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Clients From Hell

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The Macro Problems of Micromanaging the Creative Process

We've all been there: Watching a CEO or high-level client rewrite copy or play art director. Don't they have better things to do? Maybe not. CEOs and other senior executives call the shots, are accountable to many audiences, and more often than not, take it all personally because of their egos. For many of them, micromanaging a project is easier than laying out a big vision and letting others work towards it. So …

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CEOs Not Pleased With Creative Snots Who Pack No Data

Generally speaking, clients across the board are not impressed. They want results and all ad people have to peddle is their sacrosanct creativity. That's the news from The Fournaise Marketing Group (c/o Warc, which interviewed more than 1,200 chief executive officers and decision makers around the world for its 2013 Global Marketing Effectiveness Program. A full 78% of CEOs thought agencies were not …

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Halls Unceremoniously Dumps JWT for Younger, Prettier Agency Partner

JWT was thrown under a bus this week by Halls, which Mondelez International (formerly known as Kraft Foods) counts as one of its “power brands,” thanks to a 24.7% share in the medicated confectionery category globally. According to Ad Age, Mondelez shifted its global Halls creative business to Wieden & Kennedy, abruptly ending its four decade-long relationship with JWT. For reference, here's a Halls' TV spot …

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If CMOs Can Rate Agencies, Then Marketing Directors Should Be Rated Too

I always take company reviews I read on Glassdoor or services like TripAdvisor with a grain of salt. Because you never really know who's behind the review and if they have an ax to grind. Yes, if you take these reviews in the aggregate you can get a good picture of a restaurant or service business, but in the end, I trust my judgment most of all. Which is why I'm a little wary of this Ad Age story which suggests …

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Sorry, But Brands Don’t Really Want To Fix Agencies

If you read Digiday every day, you’d be convinced that all advertising agencies are terribly dysfunctional and they’re pretty much screwed like dinosaurs. Which, as we all know, has a slight kernel of truth sometimes. But article after article aims to hoist agencies on their own petards. This article from Giselle Abramovich, entitled, “What Brands Want Agencies To Fix,” caught my eye. Because it's emblematic of …

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I Would Write Anything For Cash, But I Won’t Write That

It's been a long time since Neil Young sang about...well, who he wouldn't sing for: But when it comes to advertising people, most of us have few, if any, clients we wouldn't work on. What does it say about us if we refuse to work on something, or oppose the way a prospective or current client runs its business? It doesn’t make someone an anti-capitalist. As advertising professionals, we’re paid to compete …

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Are Agencies Staffed By Dumbasses, Or Worse?

I typically stay away from content written by anonymous contributors, but Brian Morrissey at Digiday is prompting "Confessions" from people in the industry, and the one I just read from a technology vendor seems to have merit. Agencies talk about being makers. Shouldn’t they have this technology in-house? They can’t do it. It’s the jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none thing. Digital marketing is fragmented across …

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