• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, January 22, 2014

Writing in Forbes, Avi Dan ponders the relationship between baseball managers and advertising agencies -- noting that nowadays, both are hired to be fired. They are the fall guy, the excuse brand managers use when the brand has lost its luster and sales are down. No one commits to working through the tough part of a relationship any longer. Nope. When even the slightest dip occurs, one thing happens; an agency review. Dan argues that agencies shouldn't bother fighting this trend -- rather, they should embrace it with continuous internal and external reviews as if each day were a new business pitch for an existing client. As much as we now have the ability to measure everything to death and make instantaneous adjustments, it's rather sad that it has come to the point where the standard reaction to that slight dip is to go out and grab a new agency...rather than, you know, work on the existing relationship. Hmm. The client-agency relationship. Kind of like the state of today's marriage. Most end in divorce.

I'm guessing this audience can help answer a question posed in a Mashable article about a 1981 Lego ad which carried the headline “What is Beautiful,” and featured a red-headed girl holding up her Lego creation. The ad, created by Judy Lotus of then SSC&B (she now runs LPNY), rode the era's wave of empowering women to do more than just stay at home, cook and look good for their husbands. This week the ad resurfaced and became a popular topic of discussion on Reddit. Oh, and the question? Does anyone know who the girl is in the ad? 

Bored? Perhaps not if you're reading this in the morning. But if you've just come back from lunch and can't seem to get back into the swing of things, here's a diversion for you. Created by Goodby Silverstein & Partners for their client The Dali Museum in Florida, the Staring App is an app that, yes, lets you have staring contests with other app users. And, actually, since you may just be back from lunch and prone to daydreaming, you just might do quite well at this staring game. Have at it. 

JWT New York has just hired former Razorfish New York ECD Frederic Bonn as the agency's ECD for digital. Of the hire, JWT North America CCO Jeff Benjamin had insightful and kind words for Bonn, saying: “Here we are in 2014 and it seems almost backwards to be hiring an ECD for digital. The reality is that digital simply moves too fast to expect everyone to have the expertise brands demand. It is hard to imagine, but the next 10 years will dwarf the innovation we’ve seen from the last. In this evolving world of real-time marketing, platforms, newsrooms, apps, social, invention and whatever happened today -- you need digital leaders who can help brands and agencies stay ahead of the pace and places digital is pushing. Frederic brings a selfless talent and wisdom that is too rare in this industry, but necessary to succeed.”

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