The Michael Wolff Era at Adweek Is Over
Media bomb-thrower has been editor of Adweek for less than a year. Earlier this month, rumors began circulating that he would soon be replaced. Now, we hear, Wolff's days at Adweek are definitively coming to an end.
When Wolff was hired, the idea was to gain some buzz for what has long been an also-ran advertising trade magazine. The problem, as we pointed out at the time: trade magazines do not generally become successful by being provocative and buzzy. They become successful by relentlessly covering the trade in question. It's an often boring business. Michael Wolff added lots of interesting media reporting to Adweek. That's interesting to media people like us, but to the ad industry types who buy ads in Adweek, it's secondary at best. Adweek is fundamentally a boring trade magazine. Ergo, Michael Wolff is not the man to make Adweek successful.
The bosses have apparently come to this conclusion also, at long last. We hear that as soon as today, they will announce that Wolff is being replaced by an editor with stronger ties to the advertising trade world. You didn't do a bad job, Michael Wolff. You're just not the man for this job. (And you'll soon have a better job, I bet!)
We've emailed Michael Wolff and we'll update with any comments from him.
