• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, November 5, 2014

Sometimes working long hours at an ad agency steals you away from your loved ones. Recognizing this, Toronto-based Union decided to give its employees a break. To see their loved ones. Because, in a few cases, it seems as though some Union employees haven't seen their loved ones in a very, very long time. Watch the video. It's hilarious. And it's yet another barb tossed at the ad industry, much in line with what john st. did with its skewering of the industry's obsession with real-time advertising or Zulu Alpha Kilo's placement of a 1960's Mad Man inside a current day agency. We haven't seen this much self-centered attention paid to the agency business since Agency.com inadvertently poked fun at its own ego-fueled fist bumping that occurs when self-important ad execs run around the office in preparation for a new business pitch. 

We all know (and if you're one who doesn't, well, you have a screw loose) that advertising is but just a part of what makes up a company's success. And so when bored, former ad execs decide to mouth off about the failings of brands they no longer work on, it comes off as disingenuous -- and, well, just mean-spirited. Of course, sometimes these ex-ad agency pontificators are somewhat correct in their assumptions. And perhaps, former TBWA\Chiat\Day Creative Director Ken Segall, who worked on the Apple account, is right when he says Apple's current advertising is "soft" and "ordinary." Then again, over the years, Segall hasn't had much of anything nice to say about Apple. From supposedly screwing up the names of last year's iPhones to not having much adoration for the Designed by Apple in California campaign or the brand's Your Verse work, Segall has certainly been a critic. Then again, sometimes even big, successful brands need a kick in the ass to get on track again.

Well, he's right, you know. Every agency is just a collection of letters; GSD&M, WPP, DDB, BBDO. Former Grupo Gallegos Chief Creative Director Pablo Buffagni decided to couple that notion with his love for Argentine barbecue (asado) for his new creative agency, BBQ. Of the name, Buffagni said: "All the agencies have acronyms like BBDO, DDB, AKQA and I thought about asados, and that led to barbecues, and BBQ, which looks like a corporate logo. Coming from Argentina, and doing asados almost every week, I thought it's a nice metaphor for the U.S. Every culture has its own recipes, and their own approach. In the end, you have to fix something for everyone, and the side dishes may be different." But Buffagni is not just all talk and word play. He will actually cook asado for prospective clients. We like!

Rocket Fuel is mad as hell, and they aren't going to take it anymore. They've been getting a bad rap lately, beginning with a Telemetry report in August which cited 57% of the ads their client Mercedes ran were viewed by a bot instead of a human. Then the agency told shareholders it was lowering its revenue forecast for the year. Then, several law firms began filing class action lawsuits alleging the dissemination of misleading statements to investors. Now Rocket Fuel is fighting back with the launch of Traffic Scanner which they dub the "Google Analytics of ad fraud," a free tool that advertisers and agencies can use to determine traffic quality. Business Insider has an in-depth report on Rocket Fuel's battle.

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