How Green Will MadAve Get?
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Part 1.0: Mr. Smith Goes to MadAve!
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By Paul McEnany It's getting late in the year. 2007 is almost upon us and you know what that means. Once the Times Square ball drops, your best talent may be looking towards the door. Do you run an agency? Pull up a chair. You better sit down. Here are a few things that everyone at your shop would like to tell you, but won't. Why? Because they're afraid that if they do, they'll get fired. What they don't realize about you (that I do) is that you're really smart. I know that. You know that. Now let's make sure they know that. Consider these few suggestions as you wrap up the year and plan for a great 2007:
1. Pick a fight...with Yourself and the CFO. But it's still not that easy. For us in advertising, there may be some idea, some foothold that may be restraining your ability to change a deeply entrenched way of thinking. Make that behavior your enemy. Let your team know that you are doing so. Boldly destroy whatever dogma holds you down. Of course, if this is your objective, pick an idea worth battling. A team only fights for a leader who tells the truth. Doing so with you team shows them you respect them. That will make a huge difference.
2. Move from task-oriented to responsibility-driven. What is the responsibility that comes with the goal? Allow them to accomplish it, however they see fit. Processes are great, and sometimes they save a little time, and maybe even a little money, but if you over-process, if you continue to remove the chance of screwing up, you may actually end up doing so. Chill out a little. You may be blown away when you see the work you get back. And that's the first thing you should be hoping for, some surprise from innovation. What a concept! Fundamentally, our business is to sell ideas, and if you've over-processed your office this year into some robotic machine you can also revert it back to the idea factory it was supposed to be.
3. Give them time to think. Google, the grandmaster of innovation, will allow your team members to get more work done in one fifth of the time. That translates into one day a week to work on projects of their own choosing. Become dedicated to improvement, to innovation, and even more, to inspiration. Did you do that this year? Is your plan to do it next? The larger issue is the question of whether or not your team is intellectually exhausted. If you hired them because of their talent, have you sucked it out of them or have you made a platform to have it shine even more? Have a little faith in yourself and in them that you made the right choice. Watch them as they breed good ideas next year instead of you "telling" them to do so. If you're so good a manager, set it up so that you're constantly impressed and surprised by your team's brilliance. Anything else in this hyper-competitive environment is the last thing you can afford.
4. Create a bigger goal/Surprise them! Would you ever try to dup them with some fake blog? Would you ever send out another spam email, or stuff another mailbox full of trash without asking? Humor works. If you do, make sure they know it's a joke. If you want to be surprised, surprise them! Think about charities. Find a cause. Do some things that you've never done before, Offer something unexpected. Next year, refine your mission and constantly push your people to think past the numbers. The money will flow freely when your goals are pure. Let them know you believe that as much as you say it.
5. Make innovation a job requirement Now, after you've rewarded these great ideas, implement them. Having the guts to actually follow-through will inspire your team members to keep creating, to follow your lead to keep reaching for those higher goals.
Now, that's not to say you should fire at will, just to prove a point or to scare the others. We're not talking about fear-mongering. It's really just a function of your ability to see and reward talent. Only enlist people that make you just a little scared yourself so they'll be better at your job than you are, and require the same all the way down the line. We call this good fear. It can lead to greatness which ultimately becomes exponential. David Ogilvy once said, "If each of us hires people who are smaller than we are, we shall become a company of dwarfs. But if each of us hires people who are bigger than we are, we shall become a company of giants." Agencies are finally getting it in this new era. Your competition is much attune to these issues and will be more next year. Both agencies and advertisers have been a little slow in the last cycle to keep up with consumer interests and new lifestyles of collecting and sharing information. Advertising is not a prerequisite. Offer more. Starbucks didn't become Starbucks on the back of Ogilvy or Bernbach, and Apple didn't change the course of pop-culture by taking the advice of Bogusky or Burnett. The only way to remain relevant in a world increasingly distrusting of us will be to constantly inspire, to constantly innovate, and to never stop trying to change the world. It may seem a little grandiose, but small men and small ideas aren't what consumers crave. They want to experience inspiration in ways they never have before. "Be" the solution. Wake up. It's all about you; your ability to lead. Begin now. Act as if it's a new year today, before it's New Years Day.
Madison Avenue's Search for $Greener Acres$
Green Acres is the place to be. Eva loved the city. Eddie loved the country. Together they made the best Slicks/Hicks-ville comedy team ever. However, this week's news about interactive agency O'Grady Meyers being purchased by Des Moines, Iowa-based Meredith publishing, just as the MadAve address-based Met Life Clock Tower was being purchased by Studio 54's legendary Ian Schrager is even funnier! Known for a more heartland-based culture, with Meredith's ad agency purchase, regardless of whether O'Grady Meyers moves its offices to Des Moines or not, this buy-out shows that you can be just as shrewd (or more) chewing on straw than on a big fat cigar!
Similarly, as the last cycle of financial gimmickry as shown us, it was the home security-based imagery behind Met Life-like life insurance, pensions and money management companies that lured greener Americans to get ripped off, while the Wall Street locals walked away with balefuls of Hey$$$$ Dolley Madison's Avenue
How many of us know the name, Samuel B. Ruggles? Should we? Well, yes. And if you review his record here, you may then agree that he is the most unsung advertising hero of Madison Avenue. Why is that? He founded, built and named it. That's why! According to The New York Times, they predicted that his legacy would make him one of the towering figures in the history of the 19th century. On March 9, 1867, they reported, "It is probable, in fact certain, that Mr. Ruggles will have a foremost place among American representatives..." [To see the entire article, please subscribe to The New York Times archives and type in his name and the above date]. The question is, did he create the tributes we know today as Madison Square Park, Madison Square Garden and Madison Avenue for James Madison, or for Madison's party-loving and social butterfly wife, Mrs. Dolley Madison? A well-connect Yale-educated attorney with interests in education, commerce, politics, real estate development and international trade, Ruggles was a true renaissance man. Having a touch of the poetic artistic spirit in him, the only touchable remnant that he left of himself is a lock of his hair, safely stored away well protected at The New York Public Library archives. Upon careful study, he also left a wealth of speeches, papers and books that back up The Times' estimate of this impact on this country. Check out the link above. So why is he virtually unknown today in our fair city and the industry we call Madison Avenue? From all appearances, it looks like this was by design. He wanted it that way. Imagine that, the founder of Madison Avenue specifically shied away from the limelight!
The irony is that he operated as "the guy behind the guy, behind the guy." His desire to avoid press was only interrupted by a well-covered voyage to Paris the paper of record (even then) wrote about as he represented the US on currency valuation agreements.
History also credits him for naming Lexington Avenue, "Lexington Avenue." If he were around today, imagine the buzz "on the street" and gossip that would follow Mr. Ruggles every where he would go. His name would no doubt clutter Page Six endlessly. Ruggles was the Donald Trump of his time. He founded, developed and both built both Grammercy Park AND Union Square, yet as compared to our esteemed Mr. Trump his name is nowhere on any of his or our most precious public or private landmarks. So did Ruggles named Madison Avenue to honor (some say promote) Mr. (or Mrs.) Madison, and if so, why do you suppose he did it? Today his vast knowledge of the financial markets as well as his penchant for philanthropy would rival Mr. George Soros. One thing we do know, judging from his published works and listing of speeches and papers on matters of great importance in the city and country, he was outspoken. Like Madison Avenue, he was controversial. His efforts creating and naming Madison Square Park and Mad Ave in honor of a sitting president went contrary to American sensibilities at the time. With only 10 years passing from America's last and final war with Britain (War of 1812), Ruggles' actions were seen as distinctly English. In essence, Madison Avenue's founding began as counter-cultural controversy. What a surprise...NOT
The Madison name drapes the park and our precious business. Though Ruggles may have had an ulterior motive; to impress another, Dolley, a brand then and perhaps by destiny 200 years later, a brand now. Dolley Madison was uniquely American and clearly worthy of being honored. No other first lady was demonstrably as brave as she; running back into a burning White House set fire by the British to save the most important "power point document" in America.
Like her brilliant husband, she literally and figuratively had her hands all over the US Constitution! Could Ruggles have that much insight to see that Dolley's legacy would live on as much as Mr. Jame? He certainly saw Dolley's love of networking up close!
Given her love for parties and socializing (which MadAve culture was once known to enjoy), is it any wonder that Dolly Madison lives on today as a brand of cupcakes, yummy, festive fixtures among the Happy Meal set.
No other First Lady has had quite as much mass appeal-like selling power as she. Other than JackieO or Betty Ford, it begs the question whether other first ladies have been inadvertently overlooked as possible brand icons! Where was Ralph Lauren during the Nixon administration? Why was the world deprived of the potential hit success of the Pat Nixon line lounge pajamas? Will it soon be time for Famous Amos to add a Hillary Clinton Cookies line extension? How about a Rosalyn Carter Mrs. Peanut? Hmmm...
No doubt Ruggles must surely have known that James Madison would go down in history as the most famous copywriter of all time. If historians could have missed Ruggles' prominence, we wonder if other advertising-based connections were also overlooked. For example, is it possible that there was a "Madison, (Al) Hamilton and (John) Jay Ad Agency"? After all, these three gents produced one of the most effective brand positioning and media planning/buying campaigns of all time. We're talking about "The Federalist Papers" which everyone on this list is well aware of (yeah, right.) But seriously, The Fed Papers was the newspaper ad campaign that sold-in the creation of the US Federal Government! We kid you not. Clearly these three ad guys brainstormed in the packaging. Like the creation of Ronald McDonald they also created a fictional spokesperson named "Publius" who was credited for their work. Publius was essentially the 18th century Mr. Whipple, though Mr. Whipple was ultimately known for another kind of paper. How much is "Publius" so much different from the Pillsbury Dough Boy (a near competitor to Dolly Madison Today?) Are we mis-interpreting history as much as consumers misunderstood Ford's Edsel?
Did you know that Madison and company were up against stiff competition, similar to virtually all brands today? In fact, the Federalist Papers were challenged by anti-federalists. However, they did not do their homework research-wise. Beginning by calling their own campaign "the Anti-Federalist Papers," they also created a fictional writer named, "Brutus," a name immortalized by Shakespeare, who today is a less than desirable fictional character. "The Anti-Federalist Papers"
Maybe Ruggles was simply acknowledging the aura of Dolley and Jim. Maybe in his own mind, he saw himself as a judge of the first Media All Stars competition. With a little research, one will find that "Publius" ran a total of 80 articles or insertions. Here's some info about that historical media effort. Our analysis indicates that Madison and company took a "compression strategy" focusing 100% of the activity in just 3 New York City papers (similar to the WSJ, NYT and NYPost) of its day. The Anti-Federalists, using the "Brutus" brand ran just as many articles/insertions, yet ran 100% of them outside of New York, in the 15 B-level markets of the era. For real...
Is there some truth then that the destiny of the USA had as much to do with media plan strategy as well as for the creative content? We'll never know for sure... though it does make one wonder.
What we do know is that Ruggles, the founder of Madison Avenue also co-founded America's first "e-commerce channel." Back then they referred to it as the Erie Canal, the 18th century version of today's broadband. He also was instrumental in the growth of the Railroad industry, America's first "hardware" industry and helped create the US's first media metrics system when he produced at report as a Delegate to the International statistical congress at Berlin, on the resources of the United States, and on a uniform system of weights, measures and coins! He was also the inventor of Corn Flakes based on his Report on cereals: The quantities of cereals produced in different countries Not long before he retired, he acted as the first "Capitalist Tool" when he decided to take his vision out to the world; on a scale similar to the late great Malcolm Forbes himself. He was truly remarkable and a most energetic evangelist when he sailed to "The Old World" as described by The New York Times illuminate the robust nature of America at that time. In light of the fact that Sammy Ruggles and The Madisons had such an amazing impact in the world's communications and commerce businesses, it's actually quite odd that he has remained almost virtually unknown today.
Think about all the chest beating that agencies, brands and celebrities do today. Have all the "roll-ups" had a positive effect among MadAve players? Has consolidation made our business much more fun and added to more creativity? We would suggest it has made our MadAve more cynical. The greed of the last cycle creating these agency monoliths seems less like Madison's Publius and more like Brutus. We wonder what Ruggles and the Madison's would say about their fair lane if they were here today. Dolley surely would be disappointed that our thirst for partying has diminished. Gone are the 3 martini lunches. Now 95% of people eat at their desks. How boring!
On Ruggles' last sail to Paris on the French Steamer, "Periere" the The New York Times published this about our fair MadAve founder, Mr. Ruggles has labored with untiring zeal to secure a proper representation of the Western World in this grand fair of all nations; he has devoted his time to the task of arousing public interest and enlisting public action in the enterprise and now goes out with renewed determination to give the Old World something like an accurate idea of the vast wealth, energy, physical and social power of the Western Continent." David, Leo and Bill could not have expressed it better. Maybe Ruggles knew even back then that when you live by the media, you die by the media. Then as now, attention and celebrity-hood is fleeting, which is perhaps why he named Madison Avenue after one of greatest man of letters, who ironically was as shy and wallflowerish as his wife was gregarious.
After almost 150 years after he set sail, this might be the time to dust off his thoughts, actions and papers. Timing is everything. Who can think of a better time than now? Will our glorious "Advertising Week" take a look back beyond :30 to investigate what made this business great? At the end of his day, in spite of the controversy that created Madison Avenue - by aiming all the attention at Mr. and Mrs. Madison - Ruggles was really a romantic as well as the ultimate MadAve tactician. James Madison could easily be compared to today's Charlie Brown. There's no question that Dolley would easily relate to Lucy.
Well, there's no one left but Snoopy - and like Ruggles, he is the quietest one - with the greatest imagination of all! Race-ism on MadAve? Let Them Drink Absinthe!
Oscar Wilde - After the first glass you see things as you wish they were. After the second, you see things as they are not. Finally, you see things as they really are, and that is the most horrible thing in the world. Epitomized by its "Green Fairy" imagery, once upon a time Absinthe was consumed on a massive scale. It was a truly hypnotic elixir. For those unfamiliar with Absinthe, it was the most popular beverage in France going as far back to the age of Marie Antoinette. The "Wolfgang Puck" of her day, we remember Ms. Antoinette for her most infamous dinner suggestion of all time, "Let them eat cake". It seems Marie is still at the table and has cloned herself at the top of the MadAve food chain, only this time at 17 or more of the city's agencies, including BBDO, Saatchi & Saatchi and Ogilvy & Mather. Ad Age suggests that "industry stars" such as Andrew Robertson, Kevin Roberts and Shelly Lazarus will be subpoenaed. It should therefore come as no surprise then that some on Madison Avenue this week were quoted with the same sensitivity Ms. Antoinette had, in response to the "news" of the racial bias the government is about to investigate at our most "respected" ad agency clearing houses.
"All My Enemies Are Friends...": The Colour & The Shape of MadAve Relationships
Straight out of the new age rock FooFighters' "The Colour & The Shape" song, the line above calls to mind the presence, importance and ramifications of relationships on Madison Avenue. Relationships between clients, associates, competitors and adversaries. One of the editors here was commenting recently about how--after an extensive period of time in advertising--they found themselves in a semi-public 21st century version of the Hatfield-McCoy feud. It's within a small cabal and there's little doubt that the vitriol on both sides has been mutually painful. We compared this situation with the famous discord between both West Virginian families and found that it began with a star-crossed love affair.
Ombudsman Now: The War Between In-Coming vs Out-Going ROI
Recently, we read about The New York Times Public Editor/Ombudsman embattled with finding all the conflicts in the internal war of Reporting On Iraq. Here we find another new definition for ROI. The process of performing their internal audit externally has been a painful one. And because of that the Publisher and Ombudsman deserve much credit. It makes them a stronger media company. Just what does an Ombudsman do? An Ombudsman is like a drill sergeant looking for the weakest areas of their young recruits. Drill sergeants push every part of each young GI under their command physically, mentally, even spiritually and work to uncover as many problems as possible. And then, once they find the weak points, they push even more! Not to burden them down, but rather to strengthen them.
"Ombuds-people" are not actually drill sergeants. In publishing, one could say that their metrics-speak role would be to provide "out-going ROI." Why out-going? Because they are on the inside of the company asking the question "What have we done for them (the client/consumer) lately?" This is quite different from the brain-numbing "in-coming" ROI most employees on Mad Avenue agencies deal with everyday. The counter-parts to Ombuds-people go by another name. They are CHCO's or "Chief Head-Count Officers." The similarity is that they also operate inside their agency. The question they ask though is different. They ask "What have you done for me (the agency/employer) lately?"
Marlon Brando played Colonel Kurtz in the film "Apocalypse Now" where we learned that earlier in his career, Kurtz had fire in his belly and knew how he could win the war. That was before he was confronted with Viet Nam's own version of the CHCO's, who even today, try to manage Madison Avenue's front lines from the rear and know very little any more about what it takes to create great advertising. Once upon a time people worked like hell to get a job on Madison Avenue because it was such an exhilarating place to spend your day, and get paid no less! Then many had almost an identical experience to Kurtz's. They went from having the military/agency "help them hunt" to having the military/agency "hunt them." They turned Kurtz into strange kind of "Anti-Ombuds-person." Where does that leave us?
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Continue reading Ombudsman Now: The War Between In-Coming... »More in Agency Life/Death/Limbo Madison Avenue On Film + 20 Quotes You Won't Hear in Holiday Party Speeches
By Kurt Brokaw, Culture Editor 1961: The poster art and concept for the movie "Madison Avenue" may warn you off. "I CAN MAKE ANYBODY" brags the agency man, Dana Andrews (who in real life was making himself more drinks than anyone in the film). The premise - a smalltime dairy goes national - and the dynamics between the marquee names (Eleanor Parker, Eddie Albert, Jeanne Crain) never really jell. This is more a picture about Dana Andrew's love life than his ad life, and its lumbering pace may make you wish for a Putney Swope to swoop in, just to enliven things.
We appreciate Kurt Brokaw's review of films focusing on the more realistic side of Madison Avenue. They possess an "unvarnished" view of the street. This is quite refreshing considering the ad industry's primary product consists of a lacquer-based gooey substance. It's highlighted at this time to set the stage for what many in the business will soon be attending; the annual agency holiday end of year party! Over the next 3 weeks, agency management (who's names are not on the door) will step up to the stage and make short speeches about what a "family" the agency really is. It will include many special inspirational quotes, from the usual suspects, Leo, David, Bill & Rosser and others. However, to keep the speeches short, in the interest of time, they will probably cut the part of the speech which talks about how they made $1.5million+ in 2005. Much will be made though about how employees will receive a $500.00 in their next paycheck, on January 15th, minus taxes. Whoppee! The MadAve Journal wishes everyone a wonderful holiday period and hope for everyone's sake that the above scenario is far from the truth. We entered this business based on the fact that it provided a stepping stone up the economic ladder if one applied their personal talents of creativity, wit and some p*ss and vinegar. We cherish and admire these qualities today just as we did when we entered this business 24 months ago in 1998 when we first became assistant media planners! Keeping with that wit, here's some 20 quotes we imagine you will NOT hear in the holiday speeches from the likes of the Fitzgeralds, Chandler, Gregory and Orwell. People we need now more than ever, to help us keep it real: We grew up founding our dreams on the infinite promise of American advertising. I still believe that one can learn to play the piano by mail and that mud will give you a perfect complexion. - Zelda Fitzgerald Advertising is a racket, like the movies and the brokerage business. You cannot be honest without admitting that its constructive contribution to humanity is exactly minus zero. - F. Scott Fitzgerald Advertising is the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket. - George Orwell Advertising is legalized lying. - H. G. Wells You know why Madison Avenue advertising has never done well in Harlem? We're the only ones who know what it means to be Brand X. - Dick Gregory It is not unprofessional to give free legal advice, but advertising that the first visit will be free is a bit like a fox telling chickens he will not bite them until they cross the threshold of the hen house. - Warren E. Burger Chess is as elaborate a waste of human intelligence as you can find outside an advertising agency. - Raymond Chandler The Death of Advertising? I think that's in the book of Revelation. It's the day when people everywhere become satisfied with their weight, their hair, their skin, their wardrobe, and their aroma. - Jef I. Richards Advertising is the modern substitute for argument; its function is to make the worse appear the better. - George Santayana An advertising agency is 85 percent confusion and 15 percent commission. - Fred Allen Time spent in the advertising business seems to create a permanent deformity like the Chinese habit of foot-binding. - Dean Acheson Advertising may be described as the science of arresting human intelligence long enough to get money from it. - Stephen B. Leacock Advertising treats all products with the reverence and the seriousness due to sacraments. - Thomas Merton Advertising is a valuable economic factor because it is the cheapest way of selling goods, particularly if the goods are worthless. - Sinclair Lewis Advertising was fairly simple work, and I really just wanted a job where I could sit and write every day and not get fired for it like I had at other jobs, but it was fun. - John Hughes What is the difference between unethical and ethical advertising? Unethical advertising uses falsehoods to deceive the public; ethical advertising uses truth to deceive the public. - Vilhjalmur Stefansson The vice-president of an advertising agency is a bit of executive fungus that forms on a desk that has been exposed to conference. - Fred Allen In the arts, the critic is the only independent source of information. The rest is advertising. - Pauline Kael Until the rise of American advertising, it never occurred to anyone anywhere in the world that the teenager was a captive in a hostile world of adults. - Gore Vidal America Online customers are upset because the company has decided to allow advertising in its chat rooms. I can see why: you got computer sex, you can download pornography, people are making dates with 10 year-olds. Hey, what's this? A Pepsi ad? They're ruining the integrity of the Internet! - Jay Leno "Mad" Avenue Films: "Putney Swope"
By Kurt Brokaw, Culture Editor 1969: At the time he wrote and directed "Putney Swope," Robert Downey's father was 32, a well-regarded indy filmmaker. Thus this is a young white director's satiric take on how blacks see themselves both in the corporate world as well as in tv commercials. Downey is not Melvin van Peebles, who would have brought a much edgier and angrier perspective. Putney is the token black in a major Madison Avenue shop. Overnight he becomes Chairman of the Board, dismantles the white structure, hires a black staff sporting long dashikis and big Afros, and renames the agency Truth & soul.
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Continue reading "Mad" Avenue Films: "Putney... »More in Agency Life/Death/Limbo, Show Biz "Mad" Avenue Films: "The Insider"
By Kurt Brokaw, Culture Editor 1999: Lowell Bergman was a "60 minutes" producer for Mike Wallace, under Don Hewitt at CBS-TV, for many years. Bergman was attracted to an investigative piece in Vanity Fair by veteran journalist Marie Brenner, the first to break the story on a research scientist at Philip Morris, Jeffrey Wigand, who was assigned by the tobacco company to manipulate nicotine levels to further addict smokers. "Mad" Avenue Films: "Good Neighbor Sam"
By Kurt Brokaw, Culture Editor 1964: A lot of Jack Lemmon's distinguished screen career went into playing unhappy, disillusioned business types - the drunken public relations exec in "Days of Wine and Roses," the fast-track climber in "The Apartment," the desperate real estate salesman in "Glengarry Glen Ross." Here he's a kinder, gentler Jack the ad exec, and like Rock in "Love Come Back" he does an identity switch. Jack poses as the husband of his next-door neighbor, Romy Schneider, so she can inherit a fortune. Nice work if you can get it, eh? Then his biggest client gets pulled into the same scam, and things, as they say, develop. This is fluff, to be sure, and Madison Avenue is more peripheral, a shadow backdrop.
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Permanent link for "Mad" Avenue Films: "Good... »More in Agency Life/Death/Limbo, Gossip MadAve In The Movies: How to Get Ahead in Advertising
By Kurt Brokaw, Culture Editor 1989: British ad humor has always been, well, different from U.S. ad humor. It's cheekier. It can be darker and even drift into the macabre while keeping a straight face. Here's Exhibit A, co-produced by George Harrison. The USP is that you get ahead in advertising by growing a second head. Excuse me? No no, it really happens - this nutty ad guy is trying to figure a new angle on a pimple cream. His subconscious, image-filled mind sprouts a boil that appears on his face. The boil grows into a second face and head. The face starts talking, and takes over. It's more than a little Freudian, sort of like the adman-from-Hell. Richard E. Grant dominates the film, and he's a bad dream come true. Pretty Rachel Ward gamely tries to hold her own, but she's no match of an enlarged, engorged boil that never stops yakking. It's like having Audrey Two, the plant in "Little Shop of Horrors," growing out of your neck. MadAve In The Movies: The Hucksters
By Kurt Brokaw 1947: Based on Frederick Wakeman's revealing and generally accurate novel, this mainstream Holly wood drama contains a defining portrait of a lost Madison Avenue veteran--the copy/contact man. It was common during the industry's development - from 1900 through much of the 60s - or account people serving business-to-business and industrial accounts, as well as some package goods marketers, to position, write and present their own work, often slipping layout descriptions or "thumbnails" under the door of the subservient art director.
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Continue reading MadAve In The Movies: The... »More in Agency Life/Death/Limbo, Show Biz More Than ’15 Minutes of Fame’
By Kurt Brokaw, Cuture Editor Andy Warhol promised 15 minutes of fame to each of us. But Warhol’s tomato soup can is a unique statement of art-in-commerce that stays with us forever. My one appearance on national television – which ran a lot less than 15 minutes – was the day before this past Christmas, on Russian television. NTV, the Russian TV network with a Manhattan base, got my name from New School University and called to request an interview for a news segment. Their “lifestyle piece,” on the marketing and advertising of U.S. luxury goods, was scheduled to run in Moscow and wherever else in the Soviet Union that NTV news airs, on December 24. I’d be the U.S. talking head.
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Continue reading More Than ’15 Minutes of... »More in Agency Life/Death/Limbo, Gossip, People 
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DPAC* Presents: MAD MEN's Little Helper, Part One.Commercial Worthy - Anyone for Scrabble?Are You Trying to Make Me Laugh?Shea's Photo Album: A Guide for Reason in an Unreasonable AgeAdvertising 2.0's Hip-Rap HoppedCommercial Worthy - Straightaway!Budget's "Underfunded" UGC: Viral or not?"Super Budget Vacation -- The Video with a Heart"Former Rocker Turned Real Estate Agent Turns Video Kerouac'erOff-Off-Broadway Goes 3-D!MARKETING JOBS
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