More than 70,000 advertising professionals have lost their jobs in this “Great Recession.†Lemonade is about what happens when people who were once paid to be creative in advertising are forced to be creative with their own lives.
via swissmiss | Lemonade.
(Please, you laid off brilliant ad people, PLEASE start doing something ethical and worthwhile. – Steve)
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[…] 5. Making lemonade with unemployment […]
I have been in the On Screen Movie Advertising industry since I bought slide advertising in 1986 for a Restaurant. The advertising campaign I created around the slide advertising wored so well, I quit the restaurant business and sold slide and 35mm film local advertising for 3 years.
The Owner had me selling south Florida from Orlando to Key West and paying me 10%. On August 27, 1989 I went to Chicago for a 7 day vacation to visit my parents. This was the first vacation in the 3 years that I sold for the company and I come back to find out the owners wife took a client that I worked for 3 months to sign a $40,000.00 contract and would not pay me for the commission so I quit!
I called the theatre owner and told him that I could no longer represent his theatres because the company and I had a falling out. The theatre owner asked me to come to his state and sell advertising there under my own company. I did that for 9 years and added a few more theatre owners in the state until in 1997 the theatre owner I started with decided to sell his company and he helped me sell mine to a national company!
I did land a 3 year contract starting a new company with them and we created a business plan for the 3 years going around the Country hiring, training and selling local slide advertising. It took 18 months for me to realize that the new company was not following the plan and I was working myself to death traveling 42 weeks a year! I wanted a 7 day vacation but they said no so I quit and went to Costa Rica for 2 weeks and ended staying 6.
I came back to the states and created a digital program and started another company on a shoe string. I went from borrowing $1,000 to 2 million dollars in 18 months. I renewed the two year contract for another three years and contracted with two other theatre owners. It took 3 years paying the first theatre owner a million a year to be CRUSHED by two National companies with upfront cash to take my theatres away from me after the contract ended.
The one theatre owner I signed with was going to make the company a national company to be the top grossing per screen On Screen Advertising Company per screen, per year! I did that for 3 straight years to be CRUSHED by up front money that was 1/2 of what I was paying them. It did not make sence to me or anyone who worked for me! I have learned a big lesson, anyone can break a contract but they have to pay in the end. What goes around, comes around! What you give you will receive 10 fold! I have lost almost everything, I have tried to keep my people employeed by taking out a line of credit and every time I get to signing a theatre chain, I am booted because of the up front money that I did not have!
I am giving up the business with the best program in the country because I have tried to do this between the employees and not the VC’s taking controling intrest with the sweat of everyone in my company! I am out, I can’t keep everyone employeed with insurance and other bennifits! I can’t compete with a company that pays so much up front money, they will never be able to make it back but it gives them more penitration in the top 25 DMA’s. So they take the loss on some to make more on the over all!
I give up!
Glad to hear you’re quitting, but I’m not sure I can forgive you for forcing me to watch commercials at a movie I paid for!
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[…] 5. Making lemonade with unemployment […]