Michael Farmer signing Madison Avenue Manslaughter – PHOTO CREDIT: simonrleach.com 2015
LID Publishing held its first book launch at Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity this year, for Michael Farmer’s Madison Avenue Manslaughter. The book provides “an inside view of fee-cutting agents, profit-hungry owners, and declining ad agencies.” Cannes was the perfect setting for a controversial book that will shake up the advertising industry and force agencies to confront the problems with the ad agency business model. This is the first book of its kind, as it offers a genuine exposé of the industry.
While girls on roller skates lightened the mood by rolling up and down the croisette with books in hand, festival-goers at Cannes were more faint hearted about the book’s contents. Many expressed nervousness and asked if their agency might be mentioned.
Madison Avenue Manslaughter is an unforgettable look into the Mad Men’s declining world. It documents key trends that have impacted the agency business, such as the shift from commissions to fees, the rise of holding companies, the digital and social revolutions and the client obsession with shareholder value. The book offers key insights into how senior agency executives can restore their agencies to health and deliver improved results over time.
The launch party itself was held on the yacht Sohnar with a selected group of guests, mostly big agency directors who had the opportunity to speak to Farmer in detail about the book’s implications. Farmer’s retrospective of this year’s Cannes Festival can be found here: http://www.theguardian.com/medianetwork/2015/jun/30/cannes-lions-festival-of-creativity-open-air-bazaar
Launch of Madison Avenue Manslaughter – PHOTO CREDIT: simonrleach.com 2015
