• by Staff Report , August 30, 2013

Executive assistants are a dime a dozen, right? Of course if you agree with that statement, you're a clueless buffoon. Dealing with the likes of Goodby Silverstein & Partners Co-Founder Rich Silverstein is no easy task. The man is demanding! And the agency knows it. And they took this into consideration when they recently created a Craigslist ad  looking for a new executive assistant. The ad leads to a Web site on which the following copy makes things crystal clear, "Rich Silverstein answers to nobody. And that nobody could be you." Witty, my friends. Witty. Applicants must pass six tests to be considered.

Placing a witty ad for an executive assistant is one thing. Showing up in front of a competing agency dressed in a horse suit carrying a sign that reads, "You'd have to be a horse’s ass to not want to work at Barton F. Graf 9000" takes things to an entirely new level. While Barton F Graf 9000 disavows any involvement with the stunt, we'd advise those working at the New York office of Wieden + Kennedy, the agency at which the stunt took place, to carefully consider your options. Barton F. Graf 9000 rocks, if you ask us.

Meanwhile, WPP's Martin Sorrell, whose nights are likely full of nightmares about the Publicis Omnicom merger, is upping his game by raising the agency's 2013 forecast. While the increase is said to be a slight bit above current forecast levels of 3%, Sorrell isn't specifying an exact number. Can you just imagine the whirlpool of testosterone-fueled frustration brewing inside this man? After all, he went from sitting high atop the ad world to, pending merger approval, just another ad guy with a chip on his shoulder who's firmly stuck underneath the thumbs of John Wren and Maurice Levy. 

But Sorrell isn't taking any of this lying down. Nope. Thursday, in front of analysts in London, he thrashed Publicis Omnicom saying: "WPP has a real big data business where we own the data. We have access to the data. We don't buy third-party data. For Publicis Omnicom there is no big data business. It might exist in the figment of the imagination above the Arc de Triomphe, but where's the beef?" Wendy's loves you right now, Marty.

While Marty toils under the weight of Publicis Omnicom, maybe he'd be happy to know that DDB California (an Omnicom company) has given the boot to its creative director after just two months. Oops. Excuse us. Let us clarify. DDB California agency management and agency CD Jason Elm have "mutually agreed" to part ways. If you ask us, this whole "mutual agreement" thing really needs to end up defined in Webster as "fired." But lest we risk getting under the skin of DDB California or Mr. Elm, allow us to clarify once again. Elm was not fired. He "mutually agreed" to leave.

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