Missing: The News.

Early last week, BBDO received heavy coverage in the advertising trade press. Not only had (friend) Nancy Reyes ascended to Global CEO of the storied conglomerate, the agency had also hired another CEO, Jiah Choi, for its New York and Chicago offices.

What was missed amid all that personnel, or leadership news was the news. In journalistic parlance the trade press news buried the lede. They were so busy covering the "quotidian" that they missed the bit about the decimation of the industry.

In short, they covered the micro.

And they missed the macro.

As readers of this space know, I've spent a lifetime in the industry. And I've followed it like a sports fan. The wins and loses. The comings and goings. The rises and falls. 

BBDO was always, at least to my knowledge a big agency. A thousand or two-thousand person agency in their New York office. Size-wise, they were up there with McCann, Ogilvy, D'Arcy/Benton and Bowles (which morphed into Publicis.) They were one of the big shops. 

There was a time when the trade press reported on the size of agencies, their revenue, their billings, how many people they employed. Whether they were shrinking or growing. 

In fact, nerds like I, would savor the annual listing of who was doing how. A list like the one below came out every year. Some people, like me, saved them for handy reference. Back in 1992, you weren't totally off-base if you inferred one employee for every million dollars of revenue. So according to the number below, you could estimate FCB had had around 2,000 employees and BBDO about 1,600.

Today's ad world, and world in general, lives under the cacophony of 24/7 blather they call news. But we get very little real information about what's going on. You can read, almost every week of the year, about some agency winning some agency of the year award. 

It sometimes seems there are more agency of the year awards than there are agencies. There are certainly more trophies than there are good ads. I think I see fewer than ten "book-worthy" ads a year.

But that's not the point, either.

The point, or question, is this: is BBDO in New York really one-fifth the size it was a decade ago? And if it is, is it an anomaly, or just one-of-many of the shrinking once-upon-a-time behemoths that today are mere vestiges of their once-powerful selves.

Even if my numbers are wrong--and they probably are--and BBDO is down to only half of its peak size, why has this not been reported on? Why has this news been hidden from the public? Is it just this one agency, or is this "shrinkage" endemic? Is anyone bucking the trend? 

Finally, if agencies are really between 40% and 80% smaller than they were just a few short years ago, why are holding company chieftains earning between $10 million and $20 million per annum. Unless shrinkage has been the point all along. Shrinkage = Good for Shareholders.

I'd welcome answers from any agency or holding company scion who is willing to supply them. 

How many people do you employ? 
How many did you employ at your peak?

Same for billings and revenue.

ie, past the distraction of awards, what's really going on?

This blog reaches about 80,000 people a week. My guess is many of those 80,000 people want to know. My guess is that Ad Aged has more ostensible followers than just about any other advertising organ. So, here's a chance to explain things to people. Or if you prefer, make a monkey out of me.

Please, answer.

I'll publish anything anyone legitimate tells me. Just not anonymously.

Too much is being done anonymously already.