About

Bonjour AgencySpy readers, this is Kiran Aditham, your newest writer. Incase you slept on our initial announcement about my arrival (and shame on you for that), I figured I'd just say hi once again.

If you need to reach me with news, tips, sweet nothings or vitriol, and for some reason ignored the masthead, my email is kaditham78@gmail.com, IM is Pvnkfreud and Twitter ID is @Pvnkfreud.

I wish you all a happy Friday, a good weekend and for those off to Cannes, bon voyage!

A few of you have called the tip line to let us know you're having trouble with a couple things. Our tech team is on it, but in the meantime, here's what's going on.

Comments
Question: "how come sometimes your comments link includes the number of comments, and sometimes it just says '(view comments)'? much prefer the number, so i can see if stuff has been added since my last visit."

Answer: There's no definitive answer to this question, but I do have some quick thoughts.

— If you use Firefox, you should always see the number of comments versus "(view comments)". If you don't, click refresh and that should take care of it.

— Internet Explorer and Safari tend to display "(view comments)" only.

Anonymous Tips
Question: "sometimes when I try to send an anonymous tip, it says i entered the code wrong. wtf?"

Answer: First off, we added the code thing because we were getting spammed up the whazoo, and that was annoying. Literally, thousands of e-mails pimping all sorts of unsavory wares were coming in. Yet again, there a few solutions to the code problem.

— We promise not to identify you in a story. I know it's scary to e-mail us, but if you have something to share, e-mail us if the tips box isn't working. agencyspy at mediabistro dot com.

— Set up a fake e-mail account on gmail. It takes a few seconds.

— Call the anon tips line at 212-547-7935.

— Try the anon tips box in a different browser. Again, FireFox seems to be best optimized for us.

— If you are viewing stories by clicking on categories (you'll know if you're doing this because the URL will read like this (ie for Op Eds) mediabistro.com/agencyspy/opeds/. This view returns "(view comments)" rather than the number of comments.

Our tech team is working out the bugs, so keep sharing your secrets. You're safe with us. When was the last time we outed a source? Exactly.

More: "How to Tip More Anonymouser"

"Inside your agency. Deep inside." was the big winner of the tagline contest, which lasted way too long. Until we can find a better place to put it, the right side of the page will have to do. See image for clarity.

More: "Finishing This Darn Tagline"

I was talking to a friend last night about the biz and despite the jack and cokes that were flowing through me I think we made some rational statements about the future, specifically how screwed up it is that communication in general has become so siloed none of us can tell we're standing within feet of one another. And that we all have the same mission: get butts in seats, sell something, deliver a message, create an emotional bond et al. I've never taken an advertising lesson so if this sounds redundant, it's supposed to — this stuff is important. But more than that it's blatantly obvious but I'm going to say it anyway.

So recently someone asked me what is the future of advertising and I said convergence. He said, well what does that mean and I said it's convergence, dude, delivering a message through pretty much every platform and not calling it advertising or PR but just admitting that it's communication and nothing else. It's not PR + Advertising + Journalism + Research, it's all of those things with none of the bad memories in one big supergenius robot called Voltron. The sum of many parts.

Note: Advertising, as a name for this industry, is a meaningless moniker created back in the day to differentiate the business from the next closest thing — which was probably journalism. It will probably be called advertising forever but come on, it's real name is communication and by definition it is "an ongoing, dynamic process between an infinite number of variables with no beginning, middle or end." — Ken Ksobiech. Bottom line — the message has to be unified under one unit consisting of linear but integrated media.

And today "advertising" is no longer valuable except that people go, "oh, you're in advertising...that shit doesn't work on me but I love those Burger King ads." Or whatever.

Anyway back to the future: it's undoubtedly a mixture of everything that's out there but more like the 1980s hit cartoon Voltron which was this big badass robot that would "form" only when shit got really bad. Voltron is composed of 5 really cool transformer-like robots which are piloted by people we were supposed to like and want to be like. Today communication is really the same thing, except it's probably less like a hero and more like a pain in the ass that the majority of America and the world at large would like to see dead.

So what's the answer? Well lots of you know this already but I think it's time to stop over-thinking this stuff and just focus on the end game — selling shit. The agency model doesn't work and Coke just announced their plans to not pay you if your work doesn't drive sales. Eh hem, Crispin (Burger King's sales are down).

David Ogilvy did something similar back in the day when he changed O&M from a commission system to a fee-based system. Everyone was pissed at him but he did it to legitimize the business — take it out of the "sales" realm and make it more like law or dentistry.

But now we need another upgrade and if the kids at Gawker get paid more for higher traffic stories, why the hell shouldn't you? The perception of value-add (aka when there's not an uptick in sales but your account guy tells the client, "well we got your name out there") is what's destroying this business and it basically perpetuates the bad work we keep seeing day after day.

So if you've got the balls step it up and start promising ROI. You'll be ahead of the pack if it works and furthermore it will cause you to face your failures in a more real way — ie you don't get paid. But look if I go out to eat and the food sucks, I'm not paying (well, in theory — I don't have a discerning pallet and try not to be a dick most of the time).

More: "LATimes: GM's Woes Could Harm "Transformers 2" Revs. Right."

As you may have noticed, Matt is on vacation. Hell, the kid deserves it. While he's gone, it's going to be just little ol' me click-clacking away here at Agency Spy. I've been in and out and barely posting the last few months, but while I'm (back) in charge this week, let's fuck shit up, yeah?

Here's the current plan:

1. This week, the site will be offering a series of Op-Eds from various advertising thinkers about the future of the business. Hopefully, someone else writing on this darn blog will spark some inspiration and discussion.

2. We're going to be holding our first Chit Ch@ this week. What the hell is that? It's an online, real time live Q&A for AgencySpy readers with a leader in the ad business. Our first guest will be 4A's President Nancy Hill. You'll be able to ask her whatever you want - within reason. That should be fun, right? Thinking Thursday or Friday, but stay tuned for more details.

3. Tell me what you want. If it's a good idea, let's figure out how to do? Contact me at superspyin at gmail dot com

We're at PSFK Conference New York today. For details on what's being said, follow us on Twitter. We're twitter.com/agencyspy.

Normal coverage will be spotty while we try to learn about all this neat stuff. For more info, click here.

This weekend at the Globalshop expo we talked a lot about brand differentiation, creating a diverse experience for participants/shoppers and passersby — all in the name of branding. Gap came up a lot, presumably because just a few years ago it was considered a leader in the retail clothing business in terms of branding, but since then other stores have mimicked Gap's approach, making it less unique — which then makes the products seem less unique. And why would you pay more for something that appears to be very similar to something else?

Indeed to stay ahead of competitors, Gap seriously needs to evolve their on-the-ground experience. What once was a clothing manufacturer with the catchiest, most fun to watch ads, is today a run-of-the-mill jeans spot for moms.

If you want trendy goods, head to H&M, Express, Forever 21, Urban Outfitters, Uniqlo or the corner second-hand shop. And though Gap was never the trendiest of trendies, it held a perception that it was more than just an oxford + knit pullover + distressed leather belt resource. It was, for a time, cool.

Obviously, we're picking on just one brand here. Dave Ibsen at 5 Blogs Before Lunch has a piece today about how Harley-Davidson has forgotten to throw bait in front of the next generation of bikers.

Indeed, this is a problem you solve for many of your clients. But here's what we want to know — is a bottom-up image upgrade what brands like Gap need to regain market dominance or can advertising solve the problem? Is this a matter of buzz or one of more substance?

Just a reminder that you can follow us on Twitter. We're appropriately named @agencyspy and @superspyin. If you want to keep up with the layoffs we've been hearing about, follow @adagencylayoffs.

Not a Twitter user? Click here to see what Matt and SuperSpy are talking about and here for layoff updates.

More: "Free Twitter Background Designer"

We're not sure how a cool 3D-gizmo helps demonstrate GE's smart grid model, but we don't really care. Check out this video of Ogilvy CD Robert Cooper tying out the Ecomagination site. Nifty.

Oh btw Ogilvy didn't make the site, but we like that they played with it and video taped it and posted it and la la la.

More: "You Be The Judge: BBDO's GE Superbowl Spot"

The Museum of Modern Art completely took over the Atlantic Avenue/Pacific Street subway station in Brooklyn. They neatly plastered it with reproductions of more than 50 pieces from the MoMA collection. You can walk through it and see works from Vincent van Gogh, Charles Eames, Cindy Sherman, Andy Warhol, and others.

Above is a 3D rendering of the exhibits. Forgive the video, since we couldn't find an embeddable version, and had to use our handy Flip Mino to get this thing on the site.

More: "When Advertising Fails, Trust In Art"