Eleven years ago, two advertising agencies merged: Draft Direct Worldwide and Foote, Cone, and Belding (FCB). Draft was a successful direct marketing agency specializing in direct mail advertising. FCB was more of a traditional ad agency that specialized in creative
Why I Don’t Believe in “Paying Your Dues”
When I was in college I dreamed about working for a large, well known advertising agency. The kind that I saw in the movies, had an office on Madison Avenue, made television ads, and had the mystique of combining the
Is Media Planning a Commodity?
A few weeks ago I wrote about promiscuity in advertising and how, advertising companies always tend to keep two or more vendors in competition at any given level of the supply chain. Michael Griffiths replied that this is actually a
Lessons from the Clothing Industry
After a hard morning workout, my favorite thing to do is relax in the sauna and chat with my friends at the gym. Usually the conversation is pretty light (predominantly news, sports, weather) but every now and then we’ll chat
Opportunity in Advertising – and Catching Fish
How many companies exist that can hire a big name brand ad agency? Just in terms of sheer number – there must be a pretty finite amount of companies that can afford to spend that much money on advertising. Would
My Kind of Nostalgia Marketing
This weekend I had the pleasure of going to see Rock of Ages on Broadway – a musical where the story line is progressed by characters belting out classic rock hits of the 1980s. Firstly, as a preamble – it’s
Coevolution
An analogy: Advertisers:Media as Bees:Flowers Both pairs above have coevolved to support each other. Bees pollinate flowers because they are interested in the nectar, just as advertisers pay media companies because they are interested in advertising to their audience. Coevolution