It’s almost time to say goodbye to this long, strange, shitty year.
Beyond all the incredibly awful things that happened around the country and the world in 2016, advertising had a wild 12 months that started with an email scandal, ended with a federal investigation and included a few headlining lawsuits and foreign faux pas along the way.
Campaign topped off 2016 by naming Erin Johnson as the year’s Most Essential Advertising Person, because Mad Men ended 18 months ago and we needed a fresh reminder that quite a few people still think the ’50s was the greatest decade and Archie Bunker was a good guy who just wanted to #MAGA. We offered a too-late nomination for the man who proved, once again, that you can fake it ’til you make it … or until the authorities compile enough evidence to file charges.
(Lest we imply that advertising is the only industry still dealing with casual sexism, racism and fraud, 2016 was also the year that The New York Times got sued for discrimination, companies with less diversity than the state of Vermont demanded more of it from their agency partners, and Facebook admitted — repeatedly — that its numbers are less reliable than #Pizzagate posts.)
Some cool things happened in 2016. Lots of talented people got promoted and many accounts were awarded, most of them going to Droga5 without a review (sigh). We also did several things for the first time this year like visiting the French Riviera, attending a sentencing hearing and getting aggregated by The Wall Street Journal and The Daily Mail in the same week.
You already know about the year’s top story, but this list does contain some surprises. For example, people were super interested in campaigns for University of Phoenix and Snyder’s of Hanover pretzels, because we honestly have no idea why. For the most part, though, these are the big ones involving lawsuits and consolidations and “unheard of” demands.
They were our 26 biggest posts of the past year.
- 26. Matthew McConaughey Is the Highest Paid ‘Creative Director’ in the Ad Industry
- 25. More Layoffs Hit Leo Burnett Chicago
- 24. People Are Still Flipping Out About BBDO New York’s ‘Evan’ Spot for Sandy Hook Promise
- 23. Grey New York, Volvo and Walt Whitman Take to the Open Road
- 22. Ogilvy’s Liz Taylor Succeeds Todd Tilford as Chief Creative Officer at FCB Chicago
- 21. Updates on the Tall Tales of Bill ‘Catch Me If You Can’ Grizack
- 20. Departing Copywriter Thanks Every Single Innocean Employee in His Goodbye Note
- 19. Everyone at R/GA Dressed Like Bob Greenberg for Halloween This Year
- 18. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Moves Most of Its B2B Business from Omnicom to Publicis
- 17. Female Creative Director Isn’t Going to ‘Lean In’ Anymore
- 16. Trump’s Proposed Revisions to the H1-B Visa System Could Make Staffing More Difficult for Ad Agencies
- 15. WPP Drops Out of McDonald’s Review Amid Claims of Unusual Financial Demands
- 14. Mithun Closes, Becomes McCann Minneapolis
- 13. The Martin Agency Gets ‘Flextacular’ for Geico
- 12. DDB Wins McDonald’s Review as Chain Consolidates Its Ad Business with Omnicom
- 11. Sir Martin Makes It Official: ‘We’re Not in the Advertising Business Anymore’
- 10. Lawsuit Accuses JWT Global CEO of Joking About ‘F**cking Jews’ and Threatening to Rape Female Employees
- 9. McCann Japan Finally Hires a Robot as Creative Director
- 8. 6 CP+B Boulder Executives Leave to Launch Their Own Agency
- 7. Lawsuit Claims RAPP CEO Told Employees, ‘I Will Break Off Your Finger and Shove It Up Your Ass’
- 6. Barton F. Graf Gives Pretzels Attitude for Snyder’s of Hanover
- 5. Bud Light Kills Seth Rogen/Amy Schumer Campaign Before Election Day as Sales Slip
- 4. Bill Grizack Simultaneously Worked for 3 Different S.F. Agencies Before Pleading Guilty to Fraud
- 3. Man Pleads Guilty to Defrauding The Variable and McKinney With $269MM in Fake Contracts
- 2. 180LA Debuts Its First Work for New Client University of Phoenix
- 1. Campbell Ewald Fires CEO Jim Palmer After ‘Ghetto Day’ Email Controversy
Merry Fucking Christmas, everyone.