Study Hall

We take a closer look at procurement

As you climb the career ladder (in advertising, pharma, or some other corporate gig) do you ever wonder what it’d be like to lead a pharma startup?I have! So this month, we had Dr. Kelly on the podcast. After earning a PhD in Chemistry, he had successful big pharma research career, then became Chief Scientific Officer and then CEO of Comentis—which at the time was commercializing small-molecule Alzheimer’s and schizophenia therapies. It was a great talk, covering what it’s REALLY like to lead a pharma startup, lessons learned and rules for success. We also get into the current (and future) research space and even the role of advertising and marketing in startups.Now Dr. Kelly runs a consulting practice focused on strategic and practical solutions in the drug discovery space. If you’re interested in reaching out, you can contact him at LinkedIn.

In this Study Hall, my good friend and former creative partner and I take a look at life in PR, how it compared to ad agencies, and what that suggest about the future of advertising.

Wish I'd liked this book more. Great idea for a book that suffers from poor execution and a crippling, inside-out view of the media and advertising industry.

This is a pretty scary book—Ken Auletta catalogs the rot in the ad industry, starting with the rebate fracas that broke out at the (now-infamous!) Association of National Advertisers meeting in 2015. Why’s it so scary? Well, for one thing, it lays bare long-standing, unsuccessfully-addressed problems with the business model on which the ad agency operates. And it explains a lot about why agencies have been struggling with everything from client service to profitability, to pricing, to talent, to working conditions. …and that’s not even the really scary part. The REALLY scary part is what happens to an advertising income-supported culture if/when advertising income goes away.So, if you have a problem with feeling too optimistic about the future, or slacking off at work, read this book and meditate on the future. It’ll fix that for you. And make you a more wide-awake, effective professional.As far as things I wish were different: It’s a less scholarly work that The Attention Merchants, there’s a LOT of reliance on the point of view of one person (Michael Kassan), which leaves you looking for a wee bit more balance at times (or maybe that the bad news would stop). None of these quibbles dim the books appeal, though. Just keep them in mind…Links for the show: Ad Age article: Good summary of the rebate issue, and gives you a sense of how the story developed before 2015MediaLink website: Worth checking out!

Final installment of the book review.

Part 2 of our interview with Scott Costin, author of The Doctor Won’t See You Now. In this part of the interview, the three of us discuss how sales, marketing and advertising can work together and how culture drives performance and job satisfaction. You can buy Scott’s book here.

Interview with the author of The Doctor Won't See You Now.

Happy August, Study Hall-ers! Well, we're almost to the end of the estimable book, The Attention Merchants.In part 4, we learn about the rise of the "Kardashian Kulture" and get into it a little over what we've done with the amazing attention-gathering machine we've built ourselves. I've pretty much avoided dealing with the ethics of modern attention merchandising and (more precisely) advertising until now, and this section of the book seemed like a good place to do it. This time, we're turning the comments on, so go ahead and leave a reaction/opinion.

This is the story of the rise of the digital space, or "the third screen," the screen that watches YOU.It's a short section of the book, detailing the rise of email (and the reason the email check-in is SUCH a hard habit to break), the intersection of hardware with serious money (through computer gaming), and (how) America (got) Online.Some interesting stuff! Lots to think about, including how even having the right idea (eg, Prodigy understood the power of online retailing, but make a few mistakes and now...well...When was the last time you got an email from prodigy.net?) Good ideas are not enough. You have execute well ...and be lucky.

We're back at it with Tim Wu's great book on advertising. This month's entry covers the history of advertising from the 20s up through the mid 80s. After almost losing the whole thing in the early 30s, the industry comes roaring back and enters the golden age of huge, unified audiences who paid attention to a few, clearly defined channels. (While across the pond, an entirely different kind of attention merchant worked their evil will and blackened the name of propaganda forever.)From there, we move through the turbulence and attentional revolt of the 60s, when Tim Leary, Marshall McLuhan and Herbert Marcuse tried to turn everyone's attention to building an anxiety-free utopia. But TV and advertising deftly picked up on and co-opted the hippies and hit the 80s without breaking their stride.By '85, the rise of computers and tech like cable and the VCR shatter the attention of the West, giving people more control over what they consume and giving rise to a very recognizable crisis: The chase to find your audience as they run wild across the land, taking their attention with them.

First part of my review of Tim Wu's great book on attention, advertising and culture in the industrial age.

The End of Advertising, Andrew Essex's 2017 book asks a lot of tough questions about the future, purpose and value of advertising. Essex's main point is that the content-consumption freedom we all got from the digital revolution means advertising needs to act more like content (be interesting, useful, amazing). The thing, not the thing that interrupts the thing, in his words.Well...I don't agree. I think given the choice between advertising masquerading as content and actual content, people are going to go with the real thing almost every time.Which doesn't mean it's all over for us (and here I agree with Essex): Just the opposite. There's never been a better, more exciting time to be doing this thing we call advertising--as long as you understand how to do it right.Ad Age: Agency of the Futurehere. (Requires registration/whitelist...several annoying pop up ads, hilariously.)The Neilsen Study here. (See figure A for the tl;dr version...but-in the spirit of Study Hall-you really should read the entire thing!)