Ebb and flow

I never held the purse strings at any of the ad agencies where I toiled for so many years. And so, perhaps this opinion piece is borne of naïveté.

However, as I climbed the corporate ladder, I had increasing contact with the people who made those financial decisions. 

Similarly, as someone in upper middle management, I had increased contact with the people who actually did the work of coming up with ideas, designing and writing the advertising, as well as the incumbent production and distribution of the fruits of that labor.

As such I heard many tales like this.

"I  haven't had a raise or a bonus in 4 years."

"I haven't spent a weekend  at home in 8 months."

"I have to leave this job at 5:30 so I can get to my other one by 6." 

And try as I might to have fixed those type of situations, they were always met with, "Well, we're tightening our belts and can't afford those kind of monetary niceties this year."

Sometimes, more than ironically, those retorts came in the form of a text, from C-suiters lounging on the deck of a rented yacht.

Anchored in Cannes. 

In France. 

In Europe.

As a result many of my former colleagues left and went to work in-house or at a PR agency or even at any number of emerging production/media companies.

Yesterday, I read an interview with a newly appointed CEO of Marketing at a big Hollywood talent agency, UTA. 

He went on to explain how old legendary media -- meaning commercials, print ads and OOH -- no longer worked in today's changing landscape. And how UTA was uniquely positioned to come in and scoop up all those ad dollars by integrating commercial messaging into movies, TV shows and streaming entertainment.

That may work for big well known brands like Delta or Toyota, but I don't see how that's going to play out for minor players like Hellman's Mayonnaise or Drano Liquid Gel.

Thankfully, as someone no longer employed in the ad agency world, that's no longer my problem.

But I will cop to some serious schadenfreude as I watch big agencies crumble, consolidate and attempt to squeeze every last droplet of profit from a raisin they left in the microwave. 

And can't help but feel the people at the top would not be hurting so much if they had taken the time to listen and respond to the people at the bottom.