• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, July 7, 2014

Move over Don Draper. There's a new Mad Man in town. Well, not exactly in town if we're talking about New York but as we all know, New York isn't the only place where advertising greatness occurs. Ever heard of Chicago? Yeah, Chicago. It's a really big city in Illinois and, yeah, they have Mad Men too. One such Mad Men is Bill Maloney who worked in Chicago ad agencies during the 50's and 60's. Now a Honolulu TV and radio producer, Maloney is out with a new book, “Windy City AdMan,” which recounts his time at BBDO, Foote, Cone & Belding and others. 

Over the years, we've seen all manner of job search and recruitment efforts. Well, here's another from Saatchi & Saatchi Bulgaria. As part of their effort to recruit new creatives, the agency has created an online test of sorts which is designed to explore the applicants' creative skills. On the test, Managing Director Milin Djalaliev said, “We are looking for a unique mix of a creative leader with art direction background. It’s not either/or, it’s and/and. The challenge is that not every art director has the soft skills and determination to lead. The ideal person for the job will be someone who can see the big picture and lead our creativity in the right direction.” The test asks visitors to complete a picture, make a video, watch a video and a bunch of other stuff. It's a bit confusing but we suppose it will weed out the losers and keep the winners.

In a stunning discovery of the obvious, the Academy of Management is out with a new study that finds...wait for it...agencies are at risk of losing clients when executives with close ties to those clients leave the agency. The takeaway, of course, is the no-brainer conclusion that an agency should never allow a client relationship too heavily dependent upon one particular person in the agency. The study suggests that agencies adopt an "interorganizational multiplexity for relationship retention" approach which simply means that an agency should make sure several people in the agency are closely tied to the client.

Beauty product and salon service brand ULTA Beauty has selected IPG agency, Mullen, as agency of record following a review. The brand cited Mullen's strategic and creative thinking along with deep retail, beauty product and marketing-to-women expertise. Mullen's past experience in the space includes work with Unilever's treSemme hair care line and retail experience with T,J. Maxx, Barnes & Noble and Zappos. In addition, Mullen operates Frank About Women, a marketing-to-women consultancy.

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