Comments on: The Fall of Hammer Communications: How a Georgetown Ad Agency Built on McMansions Ended up in a Pile of Debt

By: KB Home Coming Back to D.C. Market - Housing Complex - Washington City Paper

KB Home Coming Back to D.C. Market - Housing Complex - Washington City Paper — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 13:22:22 +0000

[...] writing about the demise of Georgetown advertising firm Hammer Communications, I’m keenly aware of the misfortunes of Ame…. Until this year, Hammer was seemingly swimming in cash from builders slowly gobbling up land [...]

By: Jack Shoptaw Tweets Now… - Housing Complex - Washington City Paper

Jack Shoptaw Tweets Now… - Housing Complex - Washington City Paper — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 17:43:48 +0000

[...] After 110 comments and too many correspondences from reformed, newly-sainted commenters (read: people fearful of damaging their own reputations) pleading to remove certain things they’d written from our public thread, we finally shut down comments on the Hammer Communications story. [...]

By: Top Posts of THE PAST YEAR - Housing Complex - Washington City Paper

Top Posts of THE PAST YEAR - Housing Complex - Washington City Paper — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 16:07:17 +0000

[...] (1) “The Fall of Hammer Communications: How a Georgetown Ad Agency Built on McMansions Ended up in a Pile of Debt,” a story about an advertising company president who stops paying his employees and contractors, closes his business, and then re-launches a new advertising firm roughly a block away. [...]

By: Will Atwood Mitchell

Will Atwood Mitchell — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:55:20 +0000

Comments are now closed on this article.

By: James Boston

James Boston — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:42:06 +0000

Will Mitchell,
Per your posting earlier about comments from people trying to appear like they are from someone else, PLEASE address again. D- is obviously one of those people. In this case they are trying to appear to be me and the comments they make are slanderous. Can’t you identify these fake posters by IP addresses? If not, I would hope that this once interesting but now very tired story would be taken down or sadly, set up with no commenting options.
James E. Boston

By: James Boston

James Boston — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:26:44 +0000

Attention City Paper, the above POST from D- is another attempt by someone to post pretending to be someone else. THIS POST WAS NOT MADE BY ME even though I did recently run into Jack. I must have mentioned to whomever “D-” is about my running in to Jack. D- knows that if Jack reads the posting that he will have no doubt that it was made by me. It was not.I have NO knowledge of any of the other remarks in this posting. I only came back to the article because I was made aware that there was a comment that appeared to be from me. I am NOT D- and I am sick of this whole story.
James E. Boston

By: D-

D- — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 17:30:37 +0000

Jack,
It was wonderful seeing you last weekend at the gay DC sports bar Nellie’s with your new boyfriend. Boy, you sure like them young! It did my heart good to see that you were able to have such a wonderful time OUT, and rocking pink trousers no less, while you are being sued for hundreds of thousands, while your former employees can not make rent because you owe them money, and while your former vendors may have to close their doors. And who was looking after your kids while you were OUT, surly not your estranged wife who you incorrectly claimed battered you? Funny how homophobic you were towards your former gay employees while you were meeting male escorts at the Ritz-Carlton and in the Flour Mill parking garage. On second thought, it is not funny at all – just sad.

By: Minnesotaguy

Minnesotaguy — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:55:36 +0000

One Last Thing —Kudos to the ex-staff who had the where withall to come clean in this post!!!

By: Minnesotaguy

Minnesotaguy — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:28:08 +0000

I stumble into this article via Twitter but this is a story that gets played out over and over again in our country (and I am sure world wide). Company started by loud-mouthed, egotistical person (usually sales background) who thinks that they can do it better than people they worked for. Their story telling skills get a following of hopeful believers. Company has a successful campaign or two and appears successful based on spending client’s deposits and on things that impress other clients and staff instead of client’s projects. Company leverages it’s debt by over-extending it accounts with vendors and creditors. Company focus is on impressing other peers and new potential clients and not in delivering promises to existing clients and vendors. Company never made any real money but was going in debt from day one and until the predictable and inevitable implosion finally happens. Former employees complain about not getting paychecks, vacation etc. etc. and act like innocent victims.
Reality Is: Anyone who worked there for more than a few weeks – especially in the last year is either lying or an idiot if they couldn’t tell that this was coming down. The whiney ex-employees who knowingly didn’t do anything productive while on the clock, who drank during business hours and partied with management to excess are also guilty of committing fraud. I would be embarrassed to be publicly complaining!! They should feel lucky that their only penalty for their immature behavior is to being not paid a few thousand bucks. It is obvious that these ex-staffers were only loyal to their paychecks and to the excesses that they enjoyed that were provide by their employer and not to their conscience or the company’s clients and vendors.

By: Misguided

Misguided — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:01:19 +0000

I worked for Hammer for 6 months in ‘05/’06 on the Toll Brothers account. Jennifer and Jack were horrible and the stuff I witnessed made my skin crawl. I’ve never seen a more incompetent man than Jack. By the way, I know who vandalized his car, at least when I was there. I’m sure it happened multiple times.

What clients does The Shoptaw Group currently have? Just Toll Brothers? What about Acton’s Landing?