The media industry badly needs to enter 'founder mode'

We are awash in meaningless corporate slop, from companies and teams who should know better

"Our business is infested with idiots who try to impress by using pretentious jargon."

—David Ogilvy

My friend Lulu points us to an interesting example of how broken the corporate world is, which we’ve written on before.

Here’s a wonderful memo from David Ogilvy circulated in 1982 on clear writing, something I shared with you all a few years back.

Contrast this with copy live today on the modern Ogilvy website, 25 years after his death.

The second paragraph is one single sentence. Go back and re-read Ogilvy’s memo above if you haven’t and think about how insane this is, how far his company has strayed from some most basic of operating principles.

All this, of course, stands in stark contrast to how David (rest in peace) or anyone working for him would have ever drafted copy. They’d be thrown out of the room if they submitted this, let alone allow it to touch the brand publicly. Ogilvy now employs ~12,000 people and does billions in revenue but still trades under the founder’s original name and values, not this McKinsey-esque slop any AI tool (or parody video) could have spat out. Anyone doing this should be worried AI will replace them.

There’s a great video on YouTube talking about Orwell’s warning on the insidious nature of convoluted political language and its implications. Worth watching if you have a moment. You’ll note this is also present above, in spades.

It’s extraordinary how inculcated this weasel-speak has become in the business world (similar copy is on many large brand and agency websites) with the ad and media industry particularly guilty. To me this is striking as they should be the ones who know better. There’s an old saying that the people who make propaganda are frequently the most susceptible to it, perhaps they’re also susceptible to other things such as going along with rot.

I would be extremely skeptical of working for organizations that suffer from this. It’s emblematic of how life under them will be (political, subversive, bureaucratic) vs a place focused on merit that champions creativity and rewards results. Note that a company being ‘inclusive’ as an independently chosen value could be great, but say it directly and in your own words, not mindlessly repeating rebranded Marxist slogans which in practice are illiberal and divisive.

It’s clear the ads and media sector needs its own ‘founder mode’ movement, or something like it, to cast off the decay and do great work once again. It’s past due, as everyone is fed up with our dystopian management consultant manufactured reality. We really need to do better here, because remember, these teams are the ones advising the rest of the world how to communicate.

If David were still alive today, he’d be livid. Reading thoughts from our sector on LinkedIn makes me despondent anything actually improves, but I’ll hold onto the smallest shred of hope to be surprised.