• by October 2, 2003

HOW DOES BRENNAN & CO. SOUND? The ouster of Bob Brennan from president of Leo Burnett Worldwide initially comes as bad news for agency media operations, but could be a blessing in disguise of, as the Riff suspects, Brennan returns from the dark side of the business to helm a media department, or, for that matter, start one of his own. The timing couldn't be better given his pedigree and the fact that media operations are taking center stage on Madison Avenue. After all, Brennan was one of the chief architects of Starcom's new age media thinking and, in the Riff's opinion, one of the brightest guys working in media. In fact, we thought it was a loss and an under-utilization of his talents to put him in general agency management. It was Brennan, we felt, that articulated Starcom's shift from an "intrusive" media strategy to one of "engagement" so well. And who knows where he would have taken it. Maybe we'll get to see that now. With an even more well-rounded management base, Brennan, who was Starcom's international chief before serving as its chief operations guy and before moving to Burnett, is perhaps best positioned to hang his own shingle, especially now that media boutiques are so hot. Perhaps that's why his former colleagues and pals at Starcom are being so mum about the circumstances surrounding Brennan's departure and why Brennan himself isn't talking. We expect, that after a reasonable non-disclosure and non-compete period, Brennan will return as a media force. Meanwhile, his departure from Burnett does signal a sad historical footnote for agency media professionals. In the Riff's recent memory, we think Brennan was the last media guy to run a media shop since Larry Lamattina helmed Interpublic's Lintas unit. That is, unless you count David Verklin's post as general manager of Hal Riney & Partners before taking over Carat North America. Chuck Bachrach also has a broader management role at Rubin Postaer & Associates, but is still mainly a media guy. And on the sales side, of course, there's Jed Petrick who moved from WB sales chief to president.

RUSHING TO JUDGMENT. The only thing that surprises the Riff about the ouster of Rush Limbaugh as ESPN's new off-color man is the fact that anybody is surprised by his ouster. In fact, we think the whole thing was just one more publicity stunt for the man who would be the King-of-all-Media, in his own mind anyway. The truth is that as popular as Limbaugh is within his own realm of radio and with his own nutty, ultra conservative following, he has a relatively limited base and appeal. That was proven a few years back when he tried and failed to crack TV with his own syndicated talk show. So for us, the ESPN gig was just a PR move by Limbaugh to broaden his base. And despite the backlash to ESPN, it was also a brilliant publicity move for the Disney channel.

ALL LIBERAL NEWS, ALL THE TIME. Just as Rush Limbaugh comes under new fire for a new round of racist remarks, not to mention his ouster from ESPN, a liberal counterforce appears to be mounting against the conservative media. Former presidential candidate and Vice President Al Gore reportedly is close to buying Newworld International, Vivendi Universal's fledgling news channel for $70 million. The idea would be to turn it into a liberal-oriented cable news outlet that would help to counter-balance the conservative rantings of Fox's right-wing team.

JUST WHAT MARTHA DIDN'T NEED. The latest development surrounding Martha Stewart proves just how out of touch her followers really are. No longer content with making holiday place-setting and table-top doilies from pressed wild flower blossoms, these Stewart-ites appear to have too much time on their hands and a displaced sense of social responsibility. These fans have contributed more than $3,000 to mount a billboard in Times Square to support Martha's defense against insider trading charges, and they hope to raise at least $20,000 for SaveMartha.com, as if the omnimedia diva didn't have enough cash on hand to mount her own high-priced defense. And we can certainly think of a number of other more justifiable charities in need of the cash.