Ethnographic Log Agency Growing Pains: Ethnography in the 1980s Barbara Olsen (School of Business―SUNY Old Westbury) This contribution to the JBA is a retrospective of my career as written down in an ethnographic log, when my agency, IMC Marketing Group, Ltd., expanded to Europe to service internationalizing clients. The move served a growing interest on my part to learn filmmaking. This advertising ethnography captures the enthusiasm of transitioning from print advertising into filmmaking and video production, where I believed I could bridge the advertising/anthropology divide by making films that would have a social purpose. Total achievement was constrained by the dysfunctional management style of a self-destructive partner, and by my divided commitment while simultaneously completing a Ph.D. in anthropology. Advertising ethnography My engagement with advertising began as an artist and ended as an owner. The journey was predicated on friendship with a man I call Adam Wilson (a pseudonym) who introduced me to his agency, Adam Wilson & Friends, in 1972. This is a continuation of a previous article (Olsen 2016) that explored liminality while working on three campaigns in the 1970s, when anthropological contributions were not yet appreciated. By 1979, competing accounts and corporate chaos had led me to incorporate IMC Marketing Group to continue creative services for many of our clients. Page 1 of 16 JBA 5(1): 89-104 Autumn 2016 © The Author(s) 2016 ISSN 2245-4217 www.cbs.dk/jba Journal of Business Anthropology, 5(1), Autumn 2016 90 The unspoken full name, International Marketing Communications, was already taken, but refers to the direction I was heading, as my clients expanded their sales to global markets. From 1972 until 1988, I kept my log in chronological order, variously drawing emotions and recording states of mind and business dealings with clients and employees, similar to fieldwork notebooks recorded by Taussig (2011). The log reflects misplaced loyalty to my partner, Adam, who struggled with his own demons as he descended into delusional thinking and pathological behavior antithetical to success. Studying anthropology throughout the 1980s not only preserved my humanity, but also prohibited my total immersion in a competitive industry requiring total dedication. By mid- 1980s, agency diversion into music videos was my calculated effort toward future ethnographic filmmaking. Initially we were located in New York at 65 West 55th Street, before moving to 485 Madison Avenue; other offices were in Los Angeles and London. The agency promoted syndicated television clients, and while media is in flux today, the 1980s are relevant for when syndicated shows dominated television. I used participant-observation to chronicle my corporate life. Our staff consisted of an office manager-receptionist, secretary, two account supervisors, a traffic person (to follow jobs in time), bookkeeper, and accountant. Mark and Tom were account supervisors. George, our copywriter, had been with Adam since the 1960s. As President, I was in charge of new business, payroll handled by ADP, and cash transfers between banks. Adam transitioned as Director of the agency responsible for management, and excelled as Creative Director. All creative concepts were conceived by Adam and rendered by the art director in New York. Initial work was executed as paste-ups and mechanicals―the term for rough layouts drawn or pasted with type and visuals by our art production manager and assistants in the bull pen (the name of the room where art production was carried out). Lawyers and publicity consultants were on retainer. Bob Blansky, my friend at Dolphin Computer Image, introduced me to Adam. I hired him to do video production. Luke Thornton and Laurie Keller would become my partners in Front Row Films. With Adam managing production, my primary focus was finding clients and completing my Masters’ (1981) and Ph.D. (1989) in anthropology. Unfortunately, it was my experience during the 1970s and 1980s that few colleagues on either side of the advertising-anthropology equation valued contributions from the other. Baba (1986: 4-7) provides an excellent analytical overview of applied anthropology’s positive acceptance in government as well as in industry from the 1930s through the 1950s. She maintains, however, that the 1960s and 1970s “was characterized by an alienation of anthropological research from business practice – alienation growing in large measure from ethical crisis and intensive debate in the discipline concerning the appropriate uses of applied anthropology” (Ibid., p. 7) in the private sector. While Baba notes Olsen / Agency Growing Pains 91 that business anthropologists experienced a rebound in the 1980s (Ibid., p. 8-9), I still felt mutual disdain from both sectors: academic anthropologists’ negativity and little industry appreciation for anthropology. Cefkin (2010: 2) writes that corporate anthropological practitioners are attuned to “evaluation through both the kind of perspective afforded by an ethnography of the ethnography in and of industry as well as through the reflections of practitioners themselves.” Since my ad agency chronicle is captured from the log and files of client campaigns, I rely on these sources to describe my participation over time. What is recalled, in sometimes painful recollection, is an atmosphere thick with tension, turmoil, and employee churn. Cefkin (ibid., p. 3) continues: “just as ethnographic practitioners in industry contexts are particularly situated within the everyday sites of their work, this work emerges as well out of particular histories.” This ethnography unfolds with added clarifying commentary. The log reveals emotional and financial entanglement (Hodder 2012). The longer I stayed, the harder it was to leave. There was little opportunity to creatively apply anthropology beyond working on educational TV animations, before selling the agency to Adam in 1988. I loved the creativity and have since shared that affection with my marketing students. Looking backward helps us understand how we can use what we learn to move forward. The irony of hindsight Ethnography is most often thought of as something we do for other peoples’ projects. “Autoethnography,” however, is the process of introspectively recording the observation of our own participation in social and/or corporate contexts. These situations, once inscribed, provide particular insight into choices we make for the path we take. Revisiting log fieldnotes, I was struck by instances where I should have acted differently, including the late start I made in connecting with practicing anthropology. 2/24/87―Tuesday: Bob Blansky and I worked at Nexus all day today on the Troll series first animation, Monster Under My Bed for Alan Shalleck [Shalleck wrote and illustrated children’s stories we animated for television.] I joined the Society for Applied Anthropology and just got the Practicing Anthropology newsletter. I realize that if I kept better notes observing my Madison Avenue surroundings, I can do an exposé of advertising. If only the New School anthropology department thought it was worthy, I could have been writing on this all along. In the early 1980s, I considered making ethnographic films. IMC advertised clients’ syndicated television programs and movie packages. I wanted to distribute my creations. Journal of Business Anthropology, 5(1), Autumn 2016 92 2/2/84―I started going to NYU Monday and Wednesday nights. Monday with Saul Taffet seems to go by fast and is well taught. This is actual filmmaking. Wednesday night, their 55th St. classroom in the synagogue is taught by Thierry Pathé. It is a lighting and sound class that seems thin and off track much of the time. Work is better than I could have imagined. I go to lunch with Adam and our clients―a different one each day. I correct Colleen’s [office manager] mistakes and realize she needs help. I enjoy going to USA Cable taking Linda [client] to lunch alone. 5/28/84―Work is preoccupied with 20th Century Fox movie brochures and their Mash campaign. We need to go to LA soon to firm up the Mash brochure. We are almost finished with Dickens. 1984: 20th Century Fox: Charles Dickens Classics I loved this collection with eight 90 minute specials for children. The Charles Dickens Classics were animated movies made for television: Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, The Old Curiosity Shop, Nicholas Nickleby, and David Copperfield. Because each movie had a moral to the story, it was supported as “recommended viewing” by the National Congress of Parents and Teachers Association (PTA) and by the National Education Association (NEA). The brochure began with “The future is in the hands of our children. The values and ideas we give them on television today will help shape the kind of society we’re all going to have to live in tomorrow.” Discussions I was having with our creative staff, especially with George, the copywriter, were paying off in poignant copy like this. I hoped for more film packages like this to influence television content as an educational medium. 6/12/84―Tuesday: Adam and I left on the 9 AM flight to Los Angeles arriving in time for lunch with Ron [Snow] and Jerry [Greenberg], our west coast contacts at 20th Century Fox. Twentieth Century Fox is the biggest account we have at IMC, because we also do a lot of the other Fox TV shows and film packages for TV. Fox has offices all around the world: Sydney, Australia; Sāo Paulo, Brazil; Montreal, Toronto, Canada; London, England; Paris, France; Tokyo, Japan; and Mexico. It’s why we’re trying to find affiliates to form joint ventures with to service our European syndicators. When Columbia Pictures Television transferred its sales office to Los Angeles in 1980, we opened an office there to handle promoting Charlie’s Angels. Over time, we hired previous clients, Paul Shrage from Columbia Pictures and Ron Snow and Jeff Shadlow from Fox, to run the LA office to service accounts and hire freelancers to finalize work for client approval. Olsen / Agency Growing Pains 93 Thumbnail sketches or rough drawings were sent over the phone on Purolator (an early Fax). Finished artwork was sent to LA by overnight delivery using DHL to get approval from clients at offices in Century City. There were always problems. Adam and I interviewed potential employees before hiring, but they would be working directly under him and his personality guaranteed churn. 1985: Making new connections 2/19/85―Tuesday: The day unfolded and I had a sour attitude because Adam wouldn’t tell me how much money to transfer to cover petty cash and the expenses for the bills this week. He treats the staff in NY differently than California, probably because the account executives there used to work for our clients. 2/20/85―Adam watches every move we do and asks, “What are you doing? Who are you talking to?” This scrutiny drove many employees to find new jobs before they had settled in. Keeping staff was difficult, especially in New York where he was particularly abusive. A large part of my day was spent listening to employee complaints and healing bruised egos. 3/19/85―Tuesday: It’s pretty bad. Adam and I are manifesting old behaviors. He blames everyone else for all his problems, screams and yells all day. Today, I took the phone off the hook and tried to create peace by calming everyone down. 3/21/85―Thursday: I survived another day, but barely. Mark and I went to HBO at 10. Then lunch at La Caravelle with Adam, Tom, Mark [our account supervisors] and Larry Schecter [Adam’s friend]. I told Mark I wanted to sell IMC to Adam. He talked me out of it, at least until April and the end of the first quarter when, hopefully, their percentage of profits comes through. Mark said he’s giving it until August. My desire was to produce and distribute highly demanded children’s educational films. In 1984, I had incorporated Pinnacle Productions, and named it after a mountain in Jamaica populated by Rastafarians escaping urban persecution. 3/27/85―Wednesday: Last Friday was the worst. I told Adam I couldn’t work with him in the office anymore. I set up my film office in our engraver’s building on 42nd St., near Pfizer, so it would be easier for me to handle the Quigley and Pferrocal accounts [manufacturers of steel mill products]. For now, the film company would be Pinnacle. I’m getting an off-line video machine and video editor where I can work on the movies we produce in peace and quiet. IMC also needed an office in London as we increasingly were involved in Journal of Business Anthropology, 5(1), Autumn 2016 94 client projects produced for the European market. By 1985, 20th Century Fox television was selling their shows across Europe and needed our agency to have a presence in London. 4/16/85―Tuesday: Flew into London yesterday on Pan Am first class with Adam to meet potential English partners. We checked into the Athenaeum Hotel near Hyde Park. Today started with breakfast downstairs (in the Athenaeum Hotel) with our lawyer, who lined up agencies for us to interview for partners. Then to Peter Espley (our first interview) and lunch. He and Adam got on very well. They complement each other. I was instrumental in Adam’s credibility as I’ve worked with him for 13 years. There was minor conflict, mostly recognizing Adam’s personality is not acceptable to British clients. 4/17/85―Wednesday: Breakfast with Luke Thornton and Iain Brown from Thornton-Keller Productions [Bob Morin’s contacts]. They do commercials, but mostly music videos and film production, and need help with money and a US location. We’re perfect. Also they distribute a Jimmy Cliff film they made. Nice group of guys. Bob Morin provided a lot of work, first from Lorimar where we promoted Eight is Enough for syndication. Next, he became President of syndication at 20th Century Fox, where we worked on film packages and syndicated shows such as Mash and The Fall Guy. Finally, he became President of New Century Entertainment,where we promoted movies for distribution. 4/18/85―Thursday: Each day is just a penciled mark on the page for memory―in some distant future when I’ll want to read or write my memoirs. Breakfast with Luke, Iain and Laurie [Keller] downstairs in the hotel, then to Tower Street and their office. I saw their music videos. Excellent work. It’s decided that Luke and Laurie will be our partners in London. We decided to do a joint venture with this small company, eventually relocating to Grape St. as Front Row Films. IMC would use their office in London. Their directors wanting to make TV commercials in the US would use ours. The collaboration was mutually advantageous. 4/19/85―Friday: Breakfast with Luke, Laurie, Iain, Jan [producers] and Adam. Then to Manufacturers Hanover Trust and opened a bank account [for IMC] and on to the Lee Film Studio in Wembley out of town. Ate at an Indian restaurant across the street. Dinner at Wilton’s was with Bob Morin and his wife talking future business till 2 AM. 4/20/85―Saturday: It has been an incredible week, coming to London to find business and walking right into a situation made for us. It was Bob Morin’s set up because of his affection for Laurie Keller, an ex-20th Century Fox salesman, now here in the Olsen / Agency Growing Pains 95 UK. Their business is in need of reorganization. Breakfast again downstairs with Laurie, Jan, Luke, Iain and Brian Ward, director of videos. Then to their office where we worked from 11 AM. Adam laid out his office procedure and everyone made folders, sorted invoices and statements, two-hole punched and filed. He wrote a letter for suppliers and finally finished by 6:45 PM. Then, back to the hotel and to the Athenaeum bar to meet Morin, Laurie and Iain. Later, to dinner at Maggie Jones near Kensington Church Road and High Street. Old rustic ambience. Iain’s friend, Glynnis, showed up and reminisced being production assistant in the making of Chariots of Fire and The Killing Fields. We talked about them wanting me to rep them and their video production for jobs from the States. Adam was wonderful, on his best behavior, and everyone we’ve met seems to like and respect him. As Morin said at dinner, “To get to a Morin or a Wilson, you’ve had to have done your homework!” [symbolized their shared hubris]. 4/29/85―Monday: I’m back to New York life as usual: fast paced, balancing my PhD with a flurry of activity at work. 6/11/85―Tuesday: It was a good day, presenting again to Entertainment Media Co. and lunch with Linda from USA Cable at Il Menestrello. I’ve been reflecting on our mark-up on New Century: a job costing $85,000 to 90,000, we’re charging $270,000. Bob said, “Is Adam getting rich on me all by myself? He may win this argument, but it will be his last.” I thought long and hard about how much I really want a change. We needed to keep this account. However, my new business efforts were fruitful. D.L. Taffner hired IMC to promote their syndicated show: 6/21/85―Friday: Rosemary Berry [my contact at Taffner] called, wanting estimates on a 30 second commercial and a 10 second spot for Three’s Company [each episode]. 6/25/85―Tuesday: Today I went to TVC and spent time with Alan Brown where he’s made it to Producer in Video Tape in only 1½ years [He could do the editing]. Back at the office, I got the figures from California for the [Three’s Company] commercials. Ron said Taffner’s commercials will cost $925 an episode, or 130 (episodes) x $925 = $120,250, or $120,500 for one 30’ (second) plus one 10’ (second) for the whole job. 7/1/85―Monday: It’s been a wonderful, productive week. Adam went to California last week and I started asking Bob Blansky for help. I’d like to work closely with Bob. He’s got a lot of good ideas and I know him longer than Adam. 8/21/85―Wednesday: Moved to my office on 42nd Street and working on the resumes. Journal of Business Anthropology, 5(1), Autumn 2016 96 8/31/85―Saturday: The week went fast. Lots of interviews for cameramen and production managers. 9/7/85―Saturday: Yesterday I got a quote from Bob Blansky [to make our promotion video] of 5 to 10 minutes that he’ll make at Dolphin Computer Image for $2,500, which is good because we only have a $5,000 budget to have everything done. So, I told Adam and he replied, “Oh, no, the video will be ½ hour” [that’s too long]. I’m really confused and a bit numb about the entire project. Adam is weird and I don’t trust him. I think he’s becoming unhinged. I realize now he had no intention of using Dolphin’s talent to do our job. In the meantime, I’m starting to work with film. 9/13/85―Friday: Work is picking up. Adam said we’d get an edit for the AC/DC long form music video from England. I’m still going around to studios to get quotes on editing. Going into IMC is schizophrenic. Adam was supposed to bring the script back from England for the Sade shoot in three weeks. He said he forgot it and I have a production manager, Stan Bickman, standing by waiting for a concept to do a budget, get locations, etc. How sad. Overview of the Sade video: 13–26 September, 1985 I got Stan Bickman [producer of the iconic Rocky Horror Picture Show] to be the producer for our Front Row Films NYC portion of the music video shoot of Sade’s songs Is it a Crime and The Sweetest Taboo. Laurie and Luke got Brian Ward as Director, Iain as cameraman. I am assistant producer and work tightly with Stan. Postscript recollection for Is it a Crime: I did a dry run as closely as I could gauge the timing of events to be filmed. We were not using union personnel, and had to shoot at night to finish before dawn. A critical shot was over the 59th St. Bridge filming inside a classic Checker taxi cab with a hood-mounted camera. Another problematic shot was the ride down Fifth Avenue, shot from inside the cab looking south toward 34th St. with a constant view of the illuminated Empire State Building. We would make a right turn onto 42nd St. and proceed to the deli on Eighth Ave. and 46th St. These shots would be tricky with possible traffic on the bridge and with the lights on the Empire State Building turned off at exactly 11 PM. The last shots would be filmed throughout the night till early morning on 46th St. and Eighth Avenue, in front of a Deli-convenience store that participated in the production. Problems that occurred with the timing got us to Fifth Avenue about 10 minutes to 11 and just as we were turning the corner onto 42nd, the lights on the Empire State Building went dark. I had arranged for a police presence at the Deli as all filming in New York City needs to register with the City. What I didn’t expect was grievance from union members reporting to their jobs around Times Square in the morning as they passed our shoot, questioning our using non-union workers. It was a Olsen / Agency Growing Pains 97 wrap before any altercations erupted, but the realization of our discovery was uncomfortable for us all. My notes recorded the details: 9/18/85―Wednesday: Another week flying by. We’re shooting Sade next Tuesday on Yom Kippur eve. Stan is very competent. He got the insurance permits, etc. and I got the police detail to stay with us during the shoot. I bought an Onkyo dual cassette deck, and duped my [Front Row Films] logo music that I taped at home last night. 9/26/85―Thursday: Incredible week. Monday, Iain Brown and Brian Ward came to NY with Denis Martinelli, the actor, and Oliver, another cameraman. With Stan Bickman, I put together a good crew and we started shooting for Sade music videos, Is it a Crime and Sweetest Taboo. We began in front of the Plaza Hotel at Central Park South at 6:30 PM on Tuesday night. It was fun. The second shot was uptown on Broadway at 42nd Street and we stayed at 46rd Street and 8th Avenue for hours, ending at 6:45 in the morning after going over the Manhattan Bridge and shooting at the River Café. Ed Newins, the rigger, was great. Tonight ate at the Palm with Laurie and Luke and Adam. Adam said Iain and Brian were a terrible combo and wasted a lot of film, so may be fired. We’re going to start a heavy publicity program for Front Row in the trades. 10/1/85―Tuesday: Yesterday Laurie, Luke and I signed the bank papers for the Front Row Film Co. accounts [here]. But, today at Manufacturers Hanover Trust, there was a problem. The bank decided to bounce IMC checks. Who knows which ones? So, George Wolf, our manager at the bank, helped me out by covering our deposits in his bank after we called New Century Entertainment’s bank in LA to find out if their $174,000 check we deposited was good. I’m worried about my new credit situation. Tomorrow I go to the insurance company with Stan. I keep blocking out the real problem. Adam had been promising Tom a mortgage from Crossland Bank and it never came. He’s done this so many times, keeping people waiting for broken promises. Problems with money, fearing Adam’s duplicitous behavior, became the “dominant narrative” (Rhodes et al. 2010) near every success. The year progressed busily working on commercials, editing music videos, and delivering masters to clients. A lot of work came through my 42nd St. film office. Unfortunately, our own educational videos never came to be. Typical scenarios like the following repeated week after week. 10/16/85―Wednesday: Adam came down and we had a meeting with Ted Folke and John Lavee who proposed travel videos. I watched Adam through different eyes and saw a crazy man filled with mood swings from pure genius to defeat―filled with good ideas, but no back up. He gets in the way of his own success. Journal of Business Anthropology, 5(1), Autumn 2016 98 10/20/85― Sunday: I realized that Adam worries about taking money out of the ad agency to spend making videos. Robin can’t get her reels edited for $100 and Stan said there’s too much work around, we should be doing some of it. But, no one will work for the low amount Adam pays. I can’t get him to budge on the budgets. 10/24/85―Thursday: Today was an absolutely horrible day. I went to my 42nd St. office and put my phone on call forwarding. I dropped the Wire Train [music video] contract off at IMC. From 4:30 till 6:45 PM I went to see the insurance agent and had a hard time with CBS Records―no 1” master without a check. I’ll deliver a ¾” tape first, before the master. [I do not recall what videos these were for.] 12/3/85―Tuesday: Today I saw the Sade video. I think it’s boring. But, I got the dupes. 12/12/85―Wednesday: An active week. Today, Luke and I signed more papers making us partners and hopefully will bring in some new business. London just edited the video to Jewel of the Nile and it should make Maurice [Phillips, Director] a hero. 1986 1/3/86―Friday: Very crazy week. I see the chaos again―pure insanity all around me. People acting nice on the outside, seething inside. Adam acting out – then saying it was a joke or some such nonsense. He tells me his mind is gone and I recognize the pattern. I think, deep down, he may have an inkling insanity lies around the corner. Tom is still here. Andre, the art director, got yelled at by Adam for having a bad sense of type. Andre put on his coat, grabbed his phone book, and told Adam he couldn’t stand being treated this way anymore, saying Adam doesn’t know how to talk to people. But, then Adam talked him out of leaving. I’m sorry Adam didn’t want to see Ran, Kurosawa’s movie, with Joel and me tonight. An interesting allegory about paying for your sins, for reaping what you sow. And the end product of ravage, rape of property and lack of a sense of humanity in one’s plunder for success is chaos turned against oneself and madness. An insanity that delivers one from feeling that which the mind comprehends. The Three’s Company campaign for D.L. Taffner led to more syndication work for IMC in 1986. I picked up their Check It Out! promotion kit, and we hired Heidi Star as an intern from SUNY Old Westbury. I’m auditing Ethnographic Film at the New School with Faye Ginsburg, and incorporated Chrystal Mountain Productions to hopefully produce and Olsen / Agency Growing Pains 99 distribute my educational films. The name came from the mountain in The Snow Leopard by Peter Mathiessen. Luke introduced us to Storm Thorgerson who wants to make commercials in the US. 1/23/86―Thursday: Yesterday, I met a film producer, Keith Cavele, at La Caravelle for lunch. Then, dinner with Anthony Taylor working with Storm Thorgerson about doing music videos with us. Storm is a partner in Hipgnosis, his company that made Pink Floyd’s album cover art and music videos. I also bought out Laurie Keller, so just Luke and I are partners in Front Row Films. Today, Rosemary at Taffner asked me to leave Alan at IMC when going to our meeting. We decided not to do the box press kit and to make a folder instead. While Mark and I were there, we picked up a press kit for the Ted Knight Show. Tomorrow, I deliver my Area and Track papers to my committee at the New School and tell them my Ph.D. supervisor will be Harner. 1/24/86―Friday: A terrible day. Adam is absolutely schizophrenic―at least three different people. Yelling at everyone. My thinking about him is that he dreams of glory, but is totally incapable of pulling it off. Doomed to failure because he has built an image predicated on pathos, wallowing in “poor me.” He’s surrounded by capable, competent people and prides himself on breaking their spirits. He becomes neurotically preoccupied with minutia [and] made the new intern, Heidi, cry twice. 1/25/86―Saturday: The longer I get from yesterday, the more obscure it becomes. It was absolutely awful. Adam was crazy. I got to IMC around noon. We needed to firm things up with Stan Bickman, the producer for Sade’s video, whom Adam wants to produce a feature film next. Adam wants crews ready to shoot. Stan says we need a script first. Adam says, get the crew for $1-2 million for each picture. Stan left, but he called later and said he needs to know his pay. Adam said, not to worry, he’d take care of him. Meanwhile at lunch with Keith Cavele on Wednesday, Adam said we could only use a crew a few times, not regularly, because he’d “have to step on ’em”―meaning make them work for next to nothing until they’re so disgusted they won’t talk to him anymore. And Adam’s history repeats itself―penny wise and pound foolish! He’s really pathological and completely unhinged. 1/27/86―Monday: At IMC I told them I’d be downtown. An hour later, Adam called me to let me know that Noreen, the office manager, just quit, but he has two new bookkeepers coming in next week. I had my first class with Faye Ginsburg in Ethnographic Film tonight. It was great. We saw Nanook of the North with much more background information and a new view. We got Journal of Business Anthropology, 5(1), Autumn 2016 100 some good readings, too. 1/28/86―Tuesday: A terrible day in many ways: the Space Shuttle blew up this morning, the 25th mission. Watching it on TV tonight is incredible. Like a smoke bomb with fireworks. Chris McAuliffe, a teacher from Concord, NJ, was the first civilian onboard and was killed with seven crew members. Stunned. All her students watched it happen on TV. I was at work when it happened. After hearing that Andre [the art director] quit telling Adam to shove his job this afternoon, Michael, the young mechanical artist, came into Adam’s office and said he was leaving, but Adam convinced him to stay till Friday. Noreen [the office manager] leaving yesterday may have triggered a purge. It was the beginning of the end. Over the next three months, most of our employees in New York and Los Angeles quit. My log entries are filled with exciting prospects on the horizon. I worked with Luke and had positive lunches with Keith Cavele, who was instrumental in raising $16 million for four movies. My log notes that “when we met with them last, Adam was strange, saying ‘go cheap, cheap, cheap.’ He [Adam] would direct or provide financing, but not both. They told him that you HAVE to spend money to get good stars, sales and TV deals. The only thing Adam said that made sense was that he couldn’t do both” (log entry 1/30/86). 2/7/86―Friday: The first thing I did today was transfer $5,000 to London. When I got to IMC, I found out that Ron Snow, our IMC account supervisor in LA turned in his resignation and another rep, Chris Whorf didn’t want to be associated with us anymore. Adam had been squabbling with them over money. And, yesterday the photographer who took Arnold Schwarzenegger’s picture we used for a New Century ad wanted $10,000 for using his photo in all our ads. We bought the picture from Movie Star News! It was a legitimate photo, but today we agreed to pay the photographer $3,000. Later, at IMC, I saw Tom printing a letter on George’s printer and asked why. He said it was his resignation letter. Effective immediately. Adam said it was because of his health, but promised “not to say what he had. It’s not IMC. It was the pressure of his parent’s business failing just got to him.” Tom was pretty smart getting out of this one without becoming the scapegoat. Whoever quits in animosity, becomes the reason for all the current problems. Two more IMC’s employees quit the next week including Jeff, our conduit for Fox. Within the year, Tom and George, our copywriter, formed their own ad agency in New York. 2/11/86―Tuesday: London needs money again and Adam doesn’t want to send it. In fact, they asked for $100,000. It was depressing! I stayed to work on the Check It Out! press kit, writing the Synopsis and Credits on computer for seven hours. Olsen / Agency Growing Pains 101 My eyes feel like sand is in them now. Heidi told me today that the art department did the Sony mechanicals [for a movie poster] six times and the client told Nancy, the new account executive, “It’s the last time we’ll see you!” Too bad, I think Adam blew it. I need to study [for the Ph.D. written exam in March] but no time. 2/14/86―Friday: Luke arrived from London yesterday. We ate at Frankie and Johnnies. Jackie and Caroline arrived today from London. We ate at the Palm. Five lobsters were $364. I studied both mornings at the Donnell Library. There was always money for lavish meals and entertainment and to invest in our Shearson Lehman stock account, but never enough for operations. Adam was a hoarder of money for emergency and my protection should he die. I intended to leave it to him for his sons. 2/24/86―Monday: An awful day. George told me he gave Adam notice of one week and is leaving. Only Mark is left. I wonder how long till he quits. Heidi said Adam was red faced today. I asked him if he wanted a cold drink. He said, “Yeah, poison.” What a day! Thank God for Anthropology. I knew it would soon be time to leave. I intended to sell IMC to him for $1 before departing to write my thesis and teach. I did fieldwork in Jamaica during April 1986 and summer 1987. Luke increasingly did more business in the New York office. I introduced him to Bob Blansky who continued to bring in new business and work with them. On return and into the fall, IMC and Front Row Filmssuffered financially with delayed payments from all syndicators. This hurt as IMC had to pay upfront to place client ads in the media before getting paid by the clients. 10/17/ 86―Friday: We just about wiped out every account to cover over-drafts and cover payroll here and in LA. I expect $10,000 early next week and 20th Century Fox owes us $120,000. We have $400,000 coming in over the next few months from other jobs in the works. But the edit of the trailer for the Neat & Tidy television film by Syndicast Services may take me to London next week to firm up the trailer and make the sales film. My log continues about meeting Storm in London and working on the Syndicast film edit. 10/24/86―Friday: We wrote up a contract with Storm Thorgerson. He’s 48 and a “difficult” creative by his own admission, but I think he’s a very nice man. His work for Pink Floyd has always been my favorite. Maybe I just like the crazy people more than others. Time will tell. 10/30/86―Thursday: It’s 1:45 AM and an awful day. It was hell and Adam was no help telling everyone what to do the wrong way. Turns out that everyone says yes to Adam and then continues Journal of Business Anthropology, 5(1), Autumn 2016 102 with their thing, doing it the right way. He never knows the difference, and ends up saying how he made it great. I’m so mad. I want to tell him what he is, to get my anger out and to help him change. But, he can’t change, so I’ll keep quiet. 10/31/86― Friday: At our office on Grape St. we worked organizing the production schedule for the month. Luke had to tell Adam about Amy, our office manager in LA, telling nasty tales about Adam’s broken promises to Maurice Phillips. Adam was glum and solemn all afternoon. My instinct was to fire her. I’m sure he was thinking the same, but she’s the daughter of our client at Fox. 11/4/86―Tuesday: Since I didn’t want to be responsible for the money side of the business, Adam’s personality keeps ruining relationships by deferring payments. I can’t believe it! Ann Marie, a valuable account executive in London, called to complain that Adam won’t pay her for the last three weeks because her signature was faxed and not original. She’s broke because he owes her 1500 pounds. Now, she wants Luke and Simon to pay her personally. Adam sets himself up for disaster. 11/10/86―Monday: I’m seeing through Adam’s pathologies, like keeping people at work late because he doesn’t want to be alone and then taking them to dinner. 11/12/86―Wednesday: IMC lunch with Adam and Luke. We need money to make the dupes for Front Row’s new promotion video. Instead, Adam gave Luke $20, so he could go to the Limelight tonight. Unbelievable! Later, Luke told us he got a promise today from Mike Lang to do a Joe Cocker special, and possibly another film for Dragon, a new group. Stevie Ray Vaughn and KBC are on hold for now. But, Luke and Anne Marie say they have lots of groups that are on the fire. 11/21/86―Friday: Today I edited video at IPC doing the Strobs and Wheat Thins Billboards for Neat & Tidy. Mike Takeshun taught me how to use the paint box. Very exciting. It’s a great machine. This week has been fun since I started producing. At IMC, Amy is in from LA and telling Adam about all the people out there who will never do any work with him. It’s like he’s tainted with a bad reputation. 12/23/86―Milton Rich, our publicity/PR rep, asked me how the staff can continue to take it from Adam dishing it out at everybody. Even Stan Bickman said Adam’s personality is wearing thin. He said I deserve a medal. Back at the office at 6:15, I told Adam I wanted to leave to write my thesis. I was having a breakdown over the chaos and stress in the office. I’ve been training Bob to take over the video- Olsen / Agency Growing Pains 103 commercial division for Front Row Films in New York. 12/26/86―Friday: I’m home. Adam called to report his brunch with Al Silver and Bob Blansky. He said Bob will start the week of January 12th. He’ll work on computer animation and get commissions for the commercials he brings in to our company. Adam liked Storm Thorgerson’s cutting edge computer techniques, and told him we received a Chrysler commercial for him to shoot. The problem was none of us believed it. I was hoping Storm would work with Bob in New York. 1/6/87―Tuesday: Bob asked me, “Is the car commercial (for Chrysler) real? Without a PO (purchase order) it can’t be.” I said, “My worst fear is that it isn’t real.” Bob replied, “It’s too bad that Adam has to live in that world, to make up his reality. He needs that? Incredible!” Storm Thorgerson was here last week and we went for drinks and Adam talked it up. Incredible! To succeed we have to protect ourselves from Adam. 1/9/87―Friday: At IMC, I went with Bob to Windsor (editing company) and we created the Syndicast logo in gold, using ADO and Abacus. 1/15/87―Thursday: A great week working with Bob Blansky in Front Row trying to get jobs for directors and for Bob. He’s great on computer graphics. Really the best, having worked at Dolphin Computer Image since it opened. For the rest of the year until summer, when I left to do fieldwork in Jamaica, Bob Blansky brought in several jobs that we worked on at Front Row Films. From start to finish, we created story boards and final animations. We received an order from Alan Shalleck to make animated children’s stories for 40 books in the Troll series. We produced an AIDS commercial for the NY Department of Health in Albany, NY, and an animated flyway diagram for an Audubon Documentary on PBS. Computer generated art and video was fast becoming an ingredient in commercials and video entertainment. I was fortunate to have been part of this new direction with experienced teachers whetting my appetite for how I could take video into my anthropological future. 9/7/88―Wednesday: I wrote my letters of resignation and transferred my shares in IMC, Front Row, Pinnacle and Crystal Mountain, to Adam. Adam said that he was partnering with a publishing company at 383 Fifth Ave. and taking the rest of the staff there to do advertising if he closes IMC [which he soon did]. I defended my thesis on March 14, 1989. At my graduation in May, Adam and his two sons were there to cheer me on. Ironically, that summer I began teaching advertising in the Marketing Department at SUNY Old Westbury. Journal of Business Anthropology, 5(1), Autumn 2016 104 References Baba, M. 1986. Business and industrial anthropology: An overview. NAPA Bulletin Volume 2: 1-29. The University of California: National Association for the Practice of Anthropology. American Anthropology Association. Cefkin, M. (ed.). 2010/2009. Ethnography and the corporate encounter. New York: Berghahn Books. Hodder, C. 2002. Entangled: An archaeology of the relationships between humans and things. Chichester, West Sussex, UK: John Wiley and Sons. Olsen, B. 2016. Liminality in advertising from the Mad Men era. Journal of Business Anthropology (Spring) Special Issue 2: 77-104. Taussig, M. 2011. I swear I saw this: Drawings in fieldwork notebooks, namely my own. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.