The arc of the advertising industry
As a follow-up to my posting today about the Ad Age article, I just thought I'd offer up a theory I've had for years about the historical trajectory of advertising agencies.
I think the story of ad agencies in America parallels that of the great movie studios of the early part of this century. The studios were founded, for the most part, by Jews of Eastern-European heritage who had the two ingredients necessary to create something as unique as Hollywood: vision and power. Sam Goldwyn, Louis B. Mayer, Jack Warner, Adolph Zukor - they ran their companies with an iron fist.
Chiat/Day always reminded me of MGM in its heyday. Jay had his stable of creatives just as Louis B. Mayer had his stable of stars.
And think how many great ad agencies were created by men who also had the swagger of movie moguls.
The Hollywood studio system was ultimately destroyed when the government forced them to divest themselves of the theatres they owned across the country, thereby preventing them from owning their own distribution system.
And then the banks swarmed in. And this is what truly killed Hollywood. Bankers knew nothing of how to make a movie. But they knew how to read a balance sheet. Stars' contracts were canceled, budgets had to be approved by New York, and, after a brief heyday of great films in the 70s and 80s, Hollywood was taken over by the demographers. Films are now designed to meet the needs of men in their teens and 20s. Creativity became formula.
The agencies are all owned these days by conglomerates. They are supervised by finance people.
And, as the Ad Agency article states, NOBODY IS HAVING ANY FUN.
No wonder people like Rosemarie Ryan and Ty Montague are starting their own "collectives." They want to re-experience entrepreneurship. They want to have a chance to be mini-moguls. To put it bluntly, they want to have sex with their craft again.
They should sit down and watch ever single movie that was made in 1939: "Gone With the Wind, "The Wizard of Oz," "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington," "Stagecoach," "Ninotchka," "Wuthering Heights," "Of Mice and Men," "Dark Victory," and "Goodbye Mr. Chips." The ingredients for great work were never before, and never again, so powerful. What was different about that year and how could a new ad agency recreate that alchemy?
It's easy. It's all in the creative. Or to be more specific, it's all in the narrative. People thirst for great, powerful stories. Even if they're 30-seconds long.
Steve Alburty