According to Adweek, Mad Dogs & Englishmen in New York City is facing an uncertain future following a major reduction in spending by Atkins Nutritionals, one of its major clients.
While I hope they stay in business, there’s a lesson here:
When I was in school 10 years ago, Mad Dogs was THE hot shop everyone wanted to work for. Their work for The Village Voice and Thom McAn was refreshingly funny at the time, and Nick Cohen, the agency’s founder, was thought to be a savior of the ad business. People I know went to intern (read: produce ads for them) there for free.
It’s a phenomenon I’ve written about before. Somewhere along the line, they Jumped The Shark. For some reason, ad agencies have a tendency to do that.
I suspect it has much to do with getting comfortable. Success leads to doing the same thing, hoping for more success. Unfortunately, the same thing often leads to complacency. Then an agency (or other ventures) aren’t growning, or are losing ground. Desperation takes hold, leading to trying the same things that lead to success before. Problem? Times change. The things that brought that agency to success probably won’t now.
Eventually, as the keep trying to make the same things work in a changing world, they jump the shark.
Ya gotta change with the times.
P.S. My typing is obviously less than excellent this evening. Forgive the typos.