Does Martin Deserve This??

According to AdAge, there is a new bonus scheme at WPP which entitles CEO Martin Sorrell to take home up to $95M (that's MILLION) over the next five years if the holding company reaches new performance targets. This is a guy who's basic salary & "fees" were over $1.5M in 2008, and totalled $5.6M including bonuses from the old bonus scheme. Explaining the new scheme, a WPP spokesperson said that it was "even more aligned with shareholders' interests...because of extremely demanding performance targets." He also said the "WPP executives have to take a financial risk to gain the rewards, just like any other investor." WTF?! So if they don't meet the business goals, they only get their huge base salaries?? Wow. What a risk! Meanwhile, one path to meeting their performance goals is drastic cost cutting (layoffs) in order increase revenue. Here's an idea: How about if they miss the business targets, they DECREASE their salaries by the percentage they under perform?

Sir Martin... No wonder why HE"S happy! Photo: Pierre Verdy/AFP/Getty

Morgan Silk Goes to the Philippines

He's done it again. Morgan Silk returned from another trip for One Life Magazine, the house publication of Land Rover targeting existing LR owners, this time to the Philippines. And again, he came back with so much incredible imagery that ANY edit won't do it justice!! Here are a few of our favorites. Check out the rest of the edit on Morgan's newly redesigned website, or a smaller grouping on ours.

A GREAT Promotion

My photographer friend David Zaitz included me on an email promo he sent out last week that was so good, I shared it with my photographers, my family and friends, and now I'm sharing it with you. The email itself was simple, a compelling image an a short note from David to me underneath with a link. The link took me to a little web gallery of images from a four day trip David took through Texas. Each picture was captioned, and the combination of "stranger than fiction" reality with the captions had me laughing most of the way through the series. Great photos, entertaining copy that shows David's wit (one of his strongest suits), easy viewing and forwarding on to others made this one of my favorite promo efforts of recent past. Check it out here. Now, how can I do something as viral for MY group??

A Race to the Bottom

Just received the new PDN PhotoSource Stock Directory, which includes a feature titled, "Micro Machines, Stock producers boost volume, efficiency and quality in hopes of making microstock pay." Note the "in hopes of". It chronicles the current microstock environment, the only portion of the stock (and the photo industry at large) industry expected to grow in the next few years, and states that "...photographers are turning to microstock more than ever, even though the microstock business model is daunting. Prices are lower - much lower than in the RF sector." As more producers turn in that direction, the quantity and quality will only continue to improve, driving prices down further as supply continues to outpace demand. The article mentions that Yuri Acurs, one of the MS success stories, gets 5 times the industry average of $1 per image in sales per month. Wow! A whopping $5 per image per month... I'm reminded of the documentary I saw a few years ago about the seasonal changes from wet to drought conditions in the Serengeti, and how prey and predators inevitably end up at the same shrinking watering hole as the drought takes hold... Before I leave this happy place, I've got a bone with the PDN folks I want to mention, which is their "Reviews" section of the stock directory. Since the "reviews" are the same superlative puff written by the advertisers themselves, it's a little disingenuous to call the section that. ...Now... I'm off to find some water!

Don't Judge a Book by Its Cover

We get a lot of unsolicited email from photographers and photographer wanna-be's; more than ever lately, since everyone is hurting. I do my best to respond to all of those who come to me directly and not as part of a mass emailing. I figure if someone has taken the time to send a personal note, the least I can do is send them back a quick response. On most occasions, I can judge the quality/professionalism of the work based solely on the note, through its content and its appearance. Large, clunky type? Sub par work. Dated logo in the signature? The same. Mention of an attached resume? Not ready for prime time. For awhile we collected the worst examples and displayed them on a wall in our office for fun. While it made us feel better about the quality of our own group, we ultimately decided the wall of shame was too mean spirited and bad Karma, so we took it down. Recently I received one that would have definitely made the wall. It was written by someone making a career change into photography out of necessity due to losing his former job. He spoke of finding his true self through his explorations into photography, and in uncommon honesty, told me details about his personal life that one wouldn't expect in an introductory letter, especially in a business setting. I figured, "This is going to be good!", totally writing off any chance the guy had talent. I used the link he provided to his "site"- a flickr page I believe (another giveaway that the work wouldn't be decent) - and began looking through the imagery. It was unpolished, yes, but my prior expectations were blown away by the potential he showed, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him on the pro-circuit in the future. Lesson (re)learned.

BCD Does Green for Fed Ex

Bryan Christie Design's work promoting FedEx's green packaging initiative launched today! The effort's main piece is a web animation that appears to crumple the entire content page of the site on which it's placed, without requiring a rollover, as if it's a sheet of paper. Click here to check it out. The "wad" disappears into a FedEx ad frame on the page's border as a corrugated FedEx box drops down with copy announcing that the majority of FedEx boxes are made from recycled materials. BBDO/NY created the concept and handled the development side of the effort, which also includes two additional animations of the FedEx box, one creating it from rays of light, and one creating it from clouds. Frames from the animations are being used in national print ads. Something like this...

Just say "No, (thank you)"

Everyone wants to work. It's always been difficult to turn jobs down, and nowadays, few folks will no matter what the situation is. A recent experience reminded me of the importance of not losing sight of the "big picture" and knowing when (and how) to say no. This time it was a project for a sizable, national consumer magazine, but the same holds true for other types of clients/projects. The clients came to us for what at first sounded like a pretty cool series of images: three full page conceptual still lives illustrating the changing investment landscape and consumer mindsets due to our tanking economy. We NAILED it, and presented 2-3 sketches for each of the shots. The PE said everyone loved them, but that they weren't quite right for the feature (ie. not literal enough), and could we think about it some more and present some alternative directions? A weekend passed, the deadline loomed closer, and the following Monday, several new concepts were presented, getting a lukewarm reception. We were then asked to revisit the original directions, but to change them so they more closely fit the financial subject material (can you say, "literal"?!). After bastardizing the first round, making further changes, twice, we were finally ready to shoot. At that point, I believe EVERYONE was fatigued, and because it was too late to do differently, we forged ahead with approved concepts that NO ONE felt great about. Unfortunately, it showed in the work, and even after re-shooting one of the concepts, I'm certain both parties will bury these images once the feature runs. Looking back, we took the job not just because we felt it was a good creative opportunity, but because we felt we "needed the work". Even though editorial fees are at the bottom of the industry pay scale, something is better than nothing, right? - especially when things are tight. Sometimes not. We should have bowed out of the job gracefully when they reacted the way they did to the first (and certainly the second) round(s) of creative we presented. By not doing so, we put everyone through alot of frustration, the job went over budget, and most likely, they won't be calling us the next time they need imagery. Lesson learned. Again.

Tough Times, Stupid Offers

I hate to admit it, but I'm old enough to have been on the front lines at Tracy-Locke in the early '80's, which gave me a great opportunity to witness what was then the dumbest marketing idea I'd ever heard of, the introduction of More Nacho Cheese Flavored Doritos, from Frito-Lay. I was an account executive, fortunately working on the smaller F-L brands of the day, Tostitos and Sabritos, so was able to watch the debacle unfold without taking any direct hit personally. The thing was, Doritos ALREADY HAD a Nacho Cheese Flavored product. Somehow, the client became convinced that having more Nacho Cheese Flavor was not only enough news to talk about, but was compelling enough to relaunch the product. They directed the agency (never known for it's creative chops, as it was) to concoct a series of TV spots around the news, which resulted in the most expensive production the company had ever funded. VERY expensive drivel. The CD at the time was euphoric that he'd sold a spot that was going to to cost over a million bucks to produce, which was unheard of at the time. We watched from the sidelines as our account brethren went through the process, which ultimately ended up with the campaign being pulled after a few short weeks from lack of results (duhr...) and the agency getting a black eye. Why talk about all of this now? Because I just heard a radio spot from Frito-Lay which essentially said that because of the tough times we're all going through, they've decided to help out and give us more product in every bag for NO EXTRA CHARGE?! WTF?! You mean the product will no longer feel half empty when purchased? We were always told that the emptiness was to keep the product from getting crumbled...was that a lie? Feels like deju vu to me.

Comrade Takes a Punch

Michael Rodriguez (aka Comrade) just sent me a self portrait he took yesterday. You should see the other guy...

Where's My Check??

Went last night to see a "panel of distinguished guests" speak about the recent news that Omnicom (holding company for the likes of BBDO, DDB, TBWA/Chiat Day and a host of other agencies)has changed its contract language to shift its liability to NOT pay vendors for services rendered until it is paid by ITS clients. In addition, they purportedly will no longer be paying any advances for production. Both changes are incredibly bad news to anyone who counts agencies as clients, and are ludicrous, if they are indeed put into in practice by Omnicom's agencies. My takeaway from last night's speakers panel was that there's not really a whole heck of alot we can do about it as long as there are people willing to work under the new terms, which in this economy, few would turn down. Ironically, we are working with Atmosphere BBDO at the moment. As much as we enjoy the folks we've worked with there, as well as BBDO/NY and Energy BBDO in Chicago, the agency's accounts payable has ALWAYS sucked, and getting money from them on a timely basis is impossible. On that note, one of the panelists made a great suggestion, which is to date the invoice with the date of the shoot, regardless of when it is billed. According to her, the invoice date is not scrutinized by the front line budget folks (ABs, ADs, AEs) but is by the accounting clerks, who schedule payment based on that date. I'm going to try it on my next job. At the same time as this bad news arrived, we're also seeing more clients willing to pay electronically, which speeds up the payments greatly. Could that be the silver lining we all are looking for? Maybe. Now all we need are some projects to bill...