Wednesday, January 21, 2009

PR Lawyers Pet Peeve #5 – Balanced Representation: What’s Wrong With This Picture? - Ad Age’s Agency A-List

Posted by Gina Rubel




So folks – what’s wrong with this picture? Hmm? Robin Eley’s illustration is well done. All the men are wearing suits and ties. Four of them are promoting drinking alcohol out of a crystal decanter and glasses. I hope it was a good year. Did you figure it out yet? Well, let’s see:

1. Alex Bogusky, Co-Chairman, Crispin Porter Bogusky (MALE)
2. Lee Clow, Global Media Arts Director, TBWA (MALE)
3. Rich Silverstein, Co-Chairman, Goodby Silverstein & Partners (MALE)
3. (No – there is no #4) Jeff Goodby, Co-Chairman, Goodby Silverstein & Partners (MALE)
5. Paul Gunning, Worldwide CEO, Tribal DDB (MALE)
6. Scott Neslund, CEO, Mindshare (MALE)
7. Mike Hughes, President, Creative Director, Martin (MALE)
9. (No – there is no #8) Manny Vidal, Chairman-CEO, Vidal Partnership (MALE)
9. Bob Greenberg, Chairman-CEO-Global Chief Creative Officer, R/GA (MALE)
10. Linda Sawyer, CEO, Deutsch (Finally – a WOMAN!)

According to Ad Age, “the A-List is meant to recognize that success in today's agency landscape comes in a lot of different shapes and sizes.” The article says, “As you'll see, the current group spans disciplines, from general-market ad agencies to digital experts to media and direct shops. And the agencies are both independent and owned by holding companies and they ranged from single-office shops to sprawling global networks.”

Now, I certainly believe these agencies are successful and deliver measurable results to their clients – however, my pet peeve is that there is only one woman represented, which does the industry no justice. On top of that, is there really no diversity at the top? If this is a true depiction of the advertising industry, these shops have a lot of work to do.

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