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Book Review: Where the Suckers Moon: An Advertising Story

How Should Firms Select Advertising Agencies? In his book, Where the Suckers Moon: An Advertising Story, Randall Rothenberg, a former advertising columnist for the New York Times, describes how Subaru of America selected a new agency in 1991. This behind-the-scenes account is made possible by his sitting in on the meetings that led to the selection of Wieden and Kennedy to handle Subaru's $75 million account. The book is thus a first-hand look at how an agency makes a proposal to a client. Rothenberg also reports on the subsequent relationship between Wieden and Kennedy and Subaru. Along the way, he describes the advertising industry in general. The book should be of interest to those in the advertising business, those who hire advertising agencies, students contemplating a career in advertising, and teachers of advertising. Rothenberg's book is a delight to read, and it provides a singular opportunity to compare what the agencies delivered in the Subaru proposals with what clients should expect. On the negative side, the book lacks structure so that it is difficult to follow the time sequencing or understand how events were related. I propose a set of agency selection criteria and use this to help evaluate Rothenberg's account. The criteria are drawn from my 15 years of experience in teaching advertising at the Wharton School. The focus of this teaching is normative (how should firms advertise), not descriptive (how they advertise). Rothenberg's account implies that the industry is out of touch with its clients' needs. The major problem is that some agencies view advertising as art, whereas their clients view it as a way of selling products. It is not clear these views are even related. Indeed, according to Polonsky and Waller (1995), it is not even clear that award-winning advertisements increase an agency's billings.