On the Creativity Kick

The advertising business has never been known for its serenity. Faces in the front offices change with nervous rapidity. But now not even a white tornado could add much pace to the turnovers within the industry. Eager to cash in on the so-called "new creativity," new agencies have been springing up with all the speed and spiel--and sometimes the life-span--of TV spot commercials. In the wake of the new demand for ever more artful, imaginative copy, "creative" men are climbing into the top salary brackets. "The lunatics have taken over the asylum," says Jack Roberts, 48, co-founder of Los Angeles' Carson-Roberts Inc. As a creative copywriter himself, Roberts is delighted with the revolution.

In Manhattan alone, more than 30 new agencies opened last year. Mostly, the newcomers hope to match the success of Wells, Rich, Greene Inc., whose imaginative ads (Braniff, Benson & Hedges) have won it billings worth $80 million in just 22 months. Ranging from agencies like Chicago's Altman, Bratrude & Soforth (which stands for the rest of the firm, currently one account man and one secretary) to "think tanks" like Manhattan's Will Graham Co., which peddles ideas to bigger firms, the new shops are short on staff but long on creative charisma.

Pendulum Swing. The new pitch is a pendulum swing from the 1950s, when the industry concentrated on "motivational research" and other client services, gave the actual ads secondary attention. The shift came as more and more companies set up marketing departments of their own and demanded that their agencies produce the appealing soft sell with which Doyle Dane Bernbach had done so much for such clients as Volkswagen and Avis. Today pioneering D.D.B. is looked upon as the patriarch of the new creatives; since 1958, it has increased its billings from $20 million to $228 million, and it still pays less than usual homage to marketing services. Why bother? "Today products are equal, managerial skills are equal," claims Chairman William Bernbach, 56, a creative man himself. "What is left is the ability to communicate."

Apparently convinced that the creative pitch is correct, the old established agencies are looking to their own images. When he succeeded Emerson Foote as chairman of McCann-Erickson, the nation's second biggest agency (after J. Walter Thompson), last fall, Chairman Paul Foley, 51, lamented that "when market research was the fashion, creativity was pushed aside." He promised a new thrust by reminding his staff that "I've always been a copywriter." So have many of his counterparts at rival agencies. Last month Young & Rubicam (1967 billings: nearly $400 million) put former Creative Director Stephen Frankfurt, 36, in charge of all U.S. operations. Benton & Bowles, which recently lost its $12 million-a-year American Motors account to Wells, Rich, Greene, announced a creative shift two weeks ago. To succeed William R. Heese, 54, as president, the agency tapped Executive Vice President Victor G. Bloede, 48. An account man for the past four of his 17 years at Benton & Bowles, Bloede rose through the copy department. He promised to emphasize creating "effective advertising."

More and more, that phrase has come to mean ads with a sense of entertainment and humor. One of Benton & Bowles's most successful TV ads, for example, features the bull-necked Korean who played the karate expert Odd Job in Goldfinger. Seized with a coughing fit, he nearly chops down his house with involuntary hand swipes before a swig of Vick's Formula 44 cough medicine calms him down. Even Ted Bates & Co., perennial champion of the hard sell, is going soft. It has dropped the sledgehammer animations it long used to illustrate (and often give) headache pain, and has turned instead to mildly preposterous household scenes for its Anacin ads.

$50,000 a Minute. Although some admen, like Foote, Cone & Belding's Fairfax Cone, warn that "advertising should never be so much fun that it interferes with selling," the creative men are unquestionably having all the fun. One Madison Avenue recruiter complains that today a hard-up agency may "have to pay $50,000 to get a man worth $18,000." But says Richard Rich, 37, of Wells, Rich, Greene, "a minute on the air costs $50,000, and that is an enormous responsibility."

Despite the risks, it can be immensely profitable. Adman Marion Harper Jr. became head of McCann-Erickson in 1948 at 32, spun the outfit into the vast Interpublic Group (advertising, public relations, market research) and racked up billings of $700 million a year by last fall. When Interpublic went deep into debt, he was eased into a powerless chairmanship (TIME, Dec. 15). But when he was eased out altogether two weeks ago, Harper was not exactly out of pocket. Interpublic was reported to have bought back his 100,000 shares in the company, worth $2,200,000 at book value. Harper also had an employment contract that guaranteed his salary ($250,000 last year) and a percentage of profits until 1985. Because Interpublic's bankers were leery of making any refinancing plans until that contract was settled, it has been the subject of hard negotiations.

At 51, he is not about to retire. Like any self-respecting adman these days, he is not really out of a job; he is simply getting ready to set up shop. "In due course," Harper announced, "I shall make known the program of Marion Harper & Associates Inc."

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