This is the internal memo that went out to all the surviving employees at Draft/FCB this morning hyping up the "Brown Bag Concert Series." As far as I know a "Brown Bag" is what the guys hanging out on the Bowery (before it got posh) used to keep their Thunderbird or Night Train in. I guess on 33rd street you'd keep your "Effen-Effen" in it.
MEMORANDUM
To: Everyone at Draftfcb New York
From: Peter, Wendy and Chris
Re: Richie Sambora Playing at Noon Today, 8th Floor
Date: August 24, 2007
As part of the new “Brown Bag Concert Series,” Richie Sambora, lead guitarist for Bon Jovi, will be playing at noon today in the open seating area on the 8th floor. Stop by to hear some songs and click on the link below for more information on Richie and the series:
The link goes to an internal Dufus/FCB Intranet which I haven't hacked into yet... But don't worry, I will.
.
Those Draft/FCB "Brown Baggers" really fuck you up!
The truly sad question is who is more pathetic: the "artists" willing to shill for whatever residuals they might earn from a spot or two...or the agency creatives who are most intersted in where the day's free lunch spread might be.
As much as some of us might loath MadMen, it points out the whorish tendencies of our business that hang on to this day.
Posted by: theo kie | August 24, 2007 at 08:29 PM
Holy shit.
Like Richie Sambora will make everything all better, when people are sitting in the middle of open areas where their friends and colleagues used to work. Just waiting for their turn to fall under the axe (no pun intended).
Completely fucking clueless.
And what the hell is Richie Sambora thinking? Doesn't he have anything better to do?
Posted by: mer01de | August 24, 2007 at 09:35 PM
He has to play gigs like this. We took half of everything. Still, probably the most creative thing to come out of that agency in some time.
Posted by: Lance Spiegel | August 24, 2007 at 09:42 PM
Again I ask: HOW MUCH DID DRAFT/FCB PAY SAMBORA?! Anyone who knows should post it here first.
Posted by: Auntie Christ | August 25, 2007 at 07:17 AM
Auntie...I'm pretty sure they don't pay anything. I've lately received e-mail saying recording artists would like to come into the agency, play mini-sets and talk with creatives about getting their music into spots.
Posted by: theo kie | August 25, 2007 at 08:09 AM
Speaking of paying, know how many cucumber facials at BACARA half the residuals on ‘Living on a Prayer’ bought?
Posted by: Lance Spiegel | August 25, 2007 at 08:44 AM
all the facials in the world won't help... it's a shitty "feel-good" ploy to take the employees minds off the approaching pink slips and they should hang their heads in shame for it...
Posted by: the lower depths | August 26, 2007 at 02:40 PM
I would postulate that this incredible gift to the staff - Richie Sambura in the big room - is a good predictor of a major layoff in the near future. That's how the do things up there. They pump it up right before they tear it down. You'd think it would be the other way around but it ain't. Probably a budgetary thing.
Anyway, look for layoffs soon.
Posted by: dickhurtz | August 27, 2007 at 08:43 AM
george parker- why are you such a hater of draftfcb? i used to work there & it's a group of hard-working & passionate people-
Posted by: lADy | August 27, 2007 at 09:24 AM
IADy - I don't think GP or ANY of the bloggers here have anything against the rank-and-file DFCBers. As I said in an earlier post, they are - for the most part - nice, funny and hard wroking folk. HOWEVER, the management and middle management - including a good number of CDs and GCDs - are absolutel a**holes who deserve everything that's coming to them and more. Period. End of story.
Posted by: dickhurtz | August 27, 2007 at 09:49 AM
IADy and anyone else equally confused: NO ONE has anything against the people who, in good faith, work at Draft/FCB. The well-deserved "venom" is directed strictly at the gang of thieves and incompetent thugs who make up the management team of Draft/FCB. These are the people who have lied and abused their staff and have been equally dishonest in their lack of professionalism and talent in regard to their clients. It's all about a gaggle of thugs at the top very smugly taking money under false pretenses. Michael Roth - who sadly is cut from the same cloth - idiotically put someone in charge of the organization who lacks the skill base required to run a global marketing services company. Anyone who has a chip on their shoulder and is driven strictly by revenge and anger -as Howard Draft definitely is (he's even publicly been quoted as same)- should NOT be put in charge of such an entity. The concept of "client service" is one that totally escapes him. The people he surrounds himself with: Jonathan, Laurence, etc. are all people who know how to thrive in such a dysfunctional environment by sucking up to Howard...Sadly, that's the extent of their skill set.
Posted by: LAM | August 27, 2007 at 10:27 AM
This company is such a joke - the upper management is like a circus clown show... no appreciation or consideration for the clients or the hard working personal.
Upper management just does not get it. I have never seen a more pathetic excuse for an agency.
All one can hope is for KARMA to hit the three stooges and their inner circle! They are truly scumbags and should do a PSA to raise awareness on how to be a chief scumbag - then the awards would pour in!
I wanna know who slept with Richie to get him there...Laurence?
Posted by: adwhore | August 27, 2007 at 01:25 PM
Wendy Lurie probably had to wring out her panties after the show...are the guys from Bon Jovi NOT rich enough that they have to shill to a bunch of corporate wankers for an extra mil? Sure, the Who did it like crazy, but at least it was good music. If we hear "I'd Die for You" in a Taco Bell spot or "Social Disease" in a Roche commercial, now we know how it happened.
On a lighter note, they have a client called "Little Boys" on their website-Laurence must have won that for them.
Posted by: Auntie Christ | August 27, 2007 at 01:48 PM
Bullshit LAM, Auntie and the rest of you.
As if FCB was ever anything other than the last surviving packaged goods shop.
And as if Parker doesn't have it out for the poor fucks who work there. I've spent a career at shops you all call good shops. BDAs and boutiques. And the same shit goes down at all of them. Probably worse.
Parker's got a few friends at DFCB who feel shat upon, I'm guessing he worked there at one time, and they leak him all the memos and the videos and all the other crap that every big agency spits out. If he knew people at any of the other remaining 8 BDAs he'd have the same blog.
You don't have to be a rocket scientist- or even an internet geek- to know that this probably drives Parker's blog traffic up since thousands of DFCB staffers read it every day.
Downside of course is that for people at other agencies MadScams gone from a daily read of funny intelligent commentary to a weekly check-in to see if George is sober yet.
Posted by: Another Generalist | August 27, 2007 at 01:49 PM
Sorry, Another Generalist....you're wrong....I, too, have been with many BDA's and NOT one comes close to the low level of senior management thugs that run Draft/FCB. It's special, pal...but not in exactly the way you'd want the agency you hire - or work for - to be special....so, no, you're dead wrong on this one dude...this place stands out...it is really, really bad because it's run by lying evil thugs...these are not just your usual standard issue self-serving suits...nah, this bunch is unique and that's what George, et al are getting at...
Posted by: LAM | August 27, 2007 at 03:32 PM
LAM: They fired you, really screwed you over. That sucks. But you're not the first guy who got fucked over by a big agency or a boutique agency and is really really pissed off about it.
Every place is evil in its own way.
There are hundreds of people who'd debate you that DFCB was the worst of the lot.
We work in a fucked up business.
But if you know our business then you know that absolutely no one with any creative chops gives a fuck why/where/how/when the hacks at FCB are getting fucked over by the even bigger hacks at Draft. It's not like Goodby's hovering around to snatch up the remains.
So for all of us, Parker's turned this into the Why I Hate Working At DFCB Blog. His perogative, of course, but we're all just thinking "no shit. What did you expect?"
Don't mean to be cruel or to make it sound like what happened to you doesn't suck, but you're not the first. And it's not like DM shops are taking over general agencies anyway. We've got bigger problems.
Posted by: Another Generalist | August 27, 2007 at 04:48 PM
For example, what about GSDM renaming themselves The Idea Factory in a last-ditch effort to stay alive? Or Fallon being eaten alive by Saatchi?
That's the sort of stuff it'd be great to hear you go off on George. Not what some bunch of unfortunate DM and packaged goods guys had for lunch while watching some has-been 80s rock star.
You need some spies in those places.
Posted by: Another Generalist | August 27, 2007 at 04:53 PM
sorry generalist, you've drunk the Kool-Aid.
yes. all agencies have their flaws. some more than others. having witnessed the well oiled machine that is DFCB and it's current spiral downward, even the most ardent fan has to agree, these guys (the top tier) really have no clue as to what is needed to run a people business.
honestly: you can explain all the layoffs, client losses, and lack of wins to ... what exactly? chance? fate? Kismet?
no. Huey, Duey and Louie make the BIG decisions. they take the credit and the blame, it doesn't go one way. they take the agency up: fantastic for them. they take the agency down: shame on them. you and i know it has nothing to do with the people trying to advance their careers by keeping their nose to the grindstones, they're not involved in the policy making that determines the fate of the agency.
and the showboat efforts like the lions Cannes ad...that must have sheer joy to work on as if anyone had a choice.
Posted by: the lower depths | August 28, 2007 at 05:46 AM
No LD, you're drinking some really strong Kool-Aid.
I mean get a grip dude. No one cares what they do. It's a fucking DM shop/. It's not like the creative directors chose it over GOodby or Crispin you know? All these people are minor minor minor players in the real ad world. You all make them into major players. Bizarre.
Posted by: Another Generalist | August 28, 2007 at 08:40 AM
"minor minor players in the real ad world".... Generalist, you're talking about AdAges Agency of the Year for a good stretch. Before all the Lions/Walmart shit hit the fan that "fucking DM shop" was highly profitable. Just what the hell do you think the "real ad world" is anyway -- going off to L.A. to shoot a car commercial? Doing Nike print ads? Probably about one percent of the people in our business do that stuff, and as someone who has done plenty of print and television, I can tell you it ain't that exciting. If you think sitting on some editors couch at 2 am or looking at proofs for 36 different-sized publications is a blast, go for it my friend. Just beware -- Joe Pytka can be a real bastard.
Posted by: Auntie Christ | August 28, 2007 at 10:57 AM
Pytka's not that bad. And name me one person who got into this business to do junk mail.
You might not like shooting TV commercials much but it's why most people get into advertising.
DFCB was Agency of the Year because not much was going on in the industry and Ad Age saw a story about an unkown DM shop winning Wal-Mart against a pack of BDAs.
Parker's blogging about Lowe today. That's something people care about.
Posted by: Another Generalist | August 28, 2007 at 07:32 PM
I never said I didn't like shooting TV....I just think you have an incredibly narrow vision of what "advertising" is....that's your perogative, however.
Posted by: Auntie Christ | August 29, 2007 at 07:31 AM
Oh, and Draft was agency of the year 3 or 4 years ago because they were making money when everyone else was hemmoraging it. The tide turns quickly, however.
And I've seen plenty of people with great books fresh out of Parsons, SVA, etc. interview at DM shops. If the DM shops are the only places hiring then that's where they will work. No shame in it.
Posted by: Auntie Christ | August 29, 2007 at 07:35 AM
Guys...
Calm down. The whole business is fucked. DFCB is just more fucked than any of them. Another Generalist should realize, I only pick on people when they fuck up. You could have said the same when I hammered CP+B for weeks when they produced "Man Laws" and "Orville the Zombie." I have no favorites. Actually, that's a lie... I love Goodby... The agency not you Jeff! Although I like you you... Oh fuck it!!!
Posted by: George Parker | August 29, 2007 at 10:45 AM
George: You and I both know there's a world of difference between you hammering Crispin for a campaign you didn't like and the way you're ragging on/reporting every single internal memo or in-house concert that Draft does and mocking the actual people who run the place. Though I am amazed at what a motherlode of anger you tapped into from your readers there.
And btw Auntie, nothing wrong with direct-- award show books are full of good direct done by good creatives and good agencies. "Good" being the operative word
Posted by: Another Generalist | August 29, 2007 at 12:18 PM
PS: And while I agree that Goodby is the joint, you'll find lots of people bitter about their time there too, esp. if they worked on PacBell. No shop is ever perfect for everyone.
Posted by: Another Generalist | August 29, 2007 at 12:20 PM
Sorry to change topics but this situation is just as demoralizing as any other. Let's talk about the blatant crap that goes on in supposedly the best Studio in the City. You have a guy in charge of the nightshift that fits the position of a brown-nosing suck-up who doesn't give 2 shits about this agency. He let's his "friend, sushi-boy" go home early every night while others are still sweating to finish up the work. It must be nice to work 2 to 3 hours a night and get paid full salary and benefits. They both need a hard smack in the back of the head and a bitch-slap to wake them up. Worse of all, management knows about the ongoing (years) situation and doesn't give 2 shits either. The wrong people were let go on July 17th and it's been all downhill from there, no matter how hard Mary tries to stick her nose into everything and keep things afloat...it's Mutt & Son of Mutt that will always step on her. Let's not forget the unwarranted situation of a certain person working a 3-day work week...nepotism or lack of BALLS on management's end. Thanks for reading what everyone that deals with the Studio feels.
Posted by: insideman | August 30, 2007 at 10:15 AM
Too cryptic, Insideman. Spill the beans before they spill blood.
Posted by: Auntie Christ | August 30, 2007 at 01:54 PM