Nearly four decades after entering this game we call advertising, Patrick Scullin did something rare: he exited on his own terms.
Last month Scullin announced, via his blog The Empathetic Adman, that he would be leaving ASO Advertising, the agency he founded in Atlanta more than 21 years ago, for “new horizons” that include actually writing for a living. He’s already written a novel called Sawdust, which is about “a young copywriter traveling America promoting a circus while searching for himself.”
During a career that started in 1979, Scullin worked as a copywriter and creative director at shops including The Richards Group, Leo Burnett, Hal Riney, Doner and more. He handled campaigns for such brands as Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Kraft, Arby’s and American Airlines.
His most notable creation may just be the Swedish Bikini Team, which came to life in 1991 and helped make Old Milwaukee great again. We talked to Scullin about how he’s spending his days and he shared some words of wisdom for all you younger folk.
AgencySpy: How did you and Tony O’Haire leave it with ASO (formerly known as Ames, Scullin, O’Haire)?
Patrick Scullin: We sold to our junior partners, Ryan Mikesell and Steve Harding, who have really good relationships with our clients.
What will change now at the agency?
Nothing is changing operationally, and my advice to them is short term: love on the clients. Get as close as possible. They will be hyper-aware of anything that’s different, and they were with us for a reason … just keep doing what we’ve always been doing.
These days, it’s much like the Wild West. I don’t envy anyone trying to make those decisions. I recommended hiring Martin Sorrell, but he’s pretty expensive.
How has your day-to-day been since you left?
The nice thing is, I’ve adapted to it quite well. I can’t say that I sleep in that much later, but I don’t set the alarm clock. I’ve taken up water aerobics, which I’m enjoying a lot. There’s a YMCA a mile and a half from my house, and I’m doing yoga a couple of days a week. The rest of the time … I bought a standing desk, I finished my first novel and I’m looking for an agent.
It’s very different than your agency days, isn’t it?
Somehow, my days get pretty full just doing different hings. I’m not attending nearly as many meetings, or reading and writing as many emails. But I think after almost 40 years it’s good to clear the cobwebs out.
How do you look back at the agency life now?
My career took me all over the country to all different types of agencies… I saw the tail end of the glory days. Not Mad Men (I’m not that old), but I entered in the early ’80s when most agencies were still paid 15 percent commission and there were 3 big networks. So it’s become something completely different in a lot of ways. In other ways, it’s always been pretty much the same thing: how do you use your empathy and creativity to communicate to other people a product or service’s benefits? You can make that as difficult as you want to, and lots of people do. A lot of the fun has been sucked out of the business.
It’s the never-ending clarion call of the 21st century: do more with less. The only defense a lot of us have is to say no.
Why did you think now was the right time to move on?
As much as anything, it was just self-awareness that I wasn’t enjoying it as much as before. It didn’t necessarily have anything to do with particular clients, just that the business has changed so much. I wouldn’t delude myself: If I were working for Omnicom, I would have been on the streets long ago. Marketing is a very ageist society … plus I was never good at office politics.
I didn’t want to turn into the cranky old man. When you start to sense that in yourself, it’s time to move on. Another thing: I got into this business because I wanted to write, so it’s time I went back to writing to see if I could make that work.
Did you guys get acquisition offers?
Yes, early on from the big agencies. Frankly, the founding partners all came from that world, and we knew we didn’t want to deal with a huge bureaucracy. We liked being independent. The multiples an agency could get years ago don’t exist today unless you have a specialty: sexy categories like digital or social. And it kind of goes in and out in terms of what’s in favor. These days, more and more clients just care about numbers … that’s why the overall quality of work out there is pretty abysmal. In my opinion, it’s the most conservative time in advertising as long as I’ve been in the business. Everyone is feeling very tight and frightened to do anything different.
I don’t think you have to go much further than just looking at what’s out there. How often do you actually see something and say, holy shit that’s great? It doesn’t happen all that often.
Do you see yourself possibly doing the consulting thing?
Never say never, but it’s certainly not top of mind right now. My base of knowledge is a particular skill set that is not in high demand today. If I were a digital guru, perhaps.
What was the high point of your career in advertising?
The creation of the Swedish Bikini Team back in early ’90s. Walking through the San Francisco airport, seeing them on the cover of Playboy magazine and thinking, 8 months ago that was just a figment of my imagination. As far as I know, it’s the only time a commercial property has been on the cover … certainly of Playboy.
And this campaign was always intended to be satirical, right?
It was fully intended to be satire … a tongue-in-cheek send-up of typical beer commercials. But like a lot of things, it got taken too literally. It was one of the early examples of ironic advertising—and if I’ve learned anything, that’s difficult, because lots of people take it the wrong way … at face value.
At that time, women in bikinis and sex was pretty much all beer advertising.
So what brought you back to writing?
I didn’t work on side projects for 20 years until some friends said, you like to write so much, why don’t you start a blog? [In addition to my novel] I also have a short memoir-ish piece I’m trying to get published in a magazine, and I’m making notes on second novel. There’s also a back catalog of humor projects and two blogs [The Lint Screen and Empathetic Adman] I regularly contribute to.
Pardon the dumb question, but what advice do you have for younger people in the industry?
As much as you can, try to stay true to yourself. The best advice anyone can have is, don’t live beyond your means. The more in debt you are, the more you’re a slave to the paycheck. You’re going to be subjected to what other people want you to do for money. It’s that balancing act: finding out what you can do that’s worth money to other people and enjoy what you’re doing at the same time.