Madison Avenue Manslaughter: An Inside View of Fee-Cutting Clients, Profit-Hungry Owners and Declining Ad Agencies - Softcover

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Prior to founding Farmer & Company in 1992, Michael Farmer was a strategy consultant with the Boston Consulting Group and director of Bain & Company. He headed Bain's Munich, Paris, and London offices during Bain's decade of European expansion in the 1980s.

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The post-World War II growth of advertising agencies is one of the world’s great business success stories. Television advertising became a dominant force, and ad agencies were paid via 15% media commissions. The high status and profitability of ad agencies during this period allowed agencies to expand globally, manage themselves loosely and go public in the 60s and 70s.

Ad agencies were subsequently acquired by marketing communications holding companies, and the holding companies themselves grew and showed a track record of increased profits as they continued to acquire agencies and generate bottom-line growth by reducing agency costs. By 1990, their agencies were “at the top of their game,” buoyed by inflating media prices that boosted commission income, and their profitable record of success locked in their vision of what they needed to do to stay successful — keep on focusing on creativity and client service.