• by John Gaffney , August 6, 2002

No Omnibomb Here: Even thought they’re the big bully on the block, you gotta love yesterday’s Omnicom quarterly earnings announcement. Get past the fancy-shmancy goodwill amortization crap and settle for the clean fact that revenue rose 10 percent because their ad agencies kicked butt. You gotta love this for two reasons. First, it means that DDB, TBWA and BBDO drove new business and squeezed current clients in the midst of an economic downturn. Not easy to do, and that’s a fact you may see illustrated by the end of the week as other agency holding companies report. Second, it’s the first instance I’m aware of that shows a company can emerge from whispers about accounting problems without crippling injury. If you remember, Omnicom was the subject of accounting whispers in mid-June. Then it survived a Moody’s debt downgrade at the end of June. Omnicom played it smart. They stayed quiet, let their key divisions do their jobs and let KPMG handle the accounting. In essence, they let their business do the talking. ‘Cause at the end of the day, it’s all about advertising, right?

Martha: The Comeback: I also hope that Omnimedia can emerge from the scandal cloud. I love when people play offense in these situations. Word is that ImClone investor Martha Stewart will start a new book devoted to food. Say what you want about her ethics, but the media business is not for the faint of heart. Especially the magazine business. I think the press and investors have exhibited “irrational pessimism” about Omnimedia.

To Do List For Jon Miller: When you start as new AOL CEO, 1) Buy coffee and donuts for all your TimeWarner brothers and sisters. 2) Ban the phrase “AOL way of doing things” from the office. 3) Meet with sales managers and find out what key clients are doing in terms of online advertising, not cross-media advertising. 4) Follow what Omnicom did. Leave the accounting to the accounting firm, and let the lawyers handle the SEC.