March 2011
16 posts
The business of business is new business.
A friend of mine, someone who occasionally reads “Adventures,” tells me the posts she prizes most are the ones where I (attempt to) provide advice, especially the kind of counsel that young client service people often are in need of.
I have no idea if she’s right – Adventures’ purpose is meant to be broader than this – but this morning I was at the agency Womenkind for another workshop in the...
Can’t get no respect.
I heard from my friend and colleague Deidre Sullivan, founder of SnapDragon Consultants, who wrote this in response to my March 25 story, “And you thought your job was hard:”
“Love this post, Robert. Curious: would love to know your thoughts about the best ways for creatives to be supportive of account people.”
If you read what I wrote, you saw I quoted a copywriter, Martin Puris, on why being...
And you thought your job was hard.
The other day I came across a story from CareerCast.com, reporting on last year’s most stressful jobs. Some of the high-stress entries were expected – policeman, firefighter, commercial pilot – but one was not: advertising executive.
Yes, that’s right, being an advertising executive is ranked as one of the ten most stressful jobs in America. According to CareerCast, here’s why:
“Although...
Who likes advertising?
If I were a student reading the stories that emerged from the recent 4As conference — saying in effect that advertising people get less training than a Starbucks barista — I would think about pursuing a career in banking, law, used car sales, or some other, equally honorable profession.
But I am not like most students, and, amazingly, not all of them have given up hope on a marketing...
A meltdown at Burger King.
I just read a story by Jim Edwards of BNET, called, “How Earth’s Trendiest Adman Helped Get His Agency Fired by Burger King.” Here’s what I posted in response:
For all the commentary surrounding Alex Bogusky, it is easy to lose sight of something Jim Edwards says three paragraphs into his story:
”No matter how good the creative, however, it cannot withstand the No.1 rule of the ad biz:...
Hello, goodbye.
Years ago I accepted a job in Boston and left Washington, DC, leaving behind a job, my buddies, and a girlfriend.
The girlfriend: as months wore on, we grew apart. Her visits became more infrequent, my interest waned. I decided to say goodbye. She was planning a visit, but I pre-empted this with a perfunctory phone call. I don’t remember much of the conversation, but I’m pretty sure it...
Google builds a better boss (sort of).
So the guys known for being able to figure out anything finally met their match: how to build a better boss.
Adam Bryant of The New York Times wrote a story that appeared on page one of this past Sunday’s Business section that talks about Google’s mission. Readers quickly learned that being a boss is algorithm-resistant.
Among employees at a company that is as technology-centric as Google, you...
Fear of failure.
Years ago I consulted for a start-up company called Cognitive Arts, which was a pioneer in the newly emerging category of education called “distance learning.” Founded by Dr. Roger Schank of Northwestern University, it was governed by a simple but powerful insight: people learn best when they fail.
Yes, that’s right: people learn best not by succeeding, but instead, by having permission to...
“Tissue? I hardly know you!”
If you’ve been in this business as long as I have, you take for granted the jargon that has infiltrated the industry. But if you are like the young team of staffers I met with at last week’s Womenkind workshop, words taken for granted suddenly seem alien.
Take “tissue session.” I used the term to describe a particular new business circumstance, as in, “we did a series of tissue sessions before...
I read your comment on adage.com
Mr. Solomon,
I read the “Left to Fend For Themselves, Employees Feel no Loyalty to Agencies.” I am non traditional college graduate, earning my BA in May of 2009. Living in the Cleveland, Ohio area and graduating at the “peak?” of the recession has made things rather challenging in finding a job, let alone seeking a career. I had a good GPA, did internships, followed what...
Hope in the universe.
I returned home yesterday from a new business workshop I conducted for the agency Womenkind – the first in a series of such sessions –and was greeted by an email from Kristi Faulkner, one of Womenkind’s co-founders. Kristi pointed me and others to an article that appeared in Advertising Age, called, “Left to Fend for Themselves, Employees Feel No Loyalty to Agencies.”
The article, by Maureen...
When formulas fail.
Buried on page 15 of Monday’s New York Times is a story by Michael Winerip called, “Evaluating New York Teachers, Perhaps the Numbers Do Lie.”
Boy, do they ever!
The story is about Stacy Isaacson, a seventh grade English and social studies teach at Manhattan’s Lab Middle School for Collaborative Studies. By all accounts from colleagues and supervisors, Isaacson is a dedicated, motivated, highly...
Client for a day, lesson for a lifetime.
12:00 noon Sunday.
My wife and I are beginning the process of selling our Tribeca apartment, and need a broker to represent us. My wife officially appointed me “the client” – “You’re better at this than me,” she claims — so, for once, I actually get to play this role.
I thought this would be a refreshing change from the ordinary. I must tell you this is not a part I will seek again.
I...
“Figures lie, liars figure.”
I don’t know where I first heard this quote, so I Googled the line. Mark Twain is credited with saying, “Figures don’t lie, but liars figure,” so there you have it.
I thought about this as I read a piece in the February 14/21 issue of The New Yorker by Malcolm Gladwell, called. “The Order of Things: What college rankings tell us.” Gladwell was doing a dive on the U.S. News and World Report’s...
Talking vs. “wearing” client relationships.
With rare exception, I avoid commenting on the advertising I see, not knowing the circumstances underpinning an ad – timing, budget, client preference, agency perspective – to truly appreciate its genesis.
But on page C3 of today’s Wall Street Journal, in the lower right corner, there is a page-dominant print ad from a financial services company called Stephens that bears mentioning.
The headline...
That time of month, again.
I was about to sit down to write the customary, monthly recap of my posts for February. But then I recalled an email I received last week from my friend and colleague, Elsebeth Thomsen – an amazingly gifted art director, designer, and, by the way, a surprisingly good account weenie – who sent me an email with a recap of my “Adventures” work to date.
With the email came an attachment, which I...
