Cottrell Figures It Out in 9 Months

After 9 months in Atlanta, Etrade Talking Baby Maker and Fitzgerald + Co Chief Creative Officer, Noel Cottrell, has got Atlanta Advertising figured out. In a Sunday AJC article featuring Mr. Cottrell, The reporter asked for an assessment of the Atlanta advertising community. The response was on cue. The "brain drain" from Atlanta's creative schools to cities like New York and San Francisco. The need for a mid tier agency to step up and bring national level work. And of course the strange inability of Atlanta's leading corporations to embrace the local talent and promote the creative community within their own backyard. Strangely enough, those are the same excuses I heard over 10 years ago as Atlanta Ad Club President when people would say that Atlanta Advertising Agencies had a problem.

The truth is that the Atlanta Advertising Community needs to stop looking out and start looking in. If the Atlanta Creative Community can do the following three things we will become a "go to" city: 1) Do your best work and it will become THE best work. 2) Treat every client as a cutting edge company that wants your best ideas. 3) Lose your fear of losing the business and tell everyone the kind truth. These three things alone will build an environment that expresses a unique culture for Atlanta advertising that will be sought out and embraced.

Welcome to Atlanta Mr. Cottrell. We wish you the best. Some may see you as the a creative messiah and some may see you as an unwanted competitor. Make friends, embrace the culture and help others do their best.

22Squared Gets a Headline

In a world where agencies don't get the ink they deserve, it's good to see local independent agency 22Squared make into the Wall Street Journal. The article did not recognize them for their work on Buffalo Wild Wings or Baskin Robbins. The article focused on their new green designed office space. Yes the space is hip, functional and green, (click on the title and it should take you there) but it's amazing that in a world where agencies are the focus of hit TV series and blockbuster movies, the press rarely sees the agency business as news. We innovate more than any other industry, constantly change our internal makeup, and bring a change or die existence to the business world. It's high time that the business press, especially local press, starts to cover the agency world. We all have a story that's interesting and ready to be told. Cancel your weekends, gather your troops, and prepare to approach the business press to get what you deserve. By the way, they are building another xx building on whatever peachtree street. Why is this interesting?