This week, Advertising Age presented two stories worth mentioning.
• Rupal Parekh—who has fast become one of Ad Age’s top writers, BTW—reported Madison Avenue might tap Wall Street for potential talent. “It’s a pretty dramatic and radical move,” said one New York-based headhunter. “While we’re not going to see the stockbrokers and fund managers entering the agency world, at all those major financial-services companies there are key function areas that are very transferable to a lot of industries, including the advertising industry.” Another recruiter remarked, “If they are young and particularly smart, the agencies should hire [financial-services veterans] as account people. … [Wall Street is] a wonderful source for some of the brightest account people because they know how to sell.” Great, the advertising industry could definitely benefit from an influx of top-flight failures. Let’s welcome the refugees from another devastated business arena. And is there any better place to find minority candidates for Madison Avenue’s diversity drive than Wall Street? Whoo hoo!
Also, the headhunters’ comments in Parekh’s piece really demonstrate these morons are completely out of touch with the standard operating procedures at today’s advertising agencies. Even David Ogilvy cautioned, “Think twice before hiring people who have been successful in other fields. I have hired a magazine editor, a lawyer and an economist. None of them developed an interest in advertising.” Wonder how Ogilvy would respond to a Wall Street veteran.
• Matthew Creamer reported Ad Age named Barack Obama as Marketer of the Year. Pretty ironic for an industry that continues to fail to recognize minorities in its own ranks. Yet here we have a Black man showing us how it’s done. Madison Avenue aspires to be on the cutting edge of culture. But we can’t even match the progressive nature of Joe Six-Pack, Joe the Plumber or any other Average Joe out there.
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