a new staff and a new blog dedicated to the pursuit. I don't know how well they are fairing in their quest, but it's the right path to take. Here's how the press and others see it: "In a sleek media lab hidden in a Los Angeles high-rise, some of the country's biggest media companies and their prominent clients are seeking to understand the …
Learn On The Job
BBDO Düsseldorf is pulling a Wieden and opening its own "school" for aspiring creatives. I've always thought of the agency business as a guild. From the looks of its new crest, BBDO may share this vision. …
NYC Aims To Add Color To Ad Agencies
An eye-opening story in today's New York Times takes a look at minority hiring practices--and salaries--in New York City's ad scene. Finding that just 2 percent of the upper echelon of the advertising industry is black, New York City officials said yesterday that they had reached agreements with several of the nation’s biggest ad firms forcing them to bring more black managers into this crucial sector of the city’s …
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Who Will Lead Draft FCB To Creative Stardom?
Like any good reporter Lewis Lazare hears things. The bloodletting among upper management has begun as the final stages of the merger between Draft and Foote Cone & Belding begins to unfold. Among the first of the top honchos to go is FCB/New York CEO Steve Centrillo. He had been closely aligned with the already gone FCB Worldwide CEO Steve Blamer -- who helped orchestrate the merger deal before promptly leaving the …
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A New Flavor Of Advertising
Over at BusinessWeek, Jon Fine examines the impact of FlavorPill. Flavorpill was once a list of cultural events that co-founders Sascha Lewis and Mark Mangan sent out to a few pals in New York. It's now an e-mail that goes out to a few hundred thousand subscribers in four U.S. cities and London. It owns five other Web properties, including music site Earplug and art site Artkrush. What DailyCandy is to fashion, …
San Francisco Creative Team On High Fiber Diet
“We’ve hit a milestone here at Hub,” says DJ O’Neil, Founder/Creative Director of Hub Strategy. “We used the word “poop” in two different ads in the same month, for two different clients in two different mediums. On top of that, we used the word “poop” cleverly in a new business pitch. We are all extremely proud.” …
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