Rumor and innuendo are hardly the province of gossip rags, online or off. For instance, Chicago Sun Times advertising columnist, Lewis Lazare, loves to quote unnamed sources. He relies heavily on them for his piece on Marhsall Ross, appearing in the paper today.
The search is on. After coming up empty in several recent big new business pitches, Cramer-Krasselt/Chicago appears to be in the market for a new executive creative director to take the position now held by Marshall Ross. An agency spokeswoman did not return calls seeking comment.
“Sometimes when you’re in a job like that for a long time and you learn how an agency operates, you automatically start to take the path of least resistance, which isn’t a good thing for creativity,” said one top New York-based ad agency creative familiar with developments.
According to sources, a headhunter acting on C-K’s behalf in recent months had contacted high-profile creatives in New York about their interest in taking on the head creative job at C-K.
At least one party in New York whom headhunters contacted was not interested in the job because of a perception that Chicago agencies in general were resistant to the kind of change that leads to great creative work.