New York Times on advertising industry

I just read this article in the NY Times about the state of the advertisin industry

About 640 miles west of Madison Avenue, in Troy, Mich., in the heart of the cratered US auto industry, there sits a six-story building in a run-of-the-mill office park that is half-empty, gets no respect and has definitely seen better days.

It’s the former headquarters of BBDO Detroit, once the most profitable arm of the storied ad agency that today gathers dust, and serves as an apt metaphor for the embattled ad business.

With ad spending down 14 percent in the first half of 2009 — compared to an already-weakened 2008 — stiff layoffs are buffeting every agency.

On top of that, the entire industry is dealing with an outdated business model as the digital revolution is rewriting the rules faster than executives can reshape their firms

via Sad men.