With the abundant doom-and-gloom forecast for the advertising business, perhaps “they” look only at the big shops. What about the small and medium shops? Marc Brownstein describes how big-time marketeers reconsidering their spend are moving dollars to smaller shops.

Hire the best talent. … Bring in the best talent out there, and make sure they are a cultural fit. You don’t want them bringing any bad habits from the big shops with them.

Why? Why are big advertisers looking for smaller, independent shops to partner? Why is Frito-Lay heading off from parent company PepsiCo’s holding company Omnicom for indepedent Strawberry Frog? According to Mr. Brownstein, smaller shops “are more nimble,” and “can attract better talent these days” since they “don’t have cultures that are tied to Wall Street’s quarterly demands.”

We agree. That’s People Power. Office space, computers, desks, dogs, video game consoles, coffee, beer … they’re all for not if you don’t have the right people in place. Smaller agencies need recruiting strategy more than any to attract folks away from the big shops’ gravitational pull. They need to define differentiators that will constitute their positioning that matters to the people they want to attract. Do you have what good people want? Are you a desirable employer agency? Consider these top considerations of candidates:

• Kind of work
• Quality of life
• Leadership

What is your agency’s profile? How well articulated is your profile? How is your profile reaching prospective candidates? How well are new hires’ expectations satisfied six months after they start? A year later?

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From Forbes.com. This says it all, and not just for MS:

For years, Microsoft prided itself on promoting from within. But industry experts say that the pace of innovation and competition in recent years has forced the company to bring in outside talent with fresh ideas.The software giant names Disney and GM veteran Tony Scott as its new CIO.

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The number of people employed by advertising in the US is hitting a new high since the recession. But, with peaks come troughs. Is the outlook skeptical? And what does this mean for your own career planning?

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“It’s like Hot or Not, but for Websites.” That’s what they said. It’s a cute idea, but the original digg.com story called it “Best-Designed Sites on the Web by Popular Vote.” Design is more than what looks good. Beauty contest, yes; design contest, no. But if you see our site out there, give us the click.

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No-one can present himself directly to another of our friends. There must be a third person to do it.

Italian police have found what they say is a “Ten Commandments”-style code of behavior for Mafia members, at the hideout of a captured Mafia boss. Even the Sicilian Mafia knows the importance of being introduced. And you thought we were crazy about referrals.

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Philadelphia native advertising agency Gyro takes the ugliest logo in town and redesigns it. It’s not so much the premise, it’s the unapologetic attitude and approach that just makes this so goddamn entertaining.

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C-K CEO Peter Krivkovich told Career Builder to “fuck off” after Career Builder put their account up for review following poor performance in USA Today’s Super Bowl Ad Meter poll. The resignation memo from Krivkovich to the job site carried the remark which was leaked publicly. Six months later C-K is enjoying new business from Porsche and others.

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In the Harvard Business Review, Ravi Chhatpar of frog Design, a strategic-creative consultancy, describes the benefits of intensive collaboration between designers and corporate decision makers. By adopting an iterative development businesses gain the ability “to adapt to rapid, unforeseen changes in markets and user preferences.”

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