• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, October 2, 2014

In an interview with Beet.tv during Advertising Week yesterday, WPP CEO Martin Sorrell said WPP isn't a holding company and it's not a conglomerate. Reeling off the company's recent associations such as a 20% stake in Spanish content company Imagina, a 10% stake in Vice, an investment with Media Right Capital, which holds TED and House of Cards and partnerships with content creator network Fullscreen and digital video producer Indigenous Media -- not to mention his deal with Harvey Weinstein, which he "questioned whether or not that was the most intelligent thing to do or not" -- Sorrell says WPP has no choice but to become a content company. He also did a nice job of dropping a little bomb on the damage client procurement departments have done to the agency business. I'm beginning to like this man more and more.

What the??? Wait, Kodak still exists? Apparently so. And it has hired a new chief marketing officer. After Jeffrey Hayzlett came and went with a flourish, the...how shall we put it...dying photography company has hired former Nokia VP of Global Branding Steven Overman. And he's really excited to have joined the company, saying: "Kodak is one of the greatest brands the world has ever built." Well, "was" would be a better word there, but let's not stunt Overman's enthusiasm just yet. So what's Overman charged with? According to the brand, "a global, company-wide renewal of the Kodak brand to increase its power, relevance and value." That's a tall order if ever there were one. But that isn't holding back Overman, who says, "I'm not looking at traditional modalities. My team and I will be inventing new ways of reaching people powerfully." With what? Well, apparently the company is going to focus on printing and print-related products. Wait, what? Hasn't anyone told Kodak about the Internet? Oh, and side note: the company just laid off another 70 people.

So Outside Magazine is out with its list of the top 100 Best Places to Work. And ad agencies are well represented. Making the list are Culver City-based Omelet, Vermont-based Fuse, Minneapolis-based Haberman, Des Moines-based Two Rivers Marketing, Milwaukee-based Hanson Dodge Creative, Madison-based Shine United, Austin-based McGarrah Jessee, Missoula-based PartnersCreative, Carbondale-based Bluetent, Cleveland-based Insivia, Sausalito-based Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners, Boulder-based Sterling-Rice Group, LA-based Team One, Minneapolis-based Colle+McVoy, Boise-based Drake Cooper, Boulder-based TDA_Boulder, Bozeman-based MercutyCSC and Anchorage-based Spawn Ideas. Congratulations to all!

Yo, ad agencies. It's my job to make sure no one's talking behind your back. Oh wait, strike that. I do that all the time. Sorry. Anyway, I'm in a good mood today and I'm going to share with you five questions clients ask themselves when hiring an ad agency. Well, at least according to View the Agency CEO Beth Bronfman who shared those 5 questions in a Huffington Post article. There's nothing earth shattering or anything you haven't really heard before but it's always good to know what advice is being handed to the enemy...uh...I mean your new business prospects.

advertisement

advertisement