Art & Commerce: Independence Day

More agency executives bitten by entrepreneurial bug Something's afoot. Lately, there has been a host of departures by senior level agency executives who are leaving the safety and security of their jobs for a chance to venture out on their own. Perhaps it has something to do with the millennium and the need for change or personal growth. All of us at one time or another feel an urge to change our lives as we reach a milestone. Maybe the reason is less psychological. Perhaps these folks are simply responding to the changes at their agencies, many of which have been absorbed by multinational corporations. These people are opting for less bureaucratic agency environments. Call it the anti-consolidation movement. Of course, the robust economy has a lot to do with this sense of entrepreneurship among seasoned agency vets. Also, dot.com startups seem to outnumber agencies these days and could be fueling the maverick spirit. The salaries and stock options dot.coms offer is impressive--and for the lucky few, almost immediate. So there's plenty of opportunity to go around. There's a laundry list of ad execs here on the West Coast who have left their agency posts behind in the proverbial search for happiness. To name just a few: Monte Zator, a founding and managing partner of TBWA/Chiat/Day's The Persuasion Group, left the shop to form his own marketing ideas company, Zator & Co. in Irvine, Calif., which works directly with clients to develop and execute ideas. Team One Advertising's co-chairman and chief executive officer Leonard Pearlstein relinquished his duties at the Lexus agency to re-create his entrepreneurial shop, the Pearlstein Group. Wieden & Kennedy creative Jerry Cronin left the Portland, Ore., shop to join forces with Tim Bayless to form Bayless/Cronin, a Merkley Newman Harty Co., in Atlanta, citing a need to create a "new creative powerhouse in the Southeast." Rob Price and Paul Curtin left the design group at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners just a few weeks ago to form a creative support boutique called Eleven. More recently, former Cliff Freeman & Partners creative David Angelo and Team One management director Skip Sullivan joined forces to create a boutique called David & Goliath, signing Kia Motors America as its first client. And just last week, Rob Siltanen chucked his longtime post as managing partner and creative director at TBWA/Chiat/Day to open his own shop. Like a lot of these adventurers, Siltanen response to the question "Why?" was, "It's time for something new." Beyond change for change's sake, these guys say they are seizing new opportunities with clients. "We're seeing that some clients don't want to set up a longterm relationship with a big agency," says Zator. "They get the experience [they're looking for] without all the other ties." Will this trend continue on the Left Coast and spread east (as so many fads do)? Ask me next year. K

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Art & Commerce: Independence Day

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