• by John Gaffney , June 16, 2002

Got corporations? I’m not showing any particularly sharp business acumen by predicting that this week’s news media will be dominated by bad news about the American corporation. Arthur Andersen and Enron were guilty in the mind of the American public way before any judge or jury became involved. Now there are about a dozen solid news hooks to hang a story on, including one of the biggest hooks: Martha Stewart. Greedy corporate practices now have a household name and smiling face. In my opinion, the ad business and the clients it represents need to wake up and act quickly, because some effective advertising is critical. I’m not suggesting an image-building conglomerate campaign like “Got Milk?” I am suggesting that each major brand needs to accept the challenge that John and Jane Public probably think you’re greedy, dishonest, unethical and vulnerable. I believe business is overpopulated by good people and good companies. But the poisonous ones get the attention. Forget the big meeting to analyze how to tackle it. If I’m at an agency right now, I start to look for the best community practices my clients have, and I make them speak volumes. If my client doesn’t have any good community service work, I want to start a project with them. Einstein said: “Find opportunity in chaos.” And he never even wrote ad copy. But take his advice. This is a time and opportunity that was built for effective corporate image advertising. I wouldn’t let it pass for very long........

And Elvis is alive: Just so you know, an official Omnicom statement last week said that its sacking of Arthur Andersen in favor of KPMG had nothing to do with AA’s performance.