General Advertising Bitchiness
November 1, 2007
Russell Davies posted a piece on his blog about angry advertising blogging and journalism, in which he says:
“- you wonder how to fill your 460 words every week you quickly realise that the easiest way out is to pick fault, poke holes and point fingers. Let’s face it, no-one’s going to run out of material pointing out the inadequacies of the advertising industry. But it’s starting to bore me, and, I imagine, you.”
Got us thinking… We have posted pieces about lay-offs and account wins. We’ve laughed at people on YouTube. Occasionally, we try to inspire and delve into full frontal gossip. Our job is entertain, inform and hopefully (and we think we’ve been successful here based on the prolific comments we get) get you talking. Unsurprisingly, the nastier the posts, the higher go our page views.
Can we say that we are just serving the ad industry by giving it want it wants – occasional claws? This is where the chicken and the egg debate could come in, but um… no. Skip it. Like all relationships, this is fifty-fifty and who cares who came first anymore? We’d also argue that snark goes way beyond advertising and into every business sector there is there is from cars to publishing, nightlife, PR, fashion and politics. Ripping apart the industry is not a practice that is confined to advertising. The advent of the internet has sanctioned, created communities around, provided tools for (i.e. anonymity) sharp edged commentary and comments across all industries.
AdRants and AdPulp, Logic + Emotion, 5 Blogs Before Lunch, Scamp, AdScam, Ad Punch, Make The Logo Bigger, Copy Ranter and Adverganza, etc. as well as us – what do you think of our stuff? Are we to mean? Do we not applaud enough? Think of AdAge and AdWeek, too. What would you like to see them do differently if anything at all? What do you think of Davies’ overall statement? What would you like to see change or remain the same about advertising writing on the web? Lots of questions… we’re hoping you take a moment to answer.
Either email us at agencyspy at mediabistro dot com or feel free to use the comment section. We can’t wait!
Read More: F*** The Line! Global Perspectives: Brazil
November 2, 2007 at 1:49 am
Russell’s column is as usual, well done. His second point – that Google and Microsoft are investing in talent from the world of advertising and perhaps advertising can be part of exciting business innovations – is cheering.
Ideally, I’d like a bit less gratuitous snark and bitch. But I still want venues where genuine reprehensible behavior is called out. MultiCultClassics does a great job calling out racists and misogynists – a favorite target of yours as well. I don’t want to lose that.
Most of the blogs you mention serve to give me a quick opinionated digest of news, gossip, work and in the case of PSFK, trends. Which I appreciate.
If I had to choose one for a desert island? PSFK. Which seems to also be the least snarky. Possible connection.
November 2, 2007 at 2:23 am
Thanks for commenting NewBizDarkWiz. Actually, we shouldn’t of put PSFK in there as, you’re right – it’s a goodie, but also really trends. We’re going to remove it form the list.
See here’s the thing, pieces that are concrete dissections (like the one about Helio) or just general news, barely register on the stats chart.
If we write anything remotely snarky, scathing or just dole out a simple poo-pooing – stats are through the roof, so…
Hmm… we need more feedback! What do you guys think?
November 2, 2007 at 4:14 am
Davies posting a complaint about the complaining bloggers. Oh, such irony.
But what does it say about the industry when bloggers like George Parker and Copyranter draw such high traffic? Is it healthy to adopt a Pollyannaish attitude when the industry is rife with corruption, plus outdated management styles and business models? When employees are discarded with the arrival of a new CMO, yet the senior agency executives retain their perk-filled positions?
Perhaps Russell Davies should enlist some of his account planner pals and do a deep dive with the people working in the trenches of our industry to learn what’s behind the angst. You know, do something positive versus complain about the negativism.
November 2, 2007 at 1:26 pm
There’s a place for all kinds of bloggers.
You and Parker are the Page Six of the blog world.
Copyranter is the Howard Stern
Adpulp, Toad and Scamp are the New Yorker – more thought pieces than commentary
MakeTheLogoBigger and WheresMyJetPacks – can’t think of what they’re like, but they’re different than the others
Adrants and the rest of them are like daily editions of Archive
You do gossip and you do it well. That’s why people come here. Be true to who you are.
November 3, 2007 at 4:48 am
Thanks AS for the mention.
“MakeTheLogoBigger and WheresMyJetPacks – can’t think of what they’re like, but they’re different than the others”
Wake up every day trying to figure this out. As a Mother creative told me once: “Y’all some angry motherfuckers out there.”
Lot of us go off on things but a lot of what we bring up as an AD (or writers) is the same shit we’d mention if we were in the agency working on whatever we just critiqued.
Personally, I also can’t blog the same stuff as Adrants/AdFreak because then it’s yet another link to the same spot, unless I can come up with some odd rant about it. So I try and fill the gaps with shit I like that may be off everyone else’s radar. (Thank GOD for YouTube and WIlliam Shatner’s body of work.)
There’s also an honesty that the mainstream pubs like Adweek/AdAge etc. avoid like the plague owing to PC fears and not biting the hand as it were. HighJive (http://multicultclassics.blogspot.com/) gets laughed at by many anon haters when it comes to issues of race, but his takes are more legit than most discussions AdAge has on the topic. Who wants that same kind of marketing speak most of us experience from clients and agency people day to day, when we can hear what people really think.
Still, I don’t think it’s just us bloggers–it’s the readers who need to vent or identify with a given rant: “Yeah, that same thing happened to me.” I only say that because if every major agency start blogs tomorrow that honestly talk about their work with readers, (and they solicit ALL opinions), the hate will still be there.
Sure you’ll have the usual fans of an agency, but plenty will also line up to give their anon middle finger to the creative team of a Super Bowl Snicker’s spot.
I think I know where Russell is coming from, and that this should be about supporting and not hating. But it’s about improving the work too, something the top agencies all espouse. True, it’s hard enough to get worthwhile stuff produced. But if everything is given equal love and one thing no better than the other, then ABC marketing that does FSIs in Indiana would be as relevant as a Goodby is.
Of course then, why would we need award shows because all the work would be considered equal, no?
Sorry I really went over 460 on this one. ;-p
November 5, 2007 at 1:15 am
I started my blog out of frustration with an agency blog I was a part of that had turned into a social media link farm about stupid shit no one cared about. An effort by one on our team to drive traffic. My posts didn’t fit in it very well.
Now I simply find stuff that either amuses or infuriates me and hopefully share it in a way that will make others either think or laugh. Or comment. And as Bill points out above, a good Shatner clip is always worth posting about.
November 5, 2007 at 4:26 am
Sexy Spy…
Been in Wal-Mart country, first chance I’ve had to reply to this. I know Russell and have gone drinking with him in New York and London. I generally respect what he stands for, but I think he’s wrong on this. Most ad blogs are mundane and merely post ads that never fucking ran. Others post boring shit they’ve cut and pasted from AdAge and AdWeek every five or six days. AdScam is my personal take on the current state of the ad biz… Which I happen to think is pretty fucked up… But, as I said, it’s my take. And it’s my fucking blog. To all the wankers who come on and complain, I say one thing… No one makes you read it. Go watch Draft/FCB videos on YouTube. Because there’s upwards of 5000 people reading AdScam every day… And I don’t think they would if they didn’t find it of interest. Plus they are attracted by my intelligence, charm and depth of character. Anyway, anyone who doesn’t like it can fuck off.
Cheers/George
November 5, 2007 at 9:35 pm
[...] part of me agrees that the snark and bitchiness is getting a little old, I find, like Agency Spy does, that the bitching gets the hits. The ‘Spy, of course, is like the industry’s Perez [...]