Dear Sergio,
Just need to get something off my chest here.
You're new to town.
And here in Detroit, well ... it's a friendly place. A good place ... to live ... to work ... to raise a family ... pursue your career passion ... particularly if you love cars! We love cars here. (I invite you to come out on Woodward Ave or better yet ... Gratiot ... some weekend night with me. Doesn't even have to be the Dream Cruise weekend ... cause your gonna see some great rides.)
Detroit accepts people into it's community with open arms. Hell ... The whole city is built on immigration of one kind or another ... whether from distant shores and borders (like the strong Arab and Lebanese communities, Mexican villages, Greek, Polish, and Irish hamlets)... or even Black and White migrants from the South who came here generations ago, up US-23, to work in the mills, and factories that supported this great Auto Industry.
People who work here in marketing and advertising ... well ... they got one of the strongest work ethics on the planet.
You think in an advertising world of shysters and barkers and slick willies ... where it's easy for any bullshitter to make a buck and name for him/or herself ... if it was just about the money ... they wouldn't have taken a powder on this place by now if they didn't love what they do and have a sense of community about it?
Like maybe it matters more to them that they are doing what they love, for those that they love, in a pretty hardscrabble place ... but, thats where the work ethic comes from!
But in the last decade ... there has been more harm done to our life here by outsiders with no more passion in their souls than what they may earnestly hope to find through their longing stares into the eyes of Ben Franklin on the $100 bill.
Carpetbaggers.
No intention to be a part of this community. No intention to help build it ... or rebuild it ... as the case may sadly now be ...
Only to plunder whatever is left of her.
Are you another one of those guys? God! I hoped not.
So ... long way around saying that I watched the latest results of your creative agency "jump ball" routine.
And so I was just ... you know ... left scratching' my head ... going this ... this stuff ... is what you sold BBDO out for? You ... a guy that supposedly gets the value of commitment ... a guy supposedly who dragged Fiat out of the ashes and back into competition ... a guy that talks all about the long haul ...
Did you really say to the invitees at your 8 hour soul-searching extravaganza last week ... "The 2010 - 2014plan at Chrysler, when all is said and done, is a commitment to build an enterprise of men and women of virtue."
And then turn BBDO out on the streets.
You threw out 3 decades of commitment ... 3 decades of values and work ethic ... 3 decades of blood, sweat and tears at the hands of an inept client merry-go-round ...
You threw all that out ... because you don't want an agency with too much power? - you favor the "jump ball"? ... all that loyalty is just meaningless blather in the dog-eat-dog world of marketing to you?
And this is what you got for it?
When all that you needed to do was give some of the hardest working and loyal troops in the industry the only thing they have truly needed ...
Honest Leadership.
You know ... under any other circumstances, think I would have stepped up to welcome you to Detroit. But there is no turning the cheek on this kind of betrayal.
No substance ... only packaging.
And that's what I expect will be evident of your newest Chrysler.
Unless ... my friend ... you put some integrity behind all the words.
Maybe you didn't like BBDO ... but make your next agency live and work here ,,, and do yourself a favor ...
Make 'em hire some of your most loyal supporters back.
Sincerely,
DMG
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
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9 comments:
God Bless You!! And here's to all those who dedicated themselves to their craft. Thanks for a well written message to this thoughtless human who will never be welcome here. I commit to never buying any of their products and will dedicate my marketing efforts to Ford and GM for their success be the failure of the new Chrysler llc.
I'd like to introduce him to "a friend of ours".
Thank you DMG. This lack of commitment to BBDO is only the beginning of what is yet to come to our peers in the automotive marketing industry...give it a week or so when Serg calls for a shiny new agency with no automotive expertise and no pool of talent to draw from (likely NYC or somewhere in the Pac NW). Disaster.
Well said, DMG, well said indeed.
One hates to wish others ill, but in some cases it's much harder than others to refrain.
Schadenfreude is a very understandable goal in this case.
Hubris and ignorance make quite a team, don't they?
Well said DMG.
Watched the ad...that is the voice of a lamb not a RAM.
I was one of those migrants that worked in Detroit for 5 years before returning home. And everything that DMG says about the commitment and expertise of Detroit is absolutely true.
I tried on many occasions to get good car work out of the 'global network' that I worked in. Only to come back to the homegrown work that was staring me right in the face, every time.
I miss Detroit, only for the people that live there.
Hear, hear!! Want to expound a little on one of the points DMG makes in his open letter - the Ram spot you see is very likely the spot that won the "jump ball" for the Ram creative business. Think about that - Serg & the Fiat guys had a raft of creative work submitted by multiple agencies to chose from, and THAT turd is what they decided to go with. THAT abortion is what spoke to them, what moved them, what they felt best conveyed the direction they want to take the new Ram brand. Welcome to amateur hour. It does not bode well for the future of the New(est) Chrysler. Former BBDO'ers, my heart breaks for you. Do yourselves a favor and do everything you can to land a position that is in no way involved with Chrysler, because they won't make it much past 2010 if they even last that long.
Of course you are all correct. The sense of abandonment is palpable. But Sergio's current foray is only the latest manifestation of betrayal that has been going on for some time. Detroit ad agencies have long been scrambling to keep up with the capricous whims of newcomers. It wasn't that long ago that GM dumped is family-like associations with Oldsmobile, Cadillac and Pontiac. Even now they are planning a "jump-ball" with only token participation of Campbell Ewald and Ford is looking for a replacement for JWT. There is no loyalty here anymore. To hell with baseball, hot dogs and apple pie, we need new blood and lots of it.
I understand that the "same old ways" are what got the D-3 into their current mess. They are should be making severe changes. But, throwing out the baby with the bathwater is just as destructive as doing nothing. The loyalty of talented people who both know and care about their business is irreplaceable.
Moving ad jobs out of Detroit isn't going to sell more cars! If these auto companies find creative they like (as if they can afford to keep stumbling around in the dark) they should require the winning agencies to open Detroit offices and hire some the thousands of committed and talented people who have done great work here for years and decades.
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