Weary advertising executives arriving this week at the American Association of Advertising Agencies' Management talk are looking for ways to place the business' harsh realities behind them.

Weary advertising executives arriving this week at the American Association of Advertising Agencies' Management talk are looking for ways to place the business' harsh realities behind them.

``There's been no perceptible pickup in ad spending, no strange categories [of ad spending] coming along,'' said O Burtch Drake, president-CEO of the Four A's, which propers April 17-20. ``Everybody wants to be optimistic, if it be not that we're waiting for some righteous ...