This list is half right, half ridiculous. What do the people at Ad Age do with their time if they can’t even made a simple list of who does good work?

Weber Shandwick. Now there’s a name famous for, um, er, uh. Remind me again. Who is Weber Shandwick?

Draft FCB? Yeah, that Kentucky Fried Chicken advertising really sets the standard, doesn’t it?

Euro RSCG? Of right. I almost forgot. They do that Novartis and Kraft cheese work that’s the talk of the town. And just this past year Steffan Postaer, head of their Chicago office, posted an impassioned, defense of their parenting lesser work by saying that an agency can’t be judged by the quality of its creative product. Either cool brands somehow find their way to your door, and then you’re cool, or they don’t, he argued. Creating compelling, meaningful brand personalities is all beyond any agency’s control, he said.

Who in their right mind would make an unprompted (or prompted) public confession of being ineffectual? Well, there’s Steffan. But beyond Steffan, who we all know will say or do anything to get into the press, who else in their right mind would do such a thing? Does the rest of RSCG management also believe that they are not capable of creating cool brands?

Apparently, so much as merely believing in yourself and your craft isn’t even a requirement for making the Ad Age A-List.

And by the way, the name is Venables Bell & Partners, not Venables. When you can’t even get a name right, that’s about as pathetic as it gets.

How about a list of most ill-conceived lists? I nominate the 2009 Ad Age “Agency A-List” list.

Comment by Jerry Fields — April 5, 2010 @ 8:40 am