There was a time when ad agencies were cool and clients were boring and that was all there was too it. Well, in case you haven’t been inside an ad agency for a while (or you sit in one of the few offices left in North America with a door on it), things today are different. In many cases, even the complete opposite, as agency life continues to get weird and more clients take things in-house. I’ll leave it to …
The Wider the Pay Gap, The Less Respect the Men In Charge Have
Women in advertising are fighting for fairness. Did you know that 70% of young female creatives say they have never worked with a female creative director or executive creative director? With so few mentors within the business, young female creatives don’t receive the right skills, advice or tools to help them succeed. Nicola Kemp, the trends editor at Campaign is advocating for unmasking the ugly truths …
Continue Reading about The Wider the Pay Gap, The Less Respect the Men In Charge Have →
In-House Advantage: Why Agency Creatives Are Taking Flight
We are witnessing one of the great migrations. Art directors and copywriters, like Sandhill Cranes, are in flight. Their destination? Client-side opportunities. "A lot of people right now are intrigued by being closer to the core business and being much more effective," says agency producer Jenny Gadd, who joined Airbnb last fall. According to Ad Age, she's one of many on the path to better. Alec …
Continue Reading about In-House Advantage: Why Agency Creatives Are Taking Flight →
Spotify’s In-House Creative Team Is Raising The High-Bar
Spotify was named Ad Age's "In-House Agency of the Year" in February. Once upon a time, no one paid attention to in-house agencies. Today, the designation is a real honor. Let's take a look at some of Spotify's creative output... The brand turned popular playlist RapCaviar into a sub-brand "that could meaningfully connect with artists as well as our core hip-hop audience," said Jackie Jantos, Spotify's VP, …
Continue Reading about Spotify’s In-House Creative Team Is Raising The High-Bar →
Drop The Warrior Pose and Make Advertising Fun Again
How serious are you about your advertising career? Are you a hard-charging, award-winning pain in the ass? Many of you, I expect, can answer affirmatively to my non-rhetorical question. Mark Wnek would have answered, "yes," at one time. But not today. He's a new, more mellow man now. In fact, a former colleague thought he had a stroke. He did not. He woke up and hired a life coach. That's how change happens. …
Continue Reading about Drop The Warrior Pose and Make Advertising Fun Again →
One Day You’re On Fire, The Next Day You’re Having A Melt Down
The agency business is melting down. We've seen this before; nevertheless, it is disruptive and there are real people suffering behind the statistics. Derek Thompson of The Atlantic notes: For the first time on record, the number of advertising-specific jobs in the U.S. is declining in the middle of an economic expansion, according to government data. The number of jobs at ad agencies fell by about 5,000 last …
Continue Reading about One Day You’re On Fire, The Next Day You’re Having A Melt Down →
Class of ’18, Last to Graduate from Wexley School for Girls
Wexley School for Girls, the well-regarded Seattle ad agency, is closing shop. According to The Drum, the agency's principals, Cal McAllister and Ian Cohen, are done having fun. "It wasn't driven by some big fight, not driven by bankruptcy," says McAllister. "There's still work to be done. We simply didn't want to grow by chasing work that wasn't fun for us to do anymore." Upheaval in the industry, particularly …
Continue Reading about Class of ’18, Last to Graduate from Wexley School for Girls →
The Digital Divide In Adland Is Widening
How many times have you heard the term "digital transformation" in the past year? Are you feeling transformed yet? San Francisco ad man Tom Bedecarré doesn't understand what's taking so long. In response to a Wall Street Journal article about Publicis' efforts to get the cool kids in a room, Bedecarré wrote this on LinkedIn: It's been more than 23 years since the introduction of digital advertising, and Madison …
Continue Reading about The Digital Divide In Adland Is Widening →
