Alva Edwards, Staff Reporter
IN THE world of advertising, firms come and go, never seeming to last for any length of time. This is due in part to the transient nature of the business, which usually only flourishes when companies hit a purple patch.
The image of the advertising specialist conjures up someone on the make, a smooth-talking artist, a shark in a suit.
None of these epithets can be applied to Robert Macmillan and his company Macmillan Advertising.
The company was founded by his father Dudley G. Macmillan in 1929 who is considered one of the founding fathers of advertising in Jamaica.
His reputation was built on professionalism and old world courtesy. As a result, he accumulated a number of stellar clients, including the Issa family headed by hotel magnate Abe Issa.
Indeed today the business relationship with the Issa family still endures unbroken.
Dudley fell into advertising inadvertently. He went to work at The Gleaner Company on the same day as Theodore Sealy, who later became the first black editor of the paper.
He took a look at the advertisements merchants were placing in the paper and decided he could do a better job of it. So with no formal training in the profession he went to work in the advertising department.
Robert says: "My father started out with Abe Issa as his first client and went on from there. I guess it was pre-ordained that I would enter the business and as a small boy I started going into the firm and watched my father at work.
"After graduating from Wolmer's Boys School I took more of an active role in the firm before I went off to Dade University in Miami to specialise in advertising. It's very gratifying to me that one of my sons, Travis, has now graduated from university in the States and has returned home to join the family firm."
Robert sees this as one of the most challenging periods in the history of advertising in Jamaica. He has operated through the last four decades but says the present climate is the most challenging environment he has experienced.
He attributes this to the proliferation of advertising agencies, while at the same time the economy has not only contracted but has become stagnant with no growth for the last five years.
The advent of the computer and more to the point the personal computer has made a lot of the work advertising agencies use to do both redundant and obsolete.
These factors are compounded by the increase in the aggressiveness of the sales forces of the media groups who now do direct placements with clients, which means agencies are competing with people who they once considered allies in the business.
Did he ever considered pursuing a career other than advertising? "Entering the diplomatic service has always appealed to me. The idea of representing my country abroad fascinates me, it requires special social skills which I admire. The hospitality industry also interested me largely because Abe Issa took me under his wing and I was able to get a good look at it up close so to speak.
"But I was always going to join the family business, of that there was no doubt and I have no regrets that I made my life in advertising.
The agency has always concentrated on retail advertising, even in the early days with its connection to the Issa family retail interests. In keeping with many of the larger agencies in the U.S., which started from a retail base and developed other arms of the business, Robert's firm has done very much the same.
He sees retail advertising as both demanding and challenging. He concentrates on employing techniques that lead to direct response with an emphasis placed on service.
His son Travis has brought in some new techniques learned from his spell at an American university and his mother, Carol Macmillan, is particularly proud that he has graduated and returned home to Jamaica to join the family business.
"We focus mainly on print advertising with radio as support. We have always believed that the printed message is the best buy in Jamaica. The printed advertisement gives you a permanent reference point. Audio-visual media can give you support and reminders but for real effectiveness there is nothing better than print.
Robert Macmillan is the epitome of old world charm and grace, with the bearing of an Italian cognoscente. It is not surprising that he is the current president of the Advertising Agencies Association. He worked with his father for 14 years before the senior Macmillan passed away in 1982 and Robert has taken over Dudley Macmillan's mantle as the doyen of Jamaican advertising. Who is to say his son Travis will not do the same within the next 30 years.
