Advertising agencies are caught between fee-cutting clients and profit-hungry owners. In the meantime, their creative workloads are growing, driven by increased TV, digital and social advertising. How do agencies generate profit margins under these circumstances? Through downsizing, salary freezes and 'juniorizing.' Agencies are disinvesting in capabilities at a time when their clients' marketing challenges have never been greater. No wonder their clients are beefing up their internal capabilities and changing agencies at an accelerated rate! 
 
This is Madison Avenue Manslaughter, documented in detail by Michael Farmer, who has been working in the industry for the past 25 years. Farmer, who was formerly a Director of Bain & Company, provides a gripping analysis of advertising agencies and their deteriorating situation. He describes the key trends that have weakened agencies during recent years -- the shift from commissions to fees, brand globalization, the rise of holding companies, client obsession with shareholder value, the digital and Internet revolutions -- and outlines the steps that senior agency executives need to take to restore health to their organizations and improved results to their clients.
 
This book is a first of its kind -- a detailed examination of ad agencies as businesses: their cultures, organizations, management philosophies and strategic choices -- providing an unforgettable inside look at the Mad Men's declining world.
 
Winner of the Gold Medal for Marketing books, 2016 Axiom Awards.

Ad Critique teaches advertising, marketing, and management students--both the "suits" and the "creatives"--how to effectively judge and critique creativity in advertising. This textbook is an instruction manual; a facilitator of dialogue; a companion piece to classroom content. Its lessons result in actual skills that enable students to look at the creative product and embolden them to say something constructive and worthwhile.

The Business Skills Every Creative Needs!
 
Remaining relevant as a creative professional takes more than creativity--you need to understand the language of business. The problem is that design school doesn't teach the strategic language that is now essential to getting your job done. Creative Strategy and the Business of Design fills that void and teaches left-brain business skills to right-brain creative thinkers.
 
Inside, you'll learn about the business objectives and marketing decisions that drive your creative work. The curtain's been pulled away as marketing-speak and business jargon are translated into tools to help you:
 
• Understand client requests from a business perspective
• Build a strategic framework to inspire visual concepts
• Increase your relevance in an evolving industry
• Redesign your portfolio to showcase strategic thinking
• Win new accounts and grow existing relationships
 
You already have the creativity; now it's time to gain the business insight. Once you understand what the people across the table are thinking, you'll be able to think how they think to do what we do.

The Advertising On-Ramp provides strategies readers can use to make their job prospecting more effective. It also serves as a source of emotional support for job seekers, which is increasingly needed in these complicated economic times. This book is a must-read for college seniors and new graduates in communications, marketing, and advertising, or those in liberal arts who want to move into those fields. Belle Frank is responsible for hiring, so it addresses many issues that marketing professionals have encountered when interviewing and hiring. The Advertising On-Ramp is also important for professionals in the marketing business who are responsible for attracting and developing new talent as well as those who are advising graduates about career choices.

This book is built around the idea that PR as a communications discipline has no boundaries. It is the PR professional's manual for creating that specific type of mindset and building the necessary skills to meet today's communications challenges, which include mastery of the fundamentals, cultivating unbridled curiosity and creativity, the art of listening, and never losing sight of business objectives.

A road map for the new career landscape. FASTEN YOUR SEAT BELTS. From organizing your career to identifying the best opportunities in your market, this is the book that has what it takes to help those who have what it takes.

 

Featuring Career-building Contributions from: Luke Sullivan, Stan Richards, Frank Blossom (The Polishing Center), Ron Seichrist (Miami Ad School), Cal McAllister (Wexley School for Girls), Nancy Tag (Ad Critique), Suzanne Pope, Robin Landa, Nancy Vonk (Pick Me), Erik McKinney, Karen Mallia, Brett Robbs (The Idea Industry), Dan Balser (Creative Circus), Lena Woo, Kara Taylor (CPB), Rick Mathieson, William Rosen, Ignacio Oreamuno, (Art Directors Club), Aubrey Walker III, Wendy Lalli, Kelley Fead, Colleen Fahey, Ethan Smith, Thomas McManus, and more.