There's a strange ad on page C11 of today's New York Times business section. It's a help wanted ad for the New England Sports Network. I've never seen this kind of ad in the business section.

Ah, but NESN broadcasts the Red Sox, which is partly owned by The New York Times Company. The Times slapped a "Media Job Market" banner on top of the single ad. Right.

It must be great to work in the advertising department of a conglomerate. If you can't get people to buy advertising, you can always bank on your conglomerate siblings and cousins. You can tell how lazy or ineffective an advertising department is by looking at the number of ads from within the same empire. Ever notice how some NY1 shows feature lots of ads for AOL or Time Warner Cable? Or how many generic GE corporate image ads fill the empty slots of MSNBC?

I don't know of any actual studies on this, but you have to figure that naturally, conglomerate membership makes it easier to be a worse advertising manager. It's natural. You can always dig up a generic ad from the corporate parent or sibling. Why stay late at work coming up with clever advertising selling points for ABC when you can just throw on the latest Disney World ad and go home?

It's another one of the ways conglomerates diminish the amount of money an enterprise creates. People should continue to view these "synergy" ads with great skepticism.