Advertising, Under Review

But the challenge remains: The key selling proposition for our industry is the talent and attitude of our people. During a time of great change and uncertainty, how do you keep those people feeling good about their work? It's easy to believe that the business is working because you made some deals and acquired a few companies. But that's not why it's working. The only reason it ever works is because talented individuals are hard at work. And the best managers in these turbulent times have a good memory of what life was like before and a good vision of what life will be like after.

Bob Schmetterer (bob.schmetterer@eurorscg.com) runs the fifth-largest advertising agency in the world. Euro RSCG has billings of $13 billion and clients that include Intel, Volvo, and WorldCom. Schmetterer, who became the agency's chairman and CEO in 1997, has been called a "creative visionary" by Advertising Age.

Shelly Lazarus
Job: Chairman and CEO
Org: Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide
Place: New York, New York

The ad industry isn't struggling for a new set of principles or abandoning the ones that made it great from the start. It's simply in the midst of a business cycle. I don't think it's more profound than that. And despite the economic downturn, I'm having more fun today than at any other moment in my 30-year advertising career. The game is more interesting and more relevant than ever.

Consider the value that an ad agency brings. We help build brands, and a brand is the most critical asset a company has today. Sure, we're under more scrutiny from clients, but accountability means credibility. Accountability within an economic model brings us into the client's boardroom and makes us more significant business partners.

That said, I'm not convinced that agencies are paid in a way that is consistent with the value we bring. I also think that the industry is held to standards that no other set of professional-services companies are held to: That is, we usually can't work for competing companies. If I work for a company that produces coffee, but I happen to sell its breakfast cereal, is it fair for my client to insist that I not work on a competitor's coffee brand? In this age of consolidation, such conflict increasingly limits business opportunities.

Shelly Lazarus, who became the CEO of one of the world's largest ad agencies in 1996, has spent almost her entire career at Ogilvy & Mather. During her tenure at the agency, she has worked for several blue-chip clients, including American Express, IBM, and Kraft. Lazarus is a former chairman of the American Association of Advertising Agencies.

Lee Clow
Job: Chairman and worldwide creative director, TBWA Worldwide
Org: TBWA\Chiat\Day
Place: Playa del Rey, California

One of the realities of the advertising business is that 90% of the work has always been terrible. There are only a handful of creative agencies that have maintained the integrity of the business so we can all go home at night and feel good about ourselves. But even the most creative agencies are losing accounts and feeling the squeeze of financial pressures. The industry is in a deep creative slump. It's tougher to say, "Damn it, we're coming in today to work on the huge idea!" If we want to see the next creative revolution, we need to return to that.

There will be another revolution. But it won't come about just because the ad industry finally gets its shit together. The stronger force behind it will be an increasingly sophisticated media audience that demands more innovative messaging to grab its attention. In the past few years, the ad industry may have become more of a numbers-and-money game than a purveyor of creative thinking, and it may have been characterized more by confusion and self-doubt than by clarity and confidence. But we can head in the right direction if we return to the basic tenets of media art.

Ultimately, the intellect and the creativity of this industry are very powerful forces, and if we can return to dedicating ourselves to that intellect and creativity, then we can figure out our role in the future.

Lee Clow, whose career spans more than 30 years at TBWA\Chiat\Day, blew the doors off of the media world with a commercial called "1984" for the Apple Macintosh and later with the "Think Different" campaign for Apple Computer's comeback. He holds a spot on Advertising Age's "Top 100 People of the Century" list.

Dawn Hudson
Job: Senior vice president, strategy and marketing
Org: Pepsi-Cola North America
Place: Purchase, New York

What's wrong with advertising? As a client, I need to hear more of, "Hey, here's an idea!" If ad agencies are truly in the idea business, then they need to shed completely the old mentality of simply making ads. They're beginning to turn in that direction, which is actually a return to what the industry has always been about: creativity.