Advertising Week got off to a bit of a rocky

Advertising Week got off to a bit of a rocky start Monday morning, as DDB's Ken Kaess, the event's chairman, was set to ring the opening bell at the Nasdaq—but rang it a few seconds late. (The markets survived, we understand.) Interpublic Group CEO David Bell rang the closing bell on Tuesday at the New York Stock Exchange, accompanied by financial giants Ronald McDonald and Mr. Peanut. No mishaps were reported. Speaking under a huge tent pitched behind Gracie Mansion on Monday night, New York mayor Michael Bloomberg kept the ad crowd's attention for nearly 10 minutes before playing a video montage of ads shot in the Big Apple. When he introduced other speakers, the chatter started, prompting the mayor to tap the microphone loudly. It wasn't an ear-splitting whistle, but it did the trick—at least for a few minutes, when the nattering resumed. Around 8:30 p.m., an hour after the reception was to end, security guards shepherded stragglers away. The jazz combo had long since stopped playing, the bartenders broke down their tables, and more than a few cigarette butts adorned the patch of grass closest to the East River. It was a true case of the Mondays for the Pillsbury Doughboy at the Parade of Icons. The Round Mound of Lovin' may have been regretting eating all those pastries over the years, as his girth made it somewhat difficult for him to ease into the convertible he was due to ride in. First he tried to get in the back seat, then he perched himself on the trunk. As the car moved forward, the crowd gasped, thinking that His Doughness was going to take flight—with his arms sticking straight out, he fought to keep from sailing backward out of the car. "I couldn't stop laughing," one bystander confided. BBDO's Andrew Robertson got a little help from a friend during a panel titled, "Getting It Right: How the Best in Business Will Do It." Robertson asked panelists for examples of "getting it right." Volkswagen's Stefan Jacoby recalled hiring tiny shop StrawberryFrog to handle ads for Mitsubishi Europe when he worked there—and not AMV BBDO, where Robertson worked and pitched the business. It was a friendly exchange, but Pepsi's Dave Berwick felt compelled to defend his longtime shop, BBDO, by citing his own "getting it right" story: He praised BBDO's campaign, insights and strategy for Pepsi's Aquafina. Ronald McDonald, who really got around last week, worked the room at Monday's "Stars of Madison Avenue" luncheon at the Pierre Hotel. But one New York ad exec, a self-described clown-ophobe, remained glued to her seat, praying the Big R wouldn't come close. "I think it runs in the family," she said. "Once, one of my nieces threw all the clown dolls out of her room in the middle of the night. We found them the next morning." After Donny Deutsch gave the Panasonic "Ideas for Life" keynote address, he took questions. One woman asked if he remembered meeting her in an elevator in 1995. "Depends what happened in the elevator," Deutsch replied sheepishly as the audience roared with laughter. Deutsch went on to extol the industry's virtues—and, by way of hailing his agency's Lamisil campaign in which an animated yellow fungus growth dives under people's toenails, confessed that he himself once suffered from toenail fungus. "Yeah, I had those cruddy toes you see on TV," he confessed. Of the ads, he said, "I told [the creatives], 'You can't put that on the air!' Turned out it was the client's favorite idea."Visitors to the Outdoor Advertising Association of America's expo ogled an advertising-wrapped Mini parked just inside the front door. But building codes at the Metropolitan Pavilion made it tough to get the car inside to begin with. The OAAA had to make sure there was less than one gallon of gas in the car, and the battery had to be removed. It then had to be steered down a 60-foot hallway and moved into place on plywood sheets. Said Eric Zemsky of FreeCar Media: "Thankfully, we are allowed to actually turn the cars on when we are doing our regular programs."Though not yet an icon, "Rich Media," a creation of the Online Publishers Association, rode through the Parade of Icons in a 1975 Cadillac Eldorado. Rich invited guests to an Upper East Side brownstone to unwind with grub, wine and reflexology. Among the visitors: Cindy Gallop of Bartle Bogle Hegarty, Burtch Drake of the 4A's, ESPN.com vp of sales Riley McDonough and even New York Giants third-string quarterback and former Bachelor Jesse Palmer. After his 15 minutes, no doubt he's looking for commercial work. At the legends panel Tuesday, DDB's Keith Reinhard disagreed with Jerry Della Femina's assertion that ad execs have largely lost access to client CEOs. "There is a real danger in making such broad, sweeping statements," Reinhard said. Della Femina replied: "I made a career out of it! I can't stop now!" Later, Della Femina said he takes his Blackberry to bed with him to read the news. Stuart Elliott of The New York Times asked how his wife felt about that. Della Femina replied, "Judy screamed at one point, 'You're getting an e-mail! It's vibrating the entire bed!' " Added Elliott: "That's going to put the Magic Fingers people out of business." McKinney + Silver won the Battle of the Ad Bands at Irving Plaza on Monday. The band, Pants (shown below), performed a rock opera about, well, pants. Last year's champ, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, did not perform. "They said they were busy with Burger King, but we think they heard about Pants and backed out," said Andrew Delbridge (guitar/vocals). "We just went there and rocked the house."

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Advertising Week got off to a bit of a rocky

Tim Nudd

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Tim Nudd