Droga 5: This industry isn’t fun any more – and it’s the fault of anonymous commenters
Ad agency Droga 5 has taken the unusual step of placing an ad in The Australian complaining that the industry is a less fun place than it used to be.
In the ad, published in today’s Media section and headlined “Happy, whatever” , the agency reminisces about long lunches and lengthy overseas shoots and complains:
“To be brutally honest, we laugh less than we used to, smile less than we should, and beat ourselves up a lot more than is medically advisable.”
Calling for the industry’s new year’s resolution to be to have more fun, the agency – headed by former Saatchi & Saatchi ECD David Nobay – says that it needs “a rare breed of courage to stand up for ideas”, adding: “We do it because we have to (actually, to be precise, because it’s what we’re paid to do.) But we also do it because we love the idea of what those fragile thoughts could potentially become, if just given the chance to grow. We dream, albeit surreptitiously, of making something brilliant, captivating and, yes, even enduring.”
The agency suggests that the problem lies with anonymous commenters:
“Admittedly, within our infamous industry blogs, we have succeeded in creating the perfect tool for reminding us all of the perils of over-reaching creatively. Some might say they perform a vital service in keeping us honest. But since the people saying it are invariably anonymous, ‘honesty’ may not be the best description for their covert talents.”
It is not the first time an ad agency has set out a manifesto in a national newspaper ad. David Ogilvy did so when he launched, and later on the Saatchi brothers did so both for the launch of Saatchi & Saatchi and later M&C Saatchi.
Nobay has previously railed against anonymous commenters. In 2006, he wrote a piece for Campaign Brief in which he complained: “Rather than the veil of anonymity protecting the innocent, it allows anyone with an axe to grind – but no experience to back it up – full rein to vent their spleen. While I concede this may be mildly cathartic for those sorry souls who carry their chip on the shoulder (“I never got the good briefs/good job/right salary/fully formed penis/trip to Cannes”) like a heavily laden rucsac, I question how this ultimately makes our industry a smarter place to work.”
The same topic also came up on Mumbrella earlier this year with The Brand Shop’s Peter Fray writing: “I am stunned at the level of vitriol stemming from some people’s comments in both this blog and others.”
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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now, not?
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This ad fails.
I mean, who reads newspapers?
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I suggest more awards to make everyone feel better about themselves.
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Can’t wait for the episode of Mad Men where Don Draper is killed off by a falling blog post.
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I know a Jerry Maguire-esque open letter (Manifesto) may seem a tad OTT to some but I agree with David Nobay; I dont mind that there arnt long lunches and overseas shoots for all and sundry, but the fact that an ostensibly creative industry is at risk of leaking talent faster than then news KRudd was a recalcitrant control freak off the WikiLeaks site simply because the fun is missing is quite astounding.
Hopefully there will be more industry leaders out there who have the temerity to openly question the industries current ‘fun’ degeneration and who have the foresight to work on bringing to life Confucius’ 2,500yr old advice whereby we create a working environment for the next generation of advertising professionals that lives up to his wish that we all “Find a job we love and we’ll never work a day in our life” (sic)
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Someone’s been watching Mad Men 😉
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haha…remember shithouse wages for senior jobs?
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Isn’t it spelt Drogba? And doesn’t he wear #11? I’m not following.
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The purpose of the ad? To say to ppl involved in advertising let’s pat ourselves on the back and have more fun next year? – that’s a bit playschool!
If it is to raise an issue which is the way Mumbrella seems to have taken it, then good work but …. What solution or action is proposed? What clever ideas are put forward?
If the rant is merely to raise awareness, I am now just aware that Droga5 are a bit whingey and wish they could get more free stuff like the good old days.
HHH
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I’m sorry, but I would rather do my job, and serve my clients well and save my fun and laughter for my ‘after-work activities’ with friends and family….Work is work, you get paid to do a job and to do it well, if you are hanging out for a freebie lunch and drink and get some in work hours laughs then maybe you should join a circus
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oh lolz – please, Droga5, don’t try to tell me you’re trying to make something “brilliant, captivating and, yes, even enduring” or that you’re fighting for ideas, when actually, you’re selling bogan beer. You’re not artists or revolutionaries – face up to the fact, you’re in advertising, earning silly money for silly things. Pfft, and what’s wrong with that? You should be laughing all the way to the bank.
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I think the most interesting thing about this ad is the use of classic 1960’s typographic principles as developed by David Ogilvy – and others. As soon as I saw the ad I knew it was from an ad agency – and a decent one.
Although cloaked in an overt call to all involved to buck up there I think a slightly resentful and whingy tone is in there – which is a shame as they do make a valid point.
If their desire is for everyone to have a bit of fun “happy whatever” does not really send the message.
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This is terrible! I dont like it, but I have no research to back it up.
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Lighten up everyone. This whole thread demonstrates that we all really do need to have a bit more fun.
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Maybe the industry would be more fun if people like this didn’ t just whine b*tch and moan the whole time.
Poor mr creative agency type, doesn’t get to go on month long shoots anymore. My heart bleeds.
I’d contest they don’t pat themselves on the back enough though…how many creative ad awards were there this year?
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yeah, i agree… especially with the anonymous posting.
Tim mate, part of the reason you see the same commenters again and again is because the anonymous poster has no obligation to say something useful or suffers any real blowback if they act like a-holes. So trash talk becomes more prevalent than discussion, and sensible people wander away. Whistleblowers have other avenues than anonymous posts.
Reconsider the policy in 2011?
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This is straight from Mad Men. The scene where Don Draper writes an open letter against the Tobacco industry.
Not an original idea.
but not a bad one.
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It possibly just exposes Nobby’s ‘age’… Nice thought, since I remember those long boozy client lunches and hilarious brainstorming sessions at the pub but to be honest, I truly don’t think Gen Y and beyond care. And maybe the question then becomes, why should they?
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lets get fucked up
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I’m having fun
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If I worked at Droga 5 I’d be asking for a payrise- since they can afford to throw away thousands of dollars into this ad in a newspaper
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WTF ?
Is this a legitimate complaint that he doesn’t get long boozy lunches anymore ?
When I’m not happy with work I wish I could take out a full page ad in an old print newspaper and have a big cry about it…
Sounds like this guy can’t hack the modern times we live and work in…
– Honest & open feedback is a bad thing? does it hurt your feelings?
– Are your clients asking about ROI again ?
– Did your forget your clients want sales results when they advertise ?
Hey Mr CEO, Come do my job for a day you big sook and then tell me your still not having fun. Welcome to reality.
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I think it’s clear by now the most fun & entertaining thing this article has generated are the cynical comments in response, so I think he’s just disproved his own point. Keep it coming, fellas!
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Mad.
Men.
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“Let’s have more fun” …
Absolutely, just so long as it is accompanied by effective work, work, work which delivers tangible results for fun-loving marketers (i.e. clients)
Great Big Ideas with tiny little ROIs aren’t nearly as much fun nowadays 😉
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You’re not having enough fun already? What about a life with more meaning? What about a year where we do more good for the world. What about a more interesting, challenging, authentic year.
Fuck all that – I just want to have even more fun. Like we did in the 80’s.
Give me meaning and purpose over fun any day.
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“it does take a rare breed of courage to fight for ideas”
you’re so right. Aung Sun Suu Kyi knows exactly how you feel
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When I first saw that, I read it as “happy, meh.”
I guess, like advertising, the word ‘whatever’ has also changed since the good old days.
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Dear
I am unable to attend to your telex at the moment as i am on extended Lunch in the Bahamas for the next 30 days while we shoot a New Milk magazine spread.
Now excuse me while a roll another spliff and cast the next Bikini shot.
Regards,
Exhausted Creative.
For an Ad agency thats supposed to sell stuff i dont think they are doing a very good job.
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The fun part of the business is creative – always has been, always will be – because creative IS our business. It’s core product we sell. It’s the core product our clients buy.
Planning, strategy, research, media and everything else an agency offers clients is purely window dressing. Secondary to just one thing. Yep, CREATIVE! And it’s time the industry got back to basics & invested where the greatest return has always been.
Droga5 is right on the money, inferring the greatest creative – and simultaneously, the most fun – was had in previous generations of advertising (and yes, I am one of them, thanks for asking). A generation when agencies had to shoot themselves in the foot so many times not to succeed they would need a small arms factory. Why? Agencies were absolutely focused and single-minded about what it was they did: creative.
Sit back and think for a second. Who are the most successful agencies right now according to our clients. Bet you they are the ones having the most fun and focusing on one core product offering: yep – CREATIVE!
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I appreciate the irony of people commenting annonymously on this post.
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if the ad industry as exemplified by ‘leading’ agency Droga5 can’t sell itself, what hope does it have to be able to sell our products and services?
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it’s a good point re the anon postings and their quality. People with nothing intelligent to say beyond a few four letter words are bringing down the standard if we’re honest. Some times they’re funny, mostly they’re over the top / needless, and rarely are they intelligent.
I agree with Dave B – please reconsider the policy for 2011 Mumbrella. Otherwise we have to scan through the pointless comments from bad mouthed 5 year olds to read any quality thoughts…!
Cheers
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Sounds like (edited by Mumbrella for legal reasons) is starting to take its toll.
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I am with Sheila
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Think it’s a bit much to blame anonymous postings for the decline in fun, I’d argue it’s the accountants, researchers and now Gruen that makes everyone including my mum think they can be creatives now!
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Excellently said.
We are all a little bit arrogant. You couldn’t do this job if you weren’t. Advertising’s not a science not matter how much we think it is. We sell chips to fat people and beer to alcoholics. It’s brilliant!
2011 is going to be a cracker.
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@Adam you really think Media, Planning and Strategy is Window dressing?
What good is a creative idea if no one sees it?
Where does the spark of a good Creative idea come from?
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Ha! Laughable attempt to establish credibility.
The notion that ad agencies are at all about (umm) “ideas” is CRAP!
If there were any truth in it any more, agencies wouldn’t be so in the poo.
During more than 30 years of agency writing, thinking, arguing and yes creative directing I have had so many internaitonal senior management people tell me that ad agencies simply lost the plot.
They (we?) grew fat (the long lunches, the fun) and simply overvalued ourselves. Business-leverage moved to other disciplines, and agencies were so far up their own self-important orifices that no-one in ad land noticed.
Ideas? Of course they matter, hugely and more than ever. But ad agencies are no longer the places that bsiness (or anyone) goes to find ideas.
This ad is the annoying cry of a whingeing and spolt brat, nostaligic for the return of the teat of business.
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Agree with you Droga5 – well written
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Everyone is getting way to serious.
Im with you Nobby.
Great things happen when people are happy.
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I’m sorry was I the only one that didn’t study the subject of fun at university?
Its a job, and while it’s nice to take the occasional long lunch, I’m pretty sure that if all those people complaining looked in their job description that “taking long lunch’s and having fun” probably wouldn’t be in there.
Get over it, its work – if your not having fun where you are get out and do something else… I have fun everyday at work, and don’t need a long boozy lunch or a three day trip to Fiji to do so..
Suck it up Droga 5
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Long copy aficionados such as I would normally go nuts for a well written old-school press ad.
Sadly, this is not one.
D.O.G.
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@Bring Back The 60’s – ‘window dressing’ could have been a bit harsh, but nonetheless, it is there to assist, support & refine great creative. Without creative, there is simply no need for it.
Which then leads to your second point … a great idea will stand up and get noticed in the smallest media space and despite the tiniest of marketing budgets. That’s the beauty of outstanding creative.
And your third point … the spark of a great creative idea comes from anywhere, but it required a great creative mind to recognise it – and fight for it.
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@Adam – your third point – get your hand off it
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@The Differentiator – I assume you’ve jumped to a conclusion I was stroking my own (ego??). Re-read the sentence: “… requires a great creative mind …”. Are you implying I regard myself to be the only creative mind in the industry? All creatives are egotistical to varying degrees, but that’s ridiculous!
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@ Adam – let me spell it out for you. For you to claim that it takes “a great creative mind to recognise it” [i.e. a great creative idea] “and fight for it” is (in my mortal opinion) the epitome of pretentiousness. So, no I am not implying that you are “the creative mind in the industry”. My argument is that you think that only creative people can recognise great ideas – well that is patently absurd!
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@The Differentiator – again you got it wrong! “Creative MINDS”. You’re obviously at least party a creative mind as you’ve creatively mis-read the sentence twice now 😉
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Can’t wait to see the open letter from client – “Why I’m giving up Droga5…”
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The ad is true. Advertising isn’t fun.
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Hark !
Do I hear the distant sounds of boys playing with themselves?
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Perhaps, instead of spending thousands on this ad, Drofa5 could have spent thousands in having fun. Or perhaps, if Droga5 has so much money to spend, they could give it back to their clients to have some fun, since that’s where it came from in the first place. Just a thought.
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Ha I knew it – PR’s do have more fun!
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In other words…
We feel threatened by change. We are struggling to keep up. There is no where to hide. People even allow blogs (with open comments). We’re a new business but we have old ideas and can’t get past it. We are stuck in the past.
Our only saving grace is to pretend the past was better (even though we weren’t even there)
Regress.. nostalgia…. the good old days….the good old days….THE GOOD OLD DAYS!
What do we do?
Lets buy a big ad in a traditional paper that old men read. Maybe a bunch of old men will stand by us – beating off these waves of change with crutches, canes and walking sticks!
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Ahhh, the good old days…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFevH5vP32s
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Hey, by the way, anyone know which agencies are on the pitch list for The Australian brand pitch? Huh? Huh?
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Can you believe that Pop-Tarts are 9 BUCKS (!?!?!?!?!?!) at Blockbuster Video?!?!?!
Let’s get some perspective here!
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I wonder what happened to Droga’s 1 through 4?
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Note to industry: If you take yourself too seriously, it’s hard to have fun. We’re not saving babies. Accounts are won and lost, but that’s life. Enjoy it while you can
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“Meeeeow”
Old style agencies with old business models (reliant on creative / production costs to make them money) would take out an ad in a newspaper…
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The industry doesn’t need to change, but it might need to be a bit more challenging.
If you work for a good agency…then you gain respect, trust, high salary…How good is that!!!
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heehee
I met a CEO (of a major bank) on the plane the other day and he reasonably candidly assessed our industry this way.
“You scratch the surface and you just get more surface”.
I was a smidge insulted. Reading this was evidence that he was correct.
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If he can’t have fun, as the very well paid head and part-owner of a successful and awarded agency that has a huge beer account, what hope do the rest of us have?
Perhaps he’s had a Bogusky realisation?
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THINGS WOULD BE A LOT MORE FUN IF WE ALL JUST TOOK OUR HANDS OFF IT.
A GOOD FOOD CRITIC DOES NOT MAKE A GOOD COOK, IT’S THE SAME WITH ADVERTISING.
AGREE WITH THE SENTIMENT, BUT CRITICISING THE CRITICISERS IS THE WRONG EXECUTION FOR ME.
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I applaud the motive behind this, but you know the reality of working in this business today is very different.
At every place I’ve worked (6 ‘good’ agencies in the past 15 years) we’ve had to be extremely ‘passionate’. We regularly work anywhere between 9 and 24 hours a day, including weekends. Lunch is the rare luxury in which we get 10 minutes to think while running to the shop to grab a roll, often the only time we get to ‘nail’ an idea during the day.
During a pitch we’re expected to sleep 2 hours then go back to work, so sometimes juniors who can’t afford a taxi sleep in the office. We have zero job security. We’re either young and exploited or highly experienced and stressed about being replaced by someone younger and cheaper at any instant.
There is no such thing as a sick day, deadlines don’t change if you’re at home or in the hospital. We work on our holidays, on the way to work, on the way home, while we’re at home, while we’re with family. On top of this, we often have to put up with unreasonable, tyrannical abuse from those above us, or political mind games from the less talented around us.
I’m lucky I’m a Writer, most Art Directors my age are redundant because they can’t drive a Mac, another effort to reduce costs (and increase workloads).
This ‘fun’ is ultimately controlled by the people who run the agencies. Nobby, if you want to make this industry fun again, please use your position of power to change the industry. Don’t just lead by example, which I’m sure D5 is doing. Start a union that ensures people are paid fairly. Paid overtime or rostered days off. Let people have a life, so we can relate to the people we’re supposed to be selling to. Don’t hire ‘resource’, hire people.
I agree whole-heartedly with the comments regarding anonymous bile, it’s fucked having to deal with that on top of everything else and I don’t engage in it for my own personal health.
But if anyone is in a position to help the entire industry to feel more positive about themselves, which will hopefully reduce some of the bitterness and silly comments, it’s you.
Happy, whatever.
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We need to get rid of anonymous posters so that only those who can afford to have their message published in a national newspaper have a voice? I think not.
The industry is still fun, and the industry is still as creative as ever. Simply looking around me I see a tonne of creative people who all love the work they do. Speaking to friends in other agencies, they too are pushing creative ideas and having the time of their lives in the process.
Perhaps David needs to re-evaluate the work they are doing and the way they run their agency if they’re no longer having any fun.
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First of all, I do have an account on Mumbrella but when I click on a link in my newsletter, it takes me straight to the story I want to read. Nowhere do I have to log in before commenting. So my comments, such as this, are posted as Annonymous. It comes down to ease of use, not fear of reprisal.
If I was a client of Droga5’s reading that ad, I would be appalled. It sounds like the agency wants to use the client’s money to get pissed, do no work and go on holiday.
Advertising is a business like any other. The point is to make money. The agency’s jobs is to get results for the client so that THEY make money.
Not so the agency can have a fricking holiday.
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Disagree with @17 Tim Koster
anonymity promotes honesty – people can say what they think without fear of repercussions. – after all, Sydney is a small job market.
Let be honest, no-one likes being slagged off but what we think are good ads and marketing is subjective, so in this biz you gotta get used to it.
Is it really the end of the world if someone hated our ad, or thought our strategy sucked? Everyone is entitled to their opinion, whether its wrong or right.
Even if they don’t like us or think we are not great, we can reject it, ignore, or sometimes maybe there is a grain of truth in it, we can learn from and as Uncle Obama would say have a ‘teachable moment’ (see the closed down Telstra threads!!!)
As the famous quote goes
“I am a Ad and marketing person. Hath not a Ad and marketing person eyes? hath not a Ad and marketing person hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? .. If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die?”
Lighten up – life is too short to worry about petty online injustices – that way lies heart attack, stress and resentment.
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So the head of Droga5 blames industry comments on his work for lacking the fun factor?
Shit the sun isn’t out today, maybe I should blame the weather for my shitty mood.
I’ve been slagged off personally and had my work slagged off on countless industry blogs. Work that’s gone on to win countless awards as well as work that we didn’t bother to enter. Do I give a shit?
Hell no.
Fun starts from within guys.
“It’s easier to wear shoes than carpet the world.”
Peace be with you.
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Come to think of it, where the fuck has my cocain and lingerie model gone?
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I never understood how Nobby fitted in with the D5 principles anyway
He always came across as someone wrapping a blokey gag around a brand and putting in in the paper or on TV – a long way from the work done by Droga in the USA. Nothing created by D5 in Sydney has moved me too far from this opinion – they have bolted on social/digital activities sure, but they have depended on a large media buy dragging an audience rather than ideas working within themselves
For sure – dont let the fun get sucked out of the industry as I agree the creative will suffer, but the D5 brand gets trashed when a regressive yearning for the old days with no transparency between admen, their clients and their audiences is put in a national broadsheet
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IS NOBBY NUTS?
Most of it’s been said, but here’s what I find odd.
1-Why use an open letter in a National newspaper, who’s audience is not only non creatives, but CEOs of clients, to direct a self serving message?
2-If NOBBY really wanted to reach his target of anonymous bloggers & fellow old school ad guys, he should hv used CB or Mumbrella etc…
3-If the CEO of Fosters was to read this, and feel it was directed at him, I’m betting he would be hoping for ROI, sales & market share improvements for VB etc… And less long lunches & junkets that his company was paying for.
4-Are critical anonymous bloggers really the cause of the demise in job satisfaction in ad land ? Or could it be just a scapegoat excuse for not realizing the times hv changed.
5-Maybe the real cause is simply progress & evolution. Old ways give way to new ways. Maybe NOBBY didn’t get the memo.
6-Could u imagine a leading figure from medicine, Mgt consulting, banking, law, writing such an open letter ? I can’t .
7-Maybe the “good old” days hv just passed. And u either choose to adapt or become irrelevant.
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I think Nobby and the guys at D5 have some idea what they’re doing.
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Anonymous Commenter and Patrick the starfish FTW!
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Well put. Nothing against this. We love the opportunity to lay in to one another. To slam each others work or efforts to make the industry a better one. Good for Droga for having something positive to say and not being afraid to say it. Everything they say is true.
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I’ve stopped having fun
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I’m having a great time.
Marcel de Bie
0407 318 065
The Amber Theatre | Sonic Branding
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That letter made me vom all over my ample chest.
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what has any of this got to do with Spurs playing Newcastle on Tuesday?
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No mention of the good to come from social media?
And perhaps some of the venom unleashed in these forums is just a release of steam after waaay too coffees as a result of too many late nights and early starts cracking briefs and lost sleep worrying if you’ll get axed.
Whilst I don’t really support negative anon commenting, I must say some of you funny folk crack me up. Golden moments for sure, thank you!
65. Well said
Pining for the good old days of excess is not a great look whilst we watch the world wrestle with biblical proportion floods, post GFC jitters, climate change and pollution. We’ve all evolved a bit, hopefully.
Agreed we all need to keep things in perspective and have a laugh and be nice humans, I just reckon maybe choose a different forum for your message, David.
I’ve had most of my laughs so far this year from Australian batsmen 😉
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institutionilised idiots
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