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Shakeup Artists

It's great to see how Rosemarie Ryan and Ty Montague are encouraging all kinds of creative expression at JWT ("Rehab: An Advertising Love Story," June). Creativity is a bold force that can move mountains. It is also highly contagious, and when made part of a corporate culture, it benefits everyone--employees, clients, and society in general. I just wish the advertising industry would use it for more than just selling a product.

Jimmie Stone
New York, New York

I'm so glad you and your editors thought to do this story. Very much what's missing from the trades and other business books. And I liked the way you canted it. I know the ground pretty well and wouldn't have changed a word. You really nailed how much trouble J. Walter Thompson was in, with its dreadful win record on pitches and the loss of big stuff from Unilever.

As you indicated, Ty Montague's new work isn't showing yet, so he doesn't have any signature buzz campaign in the shows...so it's hard to prove he's up to the task. But winning JetBlue and the client's comments buff up your premise. There's also Esther Lem, fresh from working with BBH, saying that these guys are the real thing, and she's counting on them to lead the $100 million launch of Sunsilk. Congratulations for going after something a little behind the news and getting it right.

Andrew Jaffe
Norwalk, Connecticut

What a disappointing rehab job the new crew at JWT appears to be doing. Do Ryan and Montague realize that stealth campaigns, a video booth, and silly postcards do not a campaign make? That tearing down a few walls will not make up for the timid approach of presenting finished work in a new business pitch?

For anyone who knows the ad business, it usually means a lack of a big idea being camouflaged by pretty visuals. The key point that has been overlooked by many new teams at a large agency is how they got large in the first place. Mostly it is not through clients who want "nontraditional" work, something "gutsy and impious." Perhaps JWT's client at Unilever should look for a job at Garnier, or a salon brand. Was it for the brand's health or for her own kudos she wanted to be "the first to crack an online viral campaign for women"?

Like it or not, most leading brands at big companies like Unilever and Procter & Gamble got there and stayed there by creating big campaign ideas and successfully refreshing them. As your article observed, "a lot of clients don't care about being (creative) leaders."

Richard Mason
Sydney, Australia

MySpace for Business

The new buzzword indeed is "social networking," with countless startups trying to emulate MySpace's success ("The Network Unbound," June). However, buzz must happen organically for it to survive. It's no coincidence that the teen market adopted MySpace, because teens lacked an outlet free from parental monitoring that also gave them ownership. Any trendsetter will tell you that it's the sense of ownership and adoption that gives any successful trend its wings.

Valerie Romley
San Francisco, California

It Must Be the Shoes

Thank you so much for your article about Crocs footwear ("What a Croc!" June). I thoroughly enjoyed reading this business success story and loved the eye-catching photography that accompanied it. Within two days of picking up the June issue, I started noticing Crocs everywhere. This isn't the first time a Fast Company article has brought my attention to a product or business practice that has been happening right under my nose.

Anne Harris
Prince George, British Columbia

Map Quest

The lingering issue in your recent story on online map technologies ("Map Quest," June) was about the business model that would support this new generation of applications. I think that pay-per-call, or something like it, will ultimately be the revenue model. The benefit to advertisers is clear, and the consumer experience is in line with expectations. Think of this as the Yellow Pages meets the spatially presented user experience.

DC Cullinane
Mountain View, California