C-Suite Blues

C-Suite Blues

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Agencies: Stop Cranking out Manual Adaptations. Upgrade to Become A Strategic Brand Advisor for your Clients
For agencies to survive, they must "upgrade" their strategic capabilities and become consulting-like analysts and advisors to drive brand growth. AI can…
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Michael Farmer
YouTube Overstates its Viewing Numbers. Why? How Prevalent Is This In Today's Fragmented Media Marketplace?
Today's article is authored by Brian Jacobs (brian@bjanda.com), one of the UK's best-known media executives / analysts, co-founder of the Who Cares…
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Michael Farmer
1

July 2025

Creative Agencies are Emotionally Attached to the Concept of 'Creativity.' It's Understandable. It Also Needs to Change
The Attachment To 'Creativity' Stands in the Way of Taking the Steps to Solve Advertising's Big Business Problem: Advertising's Ineffectiveness in…
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Michael Farmer
5
David Ogilvy was a Huge Fan of Man-Hour Billing. He'd be Shocked by the State of the Industry Today
Agencies were receiving $435,000 in fees (in 2024 $s) for their work on a typical ad in 1992. This has dropped by more than 77%, and creatives now crank…
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Michael Farmer
5
The Destructive Effect of AI on Agency Fees if Man-Hour Billing Continues: A Case for Changing Agency Remuneration
A creative agency office has its Scope of Work modeled conservatively. AI takes 24% out of agency fees.
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Michael Farmer
1

June 2025

Madison Avenue Can Transform Itself -- if Marketers and Agencies Agree to Solve the Real Problem Plaguing their Relationships
The industry has pursued "low cost" digital / social solutions," when the real problem is the lack of brand growth for the past 15 years.
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Michael Farmer
The Astonishing Growth of Dividends at WPP, IPG and Omnicom highlights their Business Model Problem
Not only do holding companies have to liquidate talent through annual downsizings -- they must pay growing levels of dividends to shore up share prices…
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Michael Farmer
The Urgent Case for Changing Creative Agency Remuneration before AI Destroys Man-Hour Billing
Creative agency services are valued today by "man-hours" of agency time. What happens when AI reduces man-hours by a factor of 10 or 100 or more…
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Michael Farmer
2
Madison Avenue's "Proxy Problem" -- Today's Key Metrics Do Not Correlate with Brand Sales
Advertisers have always used proxy measures -- from TV measures of audience size to click-through rates. Current digital measures give false indications…
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Michael Farmer

May 2025

Does Marketing Still Believe in Brand Growth?
If brand growth is no longer possible, then the current focus on cost reduction makes sense. But if brand growth is possible, then cost reduction is the…
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Michael Farmer
3
Three Unsolved Strategic Problems for Madison Avenue
There won't be a future if agencies can't 1) help clients grow their brands again, by 2) rebuilding agency strategic capabilities and 3) generating…
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Michael Farmer
3
Omnicom, IPG and WPP are Operating in "Survival Mode" . What Does this Mean for Clients and Employees?
To meet Wall Street's expectations, these Holding Companies must grow sales and widen margins, whatever the cost. Other professional goals take a back…
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Michael Farmer
3
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