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Adland: Searching for the Meaning of Life on a Branded Planet
Liar's Poker meets The Tipping Point meets Mad Men -a hilarious, personal, and sneakily profound chronicle of the past, present, and future of the advertising business.
Adland is a book about advertising. Which is to say, it's a book about every issue and aspect of life on our morally conflicted, culturally challenged, ubiquitously branded planet.
On one level it's the wickedly funny, compelling personal chronicle of the rise and fall of a modern-day ad man; a riveting insider's look at the astonishing transformation taking place in advertising's hottest idea factories; and an introduction to the people whose job is to know what makes us tick, what makes us lean in, what we think we need and don't know that we want.
But take a step back from the tales of lavish shoots, agencies on the brink, and pampered mega-brands and Adland becomes much a snapshot of how we live our lives on this earth at this particular moment . . . thirty seconds at a time.
Funny, profound, deeply thoughtful, and utterly unique, this book is both a wildly amusing ride in Adland, brilliantly recounted, and an exploration of the value of life in the information age.
Adland is a book about advertising. Which is to say, it's a book about every issue and aspect of life on our morally conflicted, culturally challenged, ubiquitously branded planet.
On one level it's the wickedly funny, compelling personal chronicle of the rise and fall of a modern-day ad man; a riveting insider's look at the astonishing transformation taking place in advertising's hottest idea factories; and an introduction to the people whose job is to know what makes us tick, what makes us lean in, what we think we need and don't know that we want.
But take a step back from the tales of lavish shoots, agencies on the brink, and pampered mega-brands and Adland becomes much a snapshot of how we live our lives on this earth at this particular moment . . . thirty seconds at a time.
Funny, profound, deeply thoughtful, and utterly unique, this book is both a wildly amusing ride in Adland, brilliantly recounted, and an exploration of the value of life in the information age.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
5 people are currently reading
161 people want to read
About the author
James P. Othmer
5 books42 followersAuthor of the novels THE FUTURIST and HOLY WATER and the nonfiction advertising memoir ADLAND: Searching for the Meaning of Life on a Branded Planet. Also, writing as James Conway, the author of the financial thriller THE LAST TRADE.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
February 4, 2011
The book is clearly written by someone in advertising: the intro introduces several intriguing themes to draw you in, but the product doesn't deliver as advertised.
The title and introduction suggest that the book will discuss ethical issues inherent in advertising, or some of the main issues that the field is struggling with today. However, the weightiest issues are treated superficially. For example, one day he counts the number of ads he is exposed to in one form or another and tallies about 400. Assuming he slept 8 hours, that's 25 ads an hour. He doesn't notice this; rather his final observation is that he didn't feel bombarded or irritated. While interesting, an observation on one day of one's own feelings toward the matter is hardly a thoughtful discussion on whether there can be such a thing as too much advertising and whether the average citizen is being bombarded. Interested in a discussion of the ethical implications of advertising? Expect answers like "well, we're not building bombs" and "we're not doing a cigarette campaign" and "well, it's a free market." Discussion goes no further than that.
The book's biggest failing is the author's pervading narcissism. His unflattering descriptions of many of his co-workers, his disdain for anyone more successful, wealthy, older, younger or different from him, and the multiple descriptions of parties where he got drunk do not enhance the book. Those might be of interest in a biography, but this book purports to discuss advertising. Drinking and doing stupid things while drinking is not a pastime limited to advertising (nor are they terribly interesting either).
Even more troubling was the rampant and crude sexual imagery throughout the book (i.e. a section titled "The Author Knowingly Invites His Nineteen-Year-Old Nephew to a Gang Bang" or another titled "Pay No Attention to the worldwide Man Expert's Breasts and Vagina"). Sex may sell in advertising, but it doesn't belong in casual commentary, nor do some of his personal vignettes of behavior that closely resembles sexual harassment in one form or another.
If you're interested in a mostly biographical account of one person's experiences and observations in advertising, it's a quick read. If you want a thoughtful discussion of advertising in any form, look elsewhere.
The title and introduction suggest that the book will discuss ethical issues inherent in advertising, or some of the main issues that the field is struggling with today. However, the weightiest issues are treated superficially. For example, one day he counts the number of ads he is exposed to in one form or another and tallies about 400. Assuming he slept 8 hours, that's 25 ads an hour. He doesn't notice this; rather his final observation is that he didn't feel bombarded or irritated. While interesting, an observation on one day of one's own feelings toward the matter is hardly a thoughtful discussion on whether there can be such a thing as too much advertising and whether the average citizen is being bombarded. Interested in a discussion of the ethical implications of advertising? Expect answers like "well, we're not building bombs" and "we're not doing a cigarette campaign" and "well, it's a free market." Discussion goes no further than that.
The book's biggest failing is the author's pervading narcissism. His unflattering descriptions of many of his co-workers, his disdain for anyone more successful, wealthy, older, younger or different from him, and the multiple descriptions of parties where he got drunk do not enhance the book. Those might be of interest in a biography, but this book purports to discuss advertising. Drinking and doing stupid things while drinking is not a pastime limited to advertising (nor are they terribly interesting either).
Even more troubling was the rampant and crude sexual imagery throughout the book (i.e. a section titled "The Author Knowingly Invites His Nineteen-Year-Old Nephew to a Gang Bang" or another titled "Pay No Attention to the worldwide Man Expert's Breasts and Vagina"). Sex may sell in advertising, but it doesn't belong in casual commentary, nor do some of his personal vignettes of behavior that closely resembles sexual harassment in one form or another.
If you're interested in a mostly biographical account of one person's experiences and observations in advertising, it's a quick read. If you want a thoughtful discussion of advertising in any form, look elsewhere.
November 7, 2009
When I was in elementary school, and in the Gifted-and-Getting-Made-Fun-of-for-It Program, the best thing we ever did was study advertising. We had to bring in all the magazines we could find at home, and then go through them and examine all the ads. There were all these different types and approaches, and we had to say which was which and explain why. I remember my favorite was "cardstacking," which was when they added up all their brand's good points side-by-side with the competition's failure to match up... or maybe that was something else... I forget. (Also, I could never remember the difference between "testimonial" and "ordinary people" (apparently I was an idiot as well as Gifted).)
Anyway, the point is, I got totally obsessed with advertising, and that was all I thought of for a while. I'd read magazines for ads, watch TV for ads; I always like movie previews better than movies. My sister is the same way; we were both irrevocably warped ("educated" I suppose might also work). And yet, despite all of this, and up until quite recently, it had never really occurred to me that people actually make ads. They always just seem to come from on high. (Apparently that idiot problem stuck around.)
So anyway, this book was really fun. For me it was an investigation of a culture. I don't have TV so I haven't seen Mad Men, but this book made me want to check it out. (It takes a lot to make me think about getting a TV (TV is an evil hole that eats my life while I enjoy and hate every minute of it.)) I liked the portraits and the places and the descriptions of the work environments. In a way it was like reading science fiction. There was even something called "Subservient Chicken."
I think my favorite thing about the book, however, was simply the fact that it was funny. It's written in the kind of quick, sloganeering style you get in darker form in Chuck Palahniuk (or however the fuck you spell that). Everything moves fast, and everything is a saying, and almost all of the sayings are funny. Not laugh out loud funny (though some of them are), but sharp and ironic without ever being mean-spirited. Most of the time, really, it makes the whole thing sound like fun.
Even when it makes you think the whole world's about to die.
Anyway, the point is, I got totally obsessed with advertising, and that was all I thought of for a while. I'd read magazines for ads, watch TV for ads; I always like movie previews better than movies. My sister is the same way; we were both irrevocably warped ("educated" I suppose might also work). And yet, despite all of this, and up until quite recently, it had never really occurred to me that people actually make ads. They always just seem to come from on high. (Apparently that idiot problem stuck around.)
So anyway, this book was really fun. For me it was an investigation of a culture. I don't have TV so I haven't seen Mad Men, but this book made me want to check it out. (It takes a lot to make me think about getting a TV (TV is an evil hole that eats my life while I enjoy and hate every minute of it.)) I liked the portraits and the places and the descriptions of the work environments. In a way it was like reading science fiction. There was even something called "Subservient Chicken."
I think my favorite thing about the book, however, was simply the fact that it was funny. It's written in the kind of quick, sloganeering style you get in darker form in Chuck Palahniuk (or however the fuck you spell that). Everything moves fast, and everything is a saying, and almost all of the sayings are funny. Not laugh out loud funny (though some of them are), but sharp and ironic without ever being mean-spirited. Most of the time, really, it makes the whole thing sound like fun.
Even when it makes you think the whole world's about to die.
June 2, 2012
Not Worth a New York Minute of Your Time
For a book ostensibly about advertising, Adland has an identity crisis. Is it memoir, essay, journalism, corporate snapshots, all of the above or none of the above? Readers are left unsure of the message, and that’s never a good thing in this field. The author was in advertising for a sizable stretch, then couldn’t take it anymore, indulged his literary ambitions, and then thought to write a text looking back on and interrogating his professional career. That would be fine if not for the fact that there’s a nagging sense that the best stories, vignettes, anecdotes, and pet peeves are only alluded to, not explained—and so we never really get a strong sense of the author’s motives, ticks, or personality. Methinks the narrator’s too mild, and not memorable. Sure, that’s one point of the book, to bring us down to earth and make us realize that it’s not all Mad Men : but that would be a better pill to swallow if the text were not so disorganized, even scatterbrained, and seemingly aimless, taking copouts at the end rather than the risk of committing to any kind of opinion, even (gasp) an unpopular one.
If there is a focus, it’s left for the reader to attach that meaning: chapters are divided into ADD-nugget subchapters that belie any idea of coherency that could have been gleaned from the table of contents. There are some good bon mots to be had, but they’re buried in unnecessarily talky, meandering prose. One would expect a book about advertising to have sharper, more direct, writing. There’s considerably too much filler to make the witticisms worth it. The book could have greatly benefitted from fewer sub-chapter divisions and more ruthless editing, down to the sentence level. There’s so much telling and little to no showing, especially of his own experiences, which should fly off the page more vividly than they actually do. On one of his former bosses, we’re told, “…he had told us we all sucked and had made most of our lives a living hell, but he had also made each of us a more provocative, progressive, and personally and collectively demanding creator.” And a book that actually showed us that happening over a set of events or chapters would have been amazing, with the essays about advertising as a profession and possible art form becoming, possibly, another book altogether (see? It really is all about packaging).
As a whole, the second half of the book, turning the mirror on the media, is far more successful than the first half. In parts 2 and 3, there do seem to be a few leitmotifs that are returned to time and again, but none of them are satisfactorily addressed. One is the problem of ethics in advertising, that is, if there is such a thing as ethical advertising. Like many other points Othmer tries to make, he’s inconclusive on this, shying away from taking a definite position, though he does profile a few firms trying to incorporate social responsibility/ social causes in their advertising. These quick sketches of firms-du-jour make the second half of the book seem like a compilation that was attempted to be placed in business publications (“spotlight on the sector” feel to them), but didn’t make the cut—perhaps because he does not necessarily pick the best examples or the strongest companies embodying the phenomena/ principle he’s trying to illustrate (the Nine Inch Nails Year Zero campaign, which used USB drives in wacky places, really was The Example to choose to stand-in for New Wave Advertising—that was the game-changer?). As an aside, Othmer’s comments on pharmaceutical advertising are worth a quick read, as he jumps on the bandwagon of making fun of a phenomena that every sketch comedy troupe you’ve ever known has made fun of.
Another theme is the effort to try to discern “the future of advertising,” to figure out if it’s all digital, if the 30-second spot has really died, and/or if Advertising in General is really Dead. Again, we sort of get the idea that digital/interactivity is where everything is headed (as a hat-tip to those in the field trying to strategize their way into job stability), but we’re left to, perhaps rightly but highly un-satisfyingly, make our own conclusions. It’s not entirely clear why someone who left the field to write novels even cares about the future of advertising, or, as he self-reflectively questions as a kind of coda, has any authority to speak about the future of something he’s no longer involved in. He goes to some ad/ business/branding schools to wonder whether advertising can even be taught, and whether the big agency of yore will fall or morph into some kind of multi-service, non-agency agency (i.e., like an “idea factory” model)—and whether this is better or worse for clients, or produces “better” ads (ads that consumers would be more likely to tune into than drop out of).
For those of us who care about media and advertising, these are interesting questions indeed. Unfortunately, Othmer assumes his audience by and large doesn’t care about advertising, and in his back-to-basics approach, dumbs down the key issues to talk to an audience that would likely not read a book about advertising anyway, thus avoiding anything remotely “edgy,” and disappointing those who do care about advertising and who do know at least a thing or two about many of the issues he skims the surface of.
Ironically enough, if anything’s killing advertising, it’s this shunning of the edgy/ real/ authentic/ complex/ inconvenient/ nuanced in favor of anything that’s been more “tried and true” in popular media, i.e., online forums and reality TV. Othmer falls into this by trying to paint his insider status with broad strokes. He would have done better being truer to his insider experience and not caring about whether those without a media background would get lost. Instead, by playing to the broadest of mainstream audiences, he alienates everyone, losing the entire enterprise.
In ten words or less: Skip to second half for middle-of-road media critique.
For a book ostensibly about advertising, Adland has an identity crisis. Is it memoir, essay, journalism, corporate snapshots, all of the above or none of the above? Readers are left unsure of the message, and that’s never a good thing in this field. The author was in advertising for a sizable stretch, then couldn’t take it anymore, indulged his literary ambitions, and then thought to write a text looking back on and interrogating his professional career. That would be fine if not for the fact that there’s a nagging sense that the best stories, vignettes, anecdotes, and pet peeves are only alluded to, not explained—and so we never really get a strong sense of the author’s motives, ticks, or personality. Methinks the narrator’s too mild, and not memorable. Sure, that’s one point of the book, to bring us down to earth and make us realize that it’s not all Mad Men : but that would be a better pill to swallow if the text were not so disorganized, even scatterbrained, and seemingly aimless, taking copouts at the end rather than the risk of committing to any kind of opinion, even (gasp) an unpopular one.
If there is a focus, it’s left for the reader to attach that meaning: chapters are divided into ADD-nugget subchapters that belie any idea of coherency that could have been gleaned from the table of contents. There are some good bon mots to be had, but they’re buried in unnecessarily talky, meandering prose. One would expect a book about advertising to have sharper, more direct, writing. There’s considerably too much filler to make the witticisms worth it. The book could have greatly benefitted from fewer sub-chapter divisions and more ruthless editing, down to the sentence level. There’s so much telling and little to no showing, especially of his own experiences, which should fly off the page more vividly than they actually do. On one of his former bosses, we’re told, “…he had told us we all sucked and had made most of our lives a living hell, but he had also made each of us a more provocative, progressive, and personally and collectively demanding creator.” And a book that actually showed us that happening over a set of events or chapters would have been amazing, with the essays about advertising as a profession and possible art form becoming, possibly, another book altogether (see? It really is all about packaging).
As a whole, the second half of the book, turning the mirror on the media, is far more successful than the first half. In parts 2 and 3, there do seem to be a few leitmotifs that are returned to time and again, but none of them are satisfactorily addressed. One is the problem of ethics in advertising, that is, if there is such a thing as ethical advertising. Like many other points Othmer tries to make, he’s inconclusive on this, shying away from taking a definite position, though he does profile a few firms trying to incorporate social responsibility/ social causes in their advertising. These quick sketches of firms-du-jour make the second half of the book seem like a compilation that was attempted to be placed in business publications (“spotlight on the sector” feel to them), but didn’t make the cut—perhaps because he does not necessarily pick the best examples or the strongest companies embodying the phenomena/ principle he’s trying to illustrate (the Nine Inch Nails Year Zero campaign, which used USB drives in wacky places, really was The Example to choose to stand-in for New Wave Advertising—that was the game-changer?). As an aside, Othmer’s comments on pharmaceutical advertising are worth a quick read, as he jumps on the bandwagon of making fun of a phenomena that every sketch comedy troupe you’ve ever known has made fun of.
Another theme is the effort to try to discern “the future of advertising,” to figure out if it’s all digital, if the 30-second spot has really died, and/or if Advertising in General is really Dead. Again, we sort of get the idea that digital/interactivity is where everything is headed (as a hat-tip to those in the field trying to strategize their way into job stability), but we’re left to, perhaps rightly but highly un-satisfyingly, make our own conclusions. It’s not entirely clear why someone who left the field to write novels even cares about the future of advertising, or, as he self-reflectively questions as a kind of coda, has any authority to speak about the future of something he’s no longer involved in. He goes to some ad/ business/branding schools to wonder whether advertising can even be taught, and whether the big agency of yore will fall or morph into some kind of multi-service, non-agency agency (i.e., like an “idea factory” model)—and whether this is better or worse for clients, or produces “better” ads (ads that consumers would be more likely to tune into than drop out of).
For those of us who care about media and advertising, these are interesting questions indeed. Unfortunately, Othmer assumes his audience by and large doesn’t care about advertising, and in his back-to-basics approach, dumbs down the key issues to talk to an audience that would likely not read a book about advertising anyway, thus avoiding anything remotely “edgy,” and disappointing those who do care about advertising and who do know at least a thing or two about many of the issues he skims the surface of.
Ironically enough, if anything’s killing advertising, it’s this shunning of the edgy/ real/ authentic/ complex/ inconvenient/ nuanced in favor of anything that’s been more “tried and true” in popular media, i.e., online forums and reality TV. Othmer falls into this by trying to paint his insider status with broad strokes. He would have done better being truer to his insider experience and not caring about whether those without a media background would get lost. Instead, by playing to the broadest of mainstream audiences, he alienates everyone, losing the entire enterprise.
In ten words or less: Skip to second half for middle-of-road media critique.
November 24, 2018
A good read that is worth the time that you put into it. The author obviously knows his stuff and doesn't come across as "pedantic". I can see where his sarcasm comes from in an industry that is a necessary evil (I am a marketer). The special place in hell for advertising professionals comment in the book leads me to believe that he feels the same way.
June 18, 2018
Occasionally interesting, but not particularly compelling volume on the nature of the advertising industry through the eyes of an insider.
By 2018, when I read this, it was showing its age. A lot of the discussion of the future of digital advertising is now very old news.
By 2018, when I read this, it was showing its age. A lot of the discussion of the future of digital advertising is now very old news.
January 8, 2010
James Othmer's Adland isn't the sort of book I'd normally read. It's a memoir and it's about a business I've never been in: advertising. I picked it up because I needed something to read at lunch. The adjective most often associated with Othmer's style? Acerbically funny. Yup. I kept reading.
The book opens with a series of questions about advertising's supposed moral dilemmas: would you work on an account for the military? a tobacco company? for an alcohol product targeted at underage drinkers? I assumed those questions would be answered by a guy writing a memoir as excuse to engage self-absorbed, dramatic soul searching over career choices that lots of people have to make, not just capital A Authors/Artists. It could have gone either way: hand wringing over how wrong the business is; or hand wringing over how idiotic such criticisms are in the first place. Either would have been tedious.
The first 3/4ths of the book is memoir: a witty -erm, acerbic- account of the life of an adman. There are some bouts of moral despair, such as the time Othmer shot a lavish construction-workers-eating-yogurt-ad in Africa, atop a building overlooking long lines of unemployed workers waiting to be selected for a meager day job.
When I realized Othmer may have spent his days dreaming of being a writer during his tenure at Big@$$ Agency, I thought: oh lard! I'm going to have to endure whining from a wannabe author about the soullessness of advertising and how he only ever did it for a buck so forgive him now that's he making a living writing and isn't it a crime struggling Artists must starve in a garret apartment or work at some horrible job making tons of money, living in a creativity-stifling suburb. Because authors (and artists more generally) are special and shouldn't have to work in soulless jobs. Everyone else? Well, they are not Artists.
Thank Google, this wasn't That Book.
The rest of the book examines what haunted Othmer throughout his career: the decline of the Big@$$ Ad Agency; the death of advertising -- though not so much dead as sidelined by what the kewl kidz call "interactive marketing."
Living and breathing the world, IT, where I take all this for granted -- yet I forget that my world has done much to destroy the world Othmer lived and breathed. As such, the book made for an interesting, thought-provoking read. He was sometimes uncritical about the possibilities of this new interactive planet, cheering on the demise of a world he obviously sometimes hated. But he hedges his bets, recognizing that maybe it's just another permutation of the same big soulless thing it's always been. Thus, upstart non-ad agencies will emerge, take the world by storm, be bought out by the big agencies once again and their creatives will become soulless, unimaginative, uninspired. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
The chapters in this section are essays on What It All Means when -- here comes the breathless -- OMG! You can't always control your brand! consumers are creating the brand! Subservient Chicken Changed the World! Millions and Billions of viewers are watching youtube! Viral videos are winning awards at Cannes! Othmer usually catches himself, realizing that it's not appealing to be so gape-mouthed naive.
Othmer is enthused about OfficeMax's Elf Yourself and HBO's voyeur microsite. I ride the Internet for a living and spend far too much time riding it in my off hours. I blog. I facebook. I forum. I email. I IM. I linkedin. I live and breath this stuff. Never heard of either. I just asked 12 IT saavy, IT-addicted people, 45 & younger: also never heard of either.
But then, I'm also not much for 140 character engagements and I'm especially not much for surfing the Web @ work.
And that's the crucial issue about which most of the authors in this 'genre' are clueless: interactive media is "working" so spectacularly because people are tuning in while they are at work.
Why did Facebook take off, while Myspace died? It wasn't just the glitter gifs littering Myspace. It's because Facebook blends into corporate culture -- at least from your boss's squinting distance.
Interactive brandings wouldn't be this important were it not for the enormous number of people who work for 8-10 hrs a day looking for something to do that is NOT work. That is the momentum behind Web2.0. A look at any blogger's stats will tell you that. Peak traffic is usually 2pm on a Wednesday. Dead on the weekends. Viral marketing? Social Networks? They takeoff b/c it can be done at work. You can skim. You can voice an opinion without knowing anything about what you're talking about. Because it happens so fast and there are only 140 chars anyway, why bother? Whatever dumb thing you said a noon? It'll all be forgotten, buried under a dozen tweets. Interactive marketing -- most of it anyway - is custom-built for entertaining people while they are work, doing jobs they'd often rather not do.
Which isn't saying much about this social phenomena. What would happen were people more engaged in interesting, challenging work? Which makes you ask: why do so many people feel so alienated at work? If what undergirds it all is a lot of people escaping work, what would happen were they engaged in something that really was democratic, participatory, and really about community.
It's true: I plead guilty to being cynical about all this, possibly because I've lived and breathed it for a lot longer than Othmer has. But as a heavy participant in online communities, nearly 15 years now, it seems to me that the community and democratic self-initiative part of it all -- the part that people herald has revolutionary and culture-changing? Well, it's declined in my view.
In any event, Adland is worth a read if you're in the business or if you're looking for a funny insider-account of the business. It's not glamorous Madmen stuff. It's the sometimes unglamorous world of a man who stumbled into advertising, did pretty good for himself, but in the end learned that what he really was was a writer. I'm looking forward to reading Othmer's novels. Which is saying a lot since I'm an inveterate non-fiction reader and not much for fiction.
Enjoy!
The book opens with a series of questions about advertising's supposed moral dilemmas: would you work on an account for the military? a tobacco company? for an alcohol product targeted at underage drinkers? I assumed those questions would be answered by a guy writing a memoir as excuse to engage self-absorbed, dramatic soul searching over career choices that lots of people have to make, not just capital A Authors/Artists. It could have gone either way: hand wringing over how wrong the business is; or hand wringing over how idiotic such criticisms are in the first place. Either would have been tedious.
The first 3/4ths of the book is memoir: a witty -erm, acerbic- account of the life of an adman. There are some bouts of moral despair, such as the time Othmer shot a lavish construction-workers-eating-yogurt-ad in Africa, atop a building overlooking long lines of unemployed workers waiting to be selected for a meager day job.
When I realized Othmer may have spent his days dreaming of being a writer during his tenure at Big@$$ Agency, I thought: oh lard! I'm going to have to endure whining from a wannabe author about the soullessness of advertising and how he only ever did it for a buck so forgive him now that's he making a living writing and isn't it a crime struggling Artists must starve in a garret apartment or work at some horrible job making tons of money, living in a creativity-stifling suburb. Because authors (and artists more generally) are special and shouldn't have to work in soulless jobs. Everyone else? Well, they are not Artists.
Thank Google, this wasn't That Book.
The rest of the book examines what haunted Othmer throughout his career: the decline of the Big@$$ Ad Agency; the death of advertising -- though not so much dead as sidelined by what the kewl kidz call "interactive marketing."
Living and breathing the world, IT, where I take all this for granted -- yet I forget that my world has done much to destroy the world Othmer lived and breathed. As such, the book made for an interesting, thought-provoking read. He was sometimes uncritical about the possibilities of this new interactive planet, cheering on the demise of a world he obviously sometimes hated. But he hedges his bets, recognizing that maybe it's just another permutation of the same big soulless thing it's always been. Thus, upstart non-ad agencies will emerge, take the world by storm, be bought out by the big agencies once again and their creatives will become soulless, unimaginative, uninspired. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
The chapters in this section are essays on What It All Means when -- here comes the breathless -- OMG! You can't always control your brand! consumers are creating the brand! Subservient Chicken Changed the World! Millions and Billions of viewers are watching youtube! Viral videos are winning awards at Cannes! Othmer usually catches himself, realizing that it's not appealing to be so gape-mouthed naive.
Othmer is enthused about OfficeMax's Elf Yourself and HBO's voyeur microsite. I ride the Internet for a living and spend far too much time riding it in my off hours. I blog. I facebook. I forum. I email. I IM. I linkedin. I live and breath this stuff. Never heard of either. I just asked 12 IT saavy, IT-addicted people, 45 & younger: also never heard of either.
But then, I'm also not much for 140 character engagements and I'm especially not much for surfing the Web @ work.
And that's the crucial issue about which most of the authors in this 'genre' are clueless: interactive media is "working" so spectacularly because people are tuning in while they are at work.
Why did Facebook take off, while Myspace died? It wasn't just the glitter gifs littering Myspace. It's because Facebook blends into corporate culture -- at least from your boss's squinting distance.
Interactive brandings wouldn't be this important were it not for the enormous number of people who work for 8-10 hrs a day looking for something to do that is NOT work. That is the momentum behind Web2.0. A look at any blogger's stats will tell you that. Peak traffic is usually 2pm on a Wednesday. Dead on the weekends. Viral marketing? Social Networks? They takeoff b/c it can be done at work. You can skim. You can voice an opinion without knowing anything about what you're talking about. Because it happens so fast and there are only 140 chars anyway, why bother? Whatever dumb thing you said a noon? It'll all be forgotten, buried under a dozen tweets. Interactive marketing -- most of it anyway - is custom-built for entertaining people while they are work, doing jobs they'd often rather not do.
Which isn't saying much about this social phenomena. What would happen were people more engaged in interesting, challenging work? Which makes you ask: why do so many people feel so alienated at work? If what undergirds it all is a lot of people escaping work, what would happen were they engaged in something that really was democratic, participatory, and really about community.
It's true: I plead guilty to being cynical about all this, possibly because I've lived and breathed it for a lot longer than Othmer has. But as a heavy participant in online communities, nearly 15 years now, it seems to me that the community and democratic self-initiative part of it all -- the part that people herald has revolutionary and culture-changing? Well, it's declined in my view.
In any event, Adland is worth a read if you're in the business or if you're looking for a funny insider-account of the business. It's not glamorous Madmen stuff. It's the sometimes unglamorous world of a man who stumbled into advertising, did pretty good for himself, but in the end learned that what he really was was a writer. I'm looking forward to reading Othmer's novels. Which is saying a lot since I'm an inveterate non-fiction reader and not much for fiction.
Enjoy!
April 8, 2019
there is some symbol/content land ... post this review at 4:01, eastern standard that is, goodreads runs on pacific standard time, 1:01 there, uh oh it's 4:02 now ... oh, you know, that doesn't necessarily mean anything/much, don't get bogged down ... there's some pleasant/navigable sense/stuff in symbol/content, as well as not focused on some of that framework in that way ... have a nice day ... peace ... in the beginning was the word ...
March 18, 2024
This book may be more interesting to someone who is not familiar with advertising, but the first-person narrative and lack of an obvious story arch just had it read like an autobiography of an advertising guy reflecting on his career. I honestly did not finish the book--the first hundred pages were enough for me.
July 25, 2011
I had always thought the advertising scene overseas would be drastically different from here in Malaysia. Boy, was I wrong! In a way James Othmer shattered one of my long-kept dreams that the grass on the other side would be greener.
The book itself is divided into 3 parts. The first part for me, was a trip down memory lane which was basically a combination of dreamy and nightmare-like existence. The second part was about the changes currently going on in the industry. And the final part, what the future holds, somewhat.
The biggest thing aside from the advent of the Net as an advertising medium, are those little agencies that are going around saying that they're not ad agencies. I think they're delusional for as long as there are clients who are the myopic and micro-management types dictating the size of logos or the right shade of red still existing, they're gonna be treated like ad agencies whether they like it or not. Hopefully, they will not like it and sack the client. That is, if it is within their financial wherewithal.
Here's the funny part. These same agencies are saying that it is the consumer now that is controlling the brand, not the agency and not the client. So, really, it doesn't matter if they call themselves the non-ad agencies because, their 'consumers' a.k.a. the client will dictate who and what they're supposed to be. And if your very short existence is dependent on the client paying you, you will very quickly change your tune.
The Brandcenter at Richmond is supposed to be the nesting grounds of future advertising professionals. I would've liked to be a part of that except for this: all-nighters and weekend work are to be expected. Hardly progressive. Why would I want to do that in college when I must do that at work? And why must that be a prerequisite of working in the ad business? It's little wonder that many leave the industry.
As with some of the advertising memoirs that I've read, while filled with amusing and inspirational anecdotes, as is with this book, I find that while it lauds the works of creative geniuses, nothing is being said about whether these "works of art" actually improved the clients' sales figures. And that is where I am "disillusioned' with the ad business which Othmer says I shouldn't be.
Fulfillment is attainable in this business. Really? I think Othmer left the business because he wasn't fulfilled. There must be a reason why anyone does anything. And once that reason or purpose is not fulfilling, you ditch it for something else or you try to fix it.
Yes, ads are supposed to be creative, entertaining and "connects" to you in whatever permutation it may be whether it"s the 30-second spot or that viral video that you got in your email. But honestly, at the end of the day, it's supposed to make you want to spend money buying something, or join a good cause. An ad that's a barrel of laughs is not going to help the client's bottom line.
One final thing. Othmer used a lot of the word 'quotidian' (I think, about 4 times it is mentioned). It's one of those big, hard to ignore words being used. It was to me, one impression too many.
The book itself is divided into 3 parts. The first part for me, was a trip down memory lane which was basically a combination of dreamy and nightmare-like existence. The second part was about the changes currently going on in the industry. And the final part, what the future holds, somewhat.
The biggest thing aside from the advent of the Net as an advertising medium, are those little agencies that are going around saying that they're not ad agencies. I think they're delusional for as long as there are clients who are the myopic and micro-management types dictating the size of logos or the right shade of red still existing, they're gonna be treated like ad agencies whether they like it or not. Hopefully, they will not like it and sack the client. That is, if it is within their financial wherewithal.
Here's the funny part. These same agencies are saying that it is the consumer now that is controlling the brand, not the agency and not the client. So, really, it doesn't matter if they call themselves the non-ad agencies because, their 'consumers' a.k.a. the client will dictate who and what they're supposed to be. And if your very short existence is dependent on the client paying you, you will very quickly change your tune.
The Brandcenter at Richmond is supposed to be the nesting grounds of future advertising professionals. I would've liked to be a part of that except for this: all-nighters and weekend work are to be expected. Hardly progressive. Why would I want to do that in college when I must do that at work? And why must that be a prerequisite of working in the ad business? It's little wonder that many leave the industry.
As with some of the advertising memoirs that I've read, while filled with amusing and inspirational anecdotes, as is with this book, I find that while it lauds the works of creative geniuses, nothing is being said about whether these "works of art" actually improved the clients' sales figures. And that is where I am "disillusioned' with the ad business which Othmer says I shouldn't be.
Fulfillment is attainable in this business. Really? I think Othmer left the business because he wasn't fulfilled. There must be a reason why anyone does anything. And once that reason or purpose is not fulfilling, you ditch it for something else or you try to fix it.
Yes, ads are supposed to be creative, entertaining and "connects" to you in whatever permutation it may be whether it"s the 30-second spot or that viral video that you got in your email. But honestly, at the end of the day, it's supposed to make you want to spend money buying something, or join a good cause. An ad that's a barrel of laughs is not going to help the client's bottom line.
One final thing. Othmer used a lot of the word 'quotidian' (I think, about 4 times it is mentioned). It's one of those big, hard to ignore words being used. It was to me, one impression too many.
September 19, 2009
It is very funny to see how the author reacts to such a soul sucking environment that is the ad agency.
First those suited folks at the Madison Avenue type company worked together to create the world's first two atomic bombs. Now we get to the dirty truth from a former ad executive who regularly gets bombed night after night after seeing his creativity and hard work gets gang banged out of job security day after day. Filled with brillant history/memoir and insights toward advertising's future in being given the business as usual, it is one of the finest crash course in advertising that will strip one's of his or her self respect and dignity and leave him or her laughing bitterly.
Those of you who sing the Whitney Houston's song 'The Greatest Love Of All', in the shower, shut up immediately. There's a larger and a more honest shadow over you all that might take your poll, does heavy research on culture and products like Youtube and Elf Yourself, and charm you by telling self desprecating jokes.
Those who are are urged to be clinically depressed while being middle-aged, beware. According to various pharmacological companies disclaimers in various ads, it will destroy what's left of your will to live.
The only negative is that the book is very light and breezy and I wish more of his humorous outtakes on the secretive world of advertising.
First those suited folks at the Madison Avenue type company worked together to create the world's first two atomic bombs. Now we get to the dirty truth from a former ad executive who regularly gets bombed night after night after seeing his creativity and hard work gets gang banged out of job security day after day. Filled with brillant history/memoir and insights toward advertising's future in being given the business as usual, it is one of the finest crash course in advertising that will strip one's of his or her self respect and dignity and leave him or her laughing bitterly.
Those of you who sing the Whitney Houston's song 'The Greatest Love Of All', in the shower, shut up immediately. There's a larger and a more honest shadow over you all that might take your poll, does heavy research on culture and products like Youtube and Elf Yourself, and charm you by telling self desprecating jokes.
Those who are are urged to be clinically depressed while being middle-aged, beware. According to various pharmacological companies disclaimers in various ads, it will destroy what's left of your will to live.
The only negative is that the book is very light and breezy and I wish more of his humorous outtakes on the secretive world of advertising.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 4, 2010
Othmer was an ad writer for twenty-some years, working for some the biggest ad agencies in the US. The book talks about how he became an adman, about his experiences in field with a focus on the upheavals in the industry in the last twenty years and his thoughts on the future of the advertising business as digital technology, interactive media and shifting consumer habits force some big changes in promotional strategies. Well written. I found it interesting how out of touch our family is with the ad world: never heard of The Subservient Chicken... never heard of Elf Yourself... unaware of some of iconic ad campaigns (VW for instance...) I learned what bacn means — quasispam... Some interesting “how-they-do-it stuff”. Note to self: check out Othmer’s novel, THE FUTURIST.
April 16, 2012
Re-read this book for quotes and insights for my own book on advertising I am working on. Had the joy of experiencing one of the biggest ego boosts ever, which was seeing a quote of mine from the book highlighted 12 times by other readers. That felt good.
Re-reading this several years later was interesting. Some offhand comments Othmer makes have turned out to be remarkably prescient. Some of the shops he chronicles have gone bust. Others have gone on to great things. Others have plodded along. It's still a great read, but what makes it awesome, still, are the insights from his own time in advertising. I enjoy reading those.
Re-reading this several years later was interesting. Some offhand comments Othmer makes have turned out to be remarkably prescient. Some of the shops he chronicles have gone bust. Others have gone on to great things. Others have plodded along. It's still a great read, but what makes it awesome, still, are the insights from his own time in advertising. I enjoy reading those.
October 1, 2009
After just finishing Adland I was left hoping that there was more. It's not that it felt incomplete but because it was an enjoyable and enlightening read. Perhaps it was my total ignorance to the advertising industry but I thought it was a fascinating read. It wasn't a fluff piece nor was it polemical. I expected, foolishly the latter. This is a book I would recommend to just about anyone because of the humor and humility it takes to reflect on 20 years in such a challenging and often confounding industry.
February 10, 2010
The first half of this book was an amusing look back at the author's trip through several large advertising agencies and accounts. I enjoyed the recounting of creative v. client conflict and how decisions about advertisements were made.
There was a clear division into a second half where he started to investigate more about branding and marketing in general. He approached this with a flippant tone similar to the first half, but separated from his personal experiences it came across as self-important. I lost interest and didn't finish the book
There was a clear division into a second half where he started to investigate more about branding and marketing in general. He approached this with a flippant tone similar to the first half, but separated from his personal experiences it came across as self-important. I lost interest and didn't finish the book
September 3, 2012
Reading this book feels like you are a bartender listening to a drunk Othmer trying to talk himself into believing he didn't waste his life slaving away in advertising. Half the anecdotes aren't funny and their is no narrative arch or intention to the book. I feel bad for the guy. It's painfully obvious that he felt he was too good for advertising but didn't get out soon enough or in at the right time.
May 26, 2010
The first half of the book is a memoir of his career in advertising; the second half contains his more philosophical thoughts about advertising and ruminations on how the industry is changing. When I picked up the book, I thought I was going to be more interested in the latter than the former, but ended up finding the second half to be a real slog and gave up before I finished.
December 16, 2009
Adland provides an entertaining tour through one career in the advertising industry. That career just happens to span the space between the dominance of the 30 second spot and the emerging dominance of new media, from extravagance to anomie, you might say.
Pick Adland up for the 300+ page equivalent of an agency internship.
Pick Adland up for the 300+ page equivalent of an agency internship.
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July 25, 20112011- This was an interesting read of one man's experience in the advertising world, even though, at times, it seemed a bit disjointed. My favorite section was the third section, about the future of advertising, and how advertising students are being prepared for it.
December 26, 2012
A relatively interesting account of a man's career in advertising and his interviews with those still in the field. I learned some intriguing facts and opinions about advertising, but I wasn't blown away by it.
May 9, 2014
vaguely masturbatory industry memoir. that's all. i mean, feel free to read it and try and get some brilliant insight into the changing media landscape, or globalization, or 'the meaning of life' (who subtitled this, honestly), but you won't find anything like that.
August 18, 2009
3 books for the price of one: a short biography; a sociological survey of the field;
September 19, 2009
He's a breezy, funny writer, but there's two very different books smushed together here - a memoir and a tour of the digital ad agencies of the future. Both imperfect but interesting.
December 17, 2009
interesting from insider in the advertising world but didn't get into how advertising interacts with culture or how it has evolved and why since the 1st sale or barter to current times
June 24, 2010
Such an interesting insiders take on the shifting dynamics of the Advertising industry -- thought it was informative, entertaining and truly funny in all the right places.
September 12, 2010
- Funny!
- Quick read
- Was eager to keep reading
- Quick read
- Was eager to keep reading
February 10, 2011
Pretty good, but not very well organized. My favorite parts were when Othmer talked about his own career.
May 17, 2016
If this was the only book on the world to read, I'd be happy to have read it. But since there are other books, I regret not picking something else up.
February 5, 2010
othmer is a great writer. good book to be entertained while also learning about the ad industry.
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