Advertising, ad campaigns, ad agencies, and the people that make it happen

This week gave us a further demonstration of how screwed up the agency business is in terms of so many shops now being part of the big four conglomerates there is an iron-clad  guarantee potential client conflicts will only continue to multiply, in spite of various BDA’s attempts at the formation of secondary, perceptually, non-competing shops… Which is basically bullshit! So, I had to smile with the news that Hyundai has selected at least four agencies to participate in the review for its $600 million creative and media business. These include: Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco; independents Siltanen & Partners, Marina del Rey, StrawberryFrog in New York; and MDC Partners' Kirshenbaum Bond + Partners in New York. But, here’s the nub of the story…  Several other agencies initially invited to pitch have passed on the opportunity because they are conflicted in other ongoing automotive reviews, which include contests for DaimlerChrysler's Jeep and Ford Premier Auto Group's Volvo. Goodby withdrew from a partnership with 180 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in the Volvo review in order to pursue Hyundai. Another Volvo participant, Havas' Arnold, Boston (pitching with Nitro in London), has long-standing ties to Wilhite through the shop's many years on Volkswagen during Wilhite's tenure at the German car company. And if you don’t quite understand all that… Neither do I. Because, it used to be so much simpler, when agencies belonged to the people who actually produced the ads and generated income, rather than the bean counters… Who do nothing else but count the beans!

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It ain't purty... But, it's cheap as heck, and you can pay in beans!