MADMen – Whatever happened to the all powerful adman?

In his latest monthly column Greg Grimmer, partner, Hurrell Moseley Dawson & Grimmer, questions the world of advertising and his humble place within it…

When I was young, full of energy, and without a worry in the world Admen ruled the world.  David Puttnam, Ridley Scott, and Alan Parker were making ads. Maurice Saatchi and Tim Bell were making prime ministers and John Webster was making me laugh with ads for Smash and Courage.

A random series of events have occurred over the last month that have made me hark back to this time of nostalgia and make me question the world of advertising and my humble place with in it.

MADMen

If the 70’s were the UK’s golden age of advertising then the 60’s were US’s.

MADMen is back on air celebrating this halcyon time. To anyone working in a Fitzrovia agency who has glimpsed the alcohol fuelled stylish, yet sexist environment of Sterling Cooper – the Madison Avenue agency where the series is set – it would be very easy to dismiss this as fiction.

Creatives in sharp suits,  drinking not only at lunch but BEFORE lunch, rampant sexism and an archaic departmental mindset.

But why is MADMen so compelling… well the fiction is of course based upon fact and some truths still exist.  Weekends spent working on a pitch,  late night entertaining of clients from out of town and intra agency rivalry wrecking client relationships – come on we’ve all been there.

Also, Ricky Gervais notwithstanding, there aren’t many offices about which you could make a quality television series (although poor quality sitcoms can be situated EVEN in an ad agency c/f BBC’s The Persautionists).  MADMen should be compulsory watching, if you aren’t hooked already buy the box set.

The death of MediaWeek

The death of MediaWeek and the more recent comments in the remaining trade press about how people are leaving in droves from the media agency scene made me think that perhaps I am alone in thinking that the TV fuelled advertising love in the 70’s and the tailor made but still sepia tinged nostalgia of 60’s MADMen is indeed not obtainable today.

Now I of course left my twin aspect 1000 sq ft penthouse office in a media agency a while back now (with no regrets) but  feel that those I have left behind still have the opportunity to BOTH earn not insubstantial remuneration packages whilst completing a fulfilling and challenging job.

Not bad at the tail end of the worst recession in the UK since the 1930’s.

The death of MediaWeek, which whilst sad was best summed up by the outgoing editor Steve Barrett’s comment: “We didn’t make ourselves indispensable enough to our advertisers”.

However, maybe the audience just outgrew the title. Read other trade press titles and indeed the national press media sections and you will find quotes from media buyers and sellers dominate these pages.  The Media Man’s star is in the ascendancy because of the very technology that killed off the print title that once served it. Media agencies and indeed media owners are full of technology savvy employees who are looking to monetise the various media for the benefit of their clients or indeed employers.

So, how are the advertising agencies responding?

Well I don’t need to tell anyone that works in a major holding company about the sibling rivalry that exists between the ‘creative’ and ‘media’ agencies in all of the groupings – the creative agency are increasingly employing communication/connection/engagement planners to combat the power of the media agencies and the media agencies have started to employ creative people to execute ideas,  not just creative media planners, but actual implementers of advertising (or more often branded content ideas).

So, like the political spectrum where fascism and communism meet, we have a meeting of the creative agency and media agency.  Or as you will have seen trumpeted last week the ‘new’ full service agency as typified by the JV between CHI and Group M and Adam and Eve and 7Stars or indeed as successfully used by my own HMDG agency. Nothing in life is new – it must learn from history.

Admen have better not worse career choices.

So a fast moving, techie savvy industry full of bright young hardworking ambitious young things. Are we to be burnt out by 30 or on the road to greater things?

Well again recent history would seem to point to the latter.

It will have come to a lot of people’s attention that there is a trend at the moment of Admen taking over Television stations… and we aren’t talking QVC and The Fantasy Channel. ITV and Channel 4 – two of the biggest channels – now both have agency men at their helms. Both Adam Crozier (ex media planner at Saatchi and Saatchi) and David Abraham (ex Account Manager at CDP) – I use their lowly heritage rather than their most recent high flouting experience to illustrate their rise – find themselves at the top of a powerful broadcaster, which has to be good for both the industry at large, and those that work within it.

MADMen may have changed over the years but there is no shortage of talent and ambition all around you. Don’t believe me? Go and employ a graduate.