I'm not.
I once owned an advertising agency (along with David Stern and Vince Argento) called A.M.I.S.H. Chicago Advertising. AMISH stood for Ad Men In Search of Happiness. We started the agency because we worked in radio and were embarrassed by the terrible quality of radio commercials.
We sold something we believed in: good quality radio commercials for a reasonable price. We combined the creativity, writing and production values of a major market radio program with professional voice actors. We hung out our shingle, and started to get clients. For ten years we had a thriving business. In 2008 or so, we decided to try something new. Dave and I went on to start Just One Bad Century and then Eckhartz Press. Vince became the production director of the Loop.
Well, this morning I was reading a radio trade publication written by Tom Taylor. He was quoting a speaker at the Abitron Client Conference. This is the part that instantly reminded me of AMISH and why we started the company in the first place.
From Day 1 of the Arbitron 2012 Client Conference - RAB boss Erica Farber asks for a show of hands – “How many great commercials are you running on your radio stations?” She says “we’re hearing on the national level” from advertisers and agencies this message - “Help us.” What all too often happens is that the buy gets made, “we slam on this commercial in an hour, and it stinks.” Then it’s the old story – it’s not effective, and the client concludes that radio doesn’t work. Farber says “the days of selling 18 spots a week…are over.” Clients want great ideas and great execution. Farber says when they can get in to the offices of decision makers, they’re hungry to hear about great ideas and campaigns, which can be adapted for use elsewhere.We started AMISH in 1998. That same problem had already been a problem for years before that.
What do you call an industry that has had the same problem for twenty years and has never fixed it?
