Today's big advertising problem

I guess it was last week a bunch of top advertising executives all got together in California for a leadership conference of the American Association of the Advertising Agencies.

According to the New York Times (so it must be true) speakers urged the audience to stop wallowing in self-pity (oh, but creative folks are so good at that) and get on with the challenges of the industry. (It's not a problem; it's a challenge! It's an opportunity!)

Anyway, Lee Clow, chairman and chief creative at TBWA, looking for all the world like some Deadhead, was quoted:

“Stop whining,” Mr. Clow told the estimated 380 attendees. The new realities “shouldn’t be scary,” he said, because they offer “a huge opportunity for us” to become far more useful to marketer clients as they seek more effective ways to sell products.

“If you want to participate, you’ve got to start hiring young people,” Mr. Clow said, “and don’t tell them what to do — ask them what to do.”

I guess Mr. Clow never heard of age discrimination, and if he doesn't know what to do (how much is TBWA paying him??) then maybe he should hand his job over to a 21-year-old communications grad from Syracuse so he can get back up to speed.