Advertising Age - September 5, 2011

➜
WHAT
YOU SAY
said NO 54%
“If you were a brand manager, would you advertise your brand
in or around programming dedicated to 9/11?”
said YES 46%
OPINION
RANCE CRAIN EDITOR IN CHIEF
David Abbott on what it takes to
attract talent (it isn’t money) and
why AMV was picky about clients

“Most of the talk in the advertising
business is about clients picking
agencies. I think it’s just as important for
agencies to pick clients.”
That’s the view of David Abbott, the
retired chairman and creative director of
Abbott Mead Vickers in London, and one
of this year’s inductees into the
Advertising Hall of Fame.

Mr. Abbott went on to explain that
“every client we picked and agreed to
work with—it was not only that we
wanted their money, but we wanted
their company as well. We chose people
we liked, for whom advertising seemed
to be an important, upfront part of their
business.”
Among the clients AMV liked were
Sainsbury’s, the Economist, and Volvo.
But the agency wouldn’t take toy
advertising or tobacco ads.

When Mr. Abbott retired in 1998, he

“We owned our company and we thought, what’s the point of owning a company if you can’t do what you want?” had spent 40 years in advertising and had worked for four agencies, two of which he helped start. It was Bill Bernbach who first spotted Mr. Abbott’s management skills in New York when he made him managing director of DDB London in 1969. From that time on, at French Gold Abbott and later at AMV, he always had two roles, according to his bio: a creator of ads and a builder of businesses.

“we objected to the media placement
and the aiming
at programs
that children
saw so that they
could badger
their parents.
We were not
trying to
become the
most priggish,

Reach Rance at rcrain@crain.com.

RANCE CRAIN Editorinchief
DAVID S. KLEIN Publishing/editorialdirector
ALLISON P. ARDEN Vicepresident,publisher
JACKIE GHEDINE Associatepublisher
rcrain@crain.com
dklein@crain.com
aarden@adage.com
jghedine@adage.com

HOW TO CONTACT EDITORIAL

Abbey Klaassen Editor 212-210-0243 Judann Pollack Executiveeditor 212-210-0458 Ken Wheaton Managingeditor 212-210-0761 Sheila Dougherty Assistantmanagingeditor 212-210-0783 Aris Georgiadis Assistantmanagingeditor 312-649-5294

DATACENTER

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AD AGE INSIGHTS

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EDITORS AT LARGE

Bob Garfield Columnist bgarfield@adage.com 301-340-2804 Jack Neff Personalproducts/research,Batavia,OH jneff@adage.com 513- 732-9001 Simon Dumenco Mediaguy sdumenco@adage.com Matthew Creamer mattcreamer@gmail.com

THE BEAT SHEET

Anita Chang Beattie Asiaeditor acbeattie@adage.com +86 13816700846 AlexandraBruell Media,PR,directagencies abruell@adage.com 212-210-0229 Beth Snyder Bulik Consumerelectronics/tech, York,PA bbulik@adage.com 717-848-6950 Ann-Christine Diaz Creativityeditor adiaz@creativity-online.com 212-210-0403 Cotton Delo Digitalmediaandtechnology cdelo@adage.com 212-210-0219 JasonDelRey Digital jray@adage.com 212-210-0493 Emma Hall Editor,London ehall@adage.com 44-794-123-7761 Andrew Hampp Cable TV/outdoor/radio,LosAngeles ahampp@adage.com 323-522-6256 Nat Ives Mediaeditor nives@adage.com 212-210-0146 Michael Learmonth Digitaleditor mlearmonth@adage.com 212-850-0283 Maureen Morrison Agencies,fastfood,Chicago mcmorrison@adage.com 312649-5348 Rupal Parekh Agencyeditor rparekh@adage.com 212-210-0770 Kunur Patel Agencies kpatel@adage.com 212-210-0204 E.J. Schultz Alcoholicbeverages/food,Chicago eschultz@adage.com 312-397-7582 Brian Steinberg TVeditor bsteinberg@adage.com 212-210-0169 Laurel Wentz Globaleditor lwentz@adage.com 212-210-0175 Natalie Zmuda Retail,nonalcoholicbeverages nzmuda@adage.com 212-210-0419

ART

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WEB

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COPY

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EVENTS

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ADVERTISING, SPONSORSHIP & INSIGHTS SALES

MEDIA

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Ellen Mazen Sr.AccountManager, WestCoast emazen@adage.com GeorgiaGardner, AccountExecutive ggardner@adage.com

DIGITAL, CREATIVITY & TECHNOLOGY

Jim Whelan Sr.Director,Digital jwhelan@adage.com 212-210-0158 AlexMcGrath Sr.accountexecutive amcgrath@adage.com 212-210-0456 Becky Gibson Sr.salesexecutive bgibson@adage.com 212-210-0173

INSIGHTS

Lisa Scotto Director,Partnerships lscotto@adage.com 212-210-0104

SALES MARKETING

Kerri Ross Director,SalesMarketing kross@adage.com 212-210-0160 Emily Chiang SalesMarketingManager echiang@adage.com 212-210-0246

CUSTOM

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MARKETING & EVENTS

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ADVERTISING PRODUCTION

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ONLINE PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

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AUDIENCE DEVELOPMEN T

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