Sunday, March 11, 2007

And sometimes they just fail

Sometimes former ad women make it big and sometimes they become spectacularly unpopular LPGA commissioners.

Remember when Carolyn Bivens left Initiative for what she called "the highest honor" of her professional life? The future of women's golf seemed so promising, so pretty.

And then: eeee.

You gotta scratch your head over this one too. How could a former USAToday executive rise so far at an IPG agency then take a job where she immediately pisses off the media, the sponsors and the only two LPGA golfers anyone can name? How could she waste such good fortune? And don't come at me with your agent of change theories. Even though Bivens "once used a form of the word 'brand' 16 times in a single news conference to define her mission as LPGA commissioner," this is management so odd, even local radio hosts notice.

Looking back now, it's easy to say we should have known. Initiative's reaction to her departure -- remember, she was a COO -- seemed strange: "An Initiative representative said there is no immediate plan to replace Bivens. The New York-based agency will be led by global CEO Alec Gerster and former MTV executive Mark Rosenthal...'We have a very strong management team,' the Initiative rep said, who added that Gerster wishes Bivens well." Oh the well-wishing! Always ominous.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I come here Monday mornings for Battlestar rants, and today I find stars battling. (If, you can call an LPGA commish a star.)

Ok, I’ll play. I nominate John Daly. You may not leave the press conferences any smarter, but at least you’ll have a helluva time.

Irene Done said...

John Daly is a brilliant suggestion. It's the one thing that could rid the LPGA of its slightly dowdy, irritable image.

Anonymous said...

Maybe I was tired because the government stole an hour of my weekend. But I had a hard time following last night's show. That's right, Irene. I'm with Bill. Where's our Battlestar post?