Ad Exec: Time to Bring the Glory Back To a Great Field

Advertising executive Robert Rosenthal believes there are serious problems in the advertising industry and he's willing to sacrifice his health to bring attention to those problems. "Every day, people in this business encounter a lack of respect, a lack of understanding of the value of what we do, and a stunning lack of loyalty," says Rosenthal.

Rosenthal's biggest gripes are with:

• Clients that cut the marketing budget to dangerously low levels, believing it will improve the bottom line.
• Clients reluctant to embrace creative innovation.
• Clients that don't track ROI and don't test.
• Disloyal clients and clients that shop around.

For clients shopping around, called spec creative, agencies are forced to create full-blown marketing campaigns. The agency incurs all the costs and exposes their proprietary creative ideas for free to the client with no guarantee of payment. In a video available on his reversehungerstrike.com web site, Rosenthal likens this to a "mini-lottery" in which several agencies vying for the client's business must "solve the client's marketing problem for free."

The publicity stunt is also aimed at getting press for the changing of his small agency’s name from Passaic Parc to Mothers of Invention, an homage to late musician Frank Zappa's band. Learn more about Mothers Of Invention at www.reversehungerstrike.com.

Lettershop Invests in Employee Health Improvement

According to the National Coalition on Healthcare, health insurance premiums are rising at four times the rate of inflation. CCI is waging a war on rising insurance costs.

Kay Dawson, one of Wichita’s most successful women entrepreneurs, started CCI in 1974. CCI, recently nominated as a "Best Place To Work," opened its newest employee benefit in October 2005. The $30,000 onsite wellness center includes free weights, exercise bikes, treadmills, and elliptical trainers, and bathrooms with showers. Participants enjoy cable televisions with DVD players, carpeting, and air conditioning while exercising or attending seminars on health, nutrition and stress management.

CCI Production Manager, Scott Hoopes, reports the employee’s level of interest in the wellness program and the exercise facility is above average for corporate wellness programs.

Read the complete press release at http://www.mailcci.com/past_issues/122005a.asp.