Ogilvy seeking world's greatest salesperson

Ogilvy is looking for closers. The shop's OgilvyOne unit is running a YouTube contest that's billed as a hunt for "the world's greatest salesperson." Contestants need to hawk a brick (Ogilvy red, of course). The idea is that advertising has gotten too much away from sales, and what better way to test marketing acumen than taking a commoditized product and amping up the persuasion? It's a bit depressing that this is the lot of agencies: Businesses create me-too products, then expect a dash of clever copy and cool art direction to make people forget how unremarkable it is.