Ad Age Editor, Jonah Bloom, places his hand on the third rail of procurement

You have to respect any editor that wades into a controversy up to his hips in front of an audience that may be hostile. Hats off to Jonah Bloom, Editor of Ad Age, for raising the possibility that the role of procurement has gone too far in grinding down ad agency compensation in front of the Association of National Advertisers' (ANA) Annual meeting in Phoenix this week (see link below).

Of course, the audience might not be as hostile as one thinks. It is, after all, composed mostly of the Chief Marketing Officers and other marketing executives at the country's leading brand marketers, and the attrition of trust and resources over the past 20 years has affected them, particularly.

I won't bother to look it up right now for it is known generally anyway: the average tenure of a CMO today is - well - stupid short. I imagine, in fact, that if the video had panned the audience during Jonah's remarks, you might have seen many a tough marketing man or woman discreetly dabbing away the tears of emotion and relief.

It's okay, everybody. Let it out. It's time.

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