Winners and losers—America and its economy are full of them. Small businesses are the backbone of the U.S. economy, employing nearly half of the private sector workforce. But many small businesses are struggling to stay afloat. According to the World Economic Forum, geography makes a great deal of difference in the proportion of U.S. small businesses that have flipped their open sign. In the U.S. as a whole, data …
Massive Consolidation by Dentsu, Another Glaring Sign of Things to Come
The sky isn't falling, but brand value in the ad agency sector is plummeting fast. Here's the latest news on this front from Japan. Dentsu will be restructuring its operations into four operating pillars after deciding to consolidate its brand agencies into six global brands. The new plans will come into effect in February 2021. Announcing the move, Toshihiro Yamamoto, president and chief executive officer at …
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Remote Workers Are Holdin’ It Together, In Advertising and Elsewhere
When was the last time that you spent time with your closest colleagues in person? For many of us, the answer is last March. For me personally, I work most closely with two people in Omaha, a.k.a. "Joemaha." I have not seen either of them in person in three or four years, which is a stretch too long. At the same time, we've worked remotely as a team since the aughts, so we got this. Due to the disruption …
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What’s In America’s Shopping Cart? The Red, White, and You
When you watch cable news the narrative on every channel is a deep division between Americans. Yet, between the talking head-filled segments, the nation's biggest advertisers run their side of the story. Their side of the story is optimistic with a touch of realism. https://youtu.be/xi-V4JTnU3o Walmart will never be all we need to get by. But the world's largest retailer does carry hand-sanitizers and other …
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Chipotle Sends Its Workers Back To School (Tuition-Free)
In the ad agency business, we know that all the company's assets walk out of "the building" at the end of the workday. It's another way of saying that ad agencies don't have hard assets—that all the value is in the team. What about other fields like the restaurant industry...do restaurant owners and operators see their workers as critical to the enterprise, or as expendable cogs in the machine? For Chipotle …
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Square and Stripe Tell Powerful Stories of the Small Business Owner’s Struggle
Small business is the backbone of the economy. Small businesses are also a radiating pain point during this devastating economic downturn. According to WBUR in Boston, earlier this summer, MassINC Polling Group surveyed 1,868 small businesses (defined as having fewer than 500 employees). Their findings show that 44% of small businesses lost at least half of their revenue, and 20% lost at least a quarter of their …
There’s A New School In Ad City, It Is Free To Attend and “Unapologetically Black”
Access—you can't get there without it. In the advertising agency business, access has been afforded to the few. The industry is elite by design. The people on the inside ask those on the outside to "break-in," if they can. The entire set up is adversarial from the get-go. Yes, there's talk of a meritocracy for creatives and that's what it is—talk. In reality, aspiring creatives learn to mimic award-winning work …
The Hard Reset Begets The Big Shrinkage
In 2020 and 2021, agencies will shed 52,000 jobs, according to Jay Pattisall, an analyst with Forrester. Half the jobs will not return, he predicts. Forrester also predicts that advertising spending in the United States would decline by 25 percent this year and would not recover until 2023. Is this a solid read? No one has a crystal ball, just loads of data, and anecdotal evidence. As teams shrink in size, the …
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Jeep Beep Beeps. The New Bronco Bucks.
Ford built the Bronco from 1966 to 1996. Collectors of the mid-size SUV have pleaded with Ford to return the Bronco to its lineup. Their requests are being answered. The Bronco, which will be assembled at Ford's Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, will go on sale next year. The new 2021 Ford Bronco reveal event is scheduled for 8 p.m. Monday, introducing two-door and four-door Bronco models as well as a smaller …
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Brands Pause to Acknowledge the American Melee and Register Their Sadness
Exceptional brands create culture, but most brands reflect culture. Reflecting the culture since mid-March has been a creative challenge, given that millions of people are stuck at home and fearful for their health and economic well being. To make matters much worse, one week ago today, a Minneapolis cop was caught on video murdering a nonviolent man—an act which has led to peaceful protests, plus burning and …
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