Quotes of the week...
The trouble with account handlers, embarrassing creative bosses and the John Barnes Rap Redux. It's thedrum.co.uk's quotes of the week...
"In our experience, outside a handful of senior strategic-thinking suits, most account team members are little more than message carriers who cost the client time and money and hinder the creative process. That’s not to say there aren’t creatives out there who couldn’t survive without a suit to wipe their nose but then they’d never work for us."
The Other Agency boss Saul Peake endears himself to the account handling fraternity with his explanation about why his agency doesn't employ suits.
"You become typecast in what you do. I was before the company even started and one of the reasons for doing this company in the first place was to do new things and try and spread our creative wings over as much media as we can and that became less and less possible over time. We became well known for doing certain things which we became synonymous with and I never felt easy about that to be honest.”
John McFaul opens up to The Drum about why he's decided to take his highly-respected Brighton-based design agency in a new direction.
"It is an embarrassment for the creative industries that 59 per cent of companies’ management style is seen to be negative by the people that know them best – their employees. And in case bosses think this doesn’t matter as long as they are turning a profit, think again."
Ruth Spellman, chief executive of the Chartered Management Industry, thinks you Scrooges out there should be a bit nicer to your Cratchits.
“People have got used to getting content without having to pay. I don’t think you are going to be able to put things behind paywalls in the way that people think. People will pay for certain things, and should pay for certaijn things, but I think there’s a whole sort of element of communication that’s got to be free."
After these comments Gordon Brown probably shouldn't bank on the backing of The Times during this election campaign. The Murdoch-owned paper introduces its paywall in June.
"Promoted Tweets will be clearly labeled as 'promoted' when an advertiser is paying, but in every other respect they will first exist as regular Tweets and will be organically sent to the timelines of those who follow a brand.”
Twitvertorial is coming. Twitter co-founder Biz Stone explains how the social networking site will let brands buy tweets. Penny for your thoughts?
"The appointment of Chris and his team will help me concentrate purely on my game."
Snooker star Ronnie O'Sullivan, the bookies' favourite to win the World Championship which starts this weekend, hires Manchester PR firm BIRD to help him do more of this and less of this.
"Communique has faced some particularly challenging business conditions over a number of years in what is a very tough market in the North West."
Burson-Marsteller explains its decision to close Manchester PR agency Communique....
"I think Burson-Marsteller is using a PR line to justify a business failure. The reality is that good regional agencies do well and can outperform the industry average in both growth and margin."
...but Charles Tattersall, boss of Manchester's Citypress PR, isn't convinced by the official line.
"Three lions on our Mars."
The John Barnes Rap - Mars Bar remix.
"Samuel Heath sees the bathroom as more than a functional room; it is more a private sanctuary that we can retreat to, a space where we can indulge our senses...."
Blimey, we thought a bathroom was just the place you went to for a good stand up wash once a week. In Cogent Elliott's new ad campaign, it turns out it's more like Narnia.