Letters

Ad-Show Agenda This is a difficult letter to write. I know already that it will not change people's beliefs. It will only serve to solidify them. But it has to be written. The subject is the San Francisco Ad Club's San Francisco Show [Adweek, May 4]; more specifically, the reasons why this will be the last year that McCann-Erickson enters any work in the competition. I remember coming to San Francisco early in 1995. One of the first things I did was attend the San Francisco Show. And I was shocked. As a newcomer with no work entered and therefore no axe to grind, I was shocked at the bad organization; shocked that mediocre work was recognized and great work passed over; shocked that a city that had attracted me because of its seeming desire to be a world center of creative advertising was still trapped in the parochial genre of award shows. Don't worry, I told myself. It'll get better. It'll change. It hasn't. The best work from Goodby, Silverstein & Partners is still some of the best in the country. They deserve almost all the credit they get. But equally good work is coming out of many agencies in this town. I'll leave it to every creative director reading this to provide his or her own examples - I know they have them. I don't know the answer. But with work that is winning in the New York festivals, Mobius, London's D&AD, Clio and other major awards being all but ignored in its birthplace, I can no longer justify the costs of entering the San Francisco Show or of the so-called "hanging fees," which means your work will be thrown on a table in a dark corner of the Fillmore. My creative people deserve better. My clients deserve better. And the agencies of this city (all of them) deserve better. Dave Tutin Executive vice president, executive creative director McCann-Erickson, San Francisco Seinfeld Sign-off What was Debra Goldman thinking when she wrote that the finale of Seinfeld is like the JFK assassination, except "funnier" [The Consumer Republic, May 11]? That implies, though I doubt she intended it, that there was something "funny" to begin with regarding the assassination. Once you tread down the "funnier" path, you're inevitably on a collision course with the object of comparison. It also strikes me that any comparison of such an odious event to a TV show is misplaced. It's a shame because the column has much to offer, if you can get beyond the analogy. Michael Ian Fanning Vice president, communications The Liberty Corp., Greenville, S.C. For the Record Tom Hollerbach's proper title is president and CEO of BBDO West in L.A. [Creative, May 18] A photo caption [Adweek People, May 18] misidentified Bonnie Barest, director of media services at Publicis/Bloom, New York. She appeared in the center of the picture. Bride's publisher, Deborah Fine, appeared on the far right. Adweek welcomes letters. Send them to: Letters to the Editor, Adweek, 1515 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10036. Or fax them to: (212) 536-1416. Letters may be edited.

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