Living. Lying.

The other day I wrote what might have been a nasty comparison between the nastiness of what used to be amerika's government and the nastiness of the swindlers and operators who have sucked the wealth out of and eviscerated the ad industry. 

On Monday in The New York Times, columnist Margaret Renkl wrote an essay, "Truths to Remember in a Time of Lies." You can (and should) read it here.

To strain my comparison between Washington and Holding Companies even further, I marked a few of the lies the moguls of monied malfeasance told us would revitalize the industry. All they really did was remove more money in their Swiss accounts.
Feel free to add to my list. I have a feeling I've just scratched the surface.

HOLDING COMPANY LIES WE'VE BEEN TOLD.
AND CONTRADICTIONS. AND MORE LIES.

1. We're better off spinning off media companies.
2. Media companies should work with creative departments.
3. AI will create jobs.
4. Data will make us more creative.
5. Diversity adds to our creativity.
6. DEI is no longer a priority.
7. Open offices will contribute to communication and the free-exchange of ideas.
8. Hot-desking will contribute to communication and the free-exchange of ideas.
9. We have $250,000,000 of "structural" costs savings to make.
10. We can afford to pay the new second banana $49,000,000.
11. Creativity isn't a department. It's everyone.
12. Creativity can come from anywhere.
13. Planning will make our work more insightful.
14. Data will make our ads more effective.
15. Since our ads aren't working we need to buy more data companies.
16. We'll differentiate through our AI offerings.
17. We need diversity.
18. But that shouldn't include people over 50.
19. And not if it costs us money.
20. We have to be in-tune with culture.
21. Personalization will solve everything.
22. Our new project management system will improve efficiency.
23. We can produce it just as well in house.
24. Brands need to be always on.
25. We don't need staff we can "just in time" assignments with freelancers.
26. There are no product benefits.
27. Gen____ doesn't care about that.
28. Our awards mean we're successful.
29. Our number of offices means we're successful.
30. Our yacht at Cannes means we're successful.
31. We've had a rough _____ but we've taken the hit and are turning the corner.
32. We're looking forward to a robust second half.
33. The tech slowdown has impacted our business.

All this to say that advertising, like Washington, DC, used to attract people among the best and the brightest.

I think the lies have chased that cohort away. Like they've chased many of the best people in the business to operate differently--in a non-holding-company manner.

That's enough for now.

Promise.