17Dec / 2008

Do recessions make agencies lazy?

When budgets are cut during tough times it’s always a bit disappointing. You can’t do exactly what you’d like, but in my opinion – it sorts out the men from the boys. What frustrates me even more however, is that smaller budgets breeds laziness. In meetings with other agencies over the last month I’ve heard people complaining about only having a couple of mill to spend. Yeah, it’s not the biggest but I’m pretty sure if you gave that to an entrepreneur they would wet their pants and make it work as hard as humanly possible.

According to the people in said meeting, you have to go for ‘maximum reach with such a tiny budget’ and ‘not get too cutesy as consumers won’t understand and miss the call to action’. Whilst I don’t think this is reflective of most agency attitudes these days, it does worry me that people are reacting this way as times get tougher. Agencies have a responsibility during this period to prove their worth and substantiate why they exist in the first place, not just save energy because we aren’t getting paid what we were. As society gets, err, well, more social. If we aren’t careful advertising spend could become an operating cost to clients who appoint community managers, conversation designers, or even Twitter Salesman to market its business. Case in example is Dell who has reportedly made $1m from Twitter alone to date.

Perhaps it’s not laziness, maybe it’s size? Complacency? Even a form of survival panic. Whatever it is I feel we need to push clients to become more relevant and more distinctive and not waste what budget you do have on buying as many eyeballs as possible and hoping a supposed ‘USP’ sticks. Come on people, a bit of optimism and hard work will get you through.

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29Oct / 2008

80 things you actually really need to know about advertising?

Adnews’ attractive publication with the evocative title has been sat on my desk for a few days now but I’ve only just found the time to flick through it, and flick through it I did. I know this is to celebrate 80 years of Adnews, so I can’t be too hard and I may be being unfair, but to call it ‘80 things you need to know about advertising’ is somewhat misleading. It is essentially a chance for people to pat each other on the back and talk up how great traditional advertising is and whilst look back on the golden era. Which is fine, but I don’t really, really, really need to know this.

I also got a small feeling that there was a distinct lack of ‘things you needed to know’ relating to digital?

Out of the 80 things only 3 mentioned digital and none of them were remotely helpful, or productive. Here they are…

‘Who created the first Internet viral ad in Australia and what was it for?’ An Internet Viral ad?? An interesting concept in itself but it roughly translates as a TV ad that was popular on Youtube. Now I like the Carlton Draft Big ad mentioned, but surely there is a better example of viral content on the web?

‘Will mobile ever overtake online spend?’ Who cares, it’s what people are doing that counts and technically more and more people are online on their mobile.

‘Is digital marketing resource intensive?’ The question was so confrontational and unproductive I didn’t read the article

Out of the 80 things these were the lowlights…

‘What is so fascinating about advertising?’ Arguably answered by this other question ‘Does advertising have its fairs share of wankers?’

‘Are consumers really more ad savvy these days?’ They are more everything savvy

‘Can advertising ever be art?’ Yes, it can be anything it needs to be. A film, a blog, a book, an adventure, even a 10 pound note.

‘Which ad agencies have the best offices?’ Who cares

‘Why is there no innovation in the ad game?’ First of all there is, everywhere I look there is innovation just not ‘in the ad game’.

Now it wasn’t all bad. Out of the 80, I really only needed to know the following four

1 # Should advertising reflect society?
2 # How do you connect with new Australia?
3 # Can you build a globally successful brand without ads?
4 # How do clients develop strong communications for global brands in local markets?

I feel bad binning this as it’s a very valid celebration of Adnews so I thought I would help them out and see if we can compile a new list of ‘80 things you actually really need to know about advertising’ and I will do this for free. Hopefully with your help. So I’ll get things rolling by adding the fifth which is

5 # As more and more people ignore, switch off and close down, how can the industry advertise without advertising?

To show there are no hard feelings, you can order a copy of the Adnews book by calling: 02 9213 8325. And if you are interested in the history of Australian advertising then it is highly recommended.

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17Oct / 2007

Adios amigos!

These two fantastic Georgian buildings have been my home for the last four years, at least professionally. Trust me, if I lived here I’d be out on my Sunseeker, not writing this post.

This is my final week at work and in a weird way I’m going to miss the place. But most of all I’m going to miss the the friends I’ve made and the great people I’ve worked with.

I’m also going to miss Toby the Rabbit, who seems to have a thing for Louis Mountbatten. Although I haven’t seen him for a couple of weeks. I hope he is OK whilst I’m gone.

See you guys. It’s been emotional!

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16Oct / 2007

Planning on the margins

Image via

In my opinion one of the best traits any planner can have is the ability to understand people from all walks of life and really see, sense and feel things from their point of view. And when I say understand I don’t just mean being able to describe their TGI definition. You need to have a real empathy and respect for them, irrespective of your preconceptions or what the data might tell you. It is always possible to find something endearing in any audience if you look hard and objectively enough.

Ironically our industry, despite employing interesting people, are generally from the same margin of society. And for people supposedly so open minded it’s surprising how easily judgments are made. I’m blogging about this because of a free project we are working on for a local drugs working group that highlighted a really interesting transition in people’s attitudes and behaviours towards an audience having spent time with them.

Under our guidance we have given this brief to all our junior members of the agency to answer. After giving them an outline brief there was the usual snap judgements about the lives and motivations of drug users and addicts. It was all very middle class and quite disappointing frankly. So in order to get them over this, open their minds and put them in a slightly uncomfortable position we set up a series of groups consisting of ex-addicts, drug workers and counsellors. It was up to the guys to ask some questions and get some real insight into the lives of drug users. After an uncomfortable start they began probing and developing some interesting relationships. I’d go as far as saying friendships. So good in fact they even went out for some drinks with them afterwards to probably ask more ‘informal’ questions.

By the end of the session there was a complete turnaround in how they viewed a group of people who are arguably in a completely different part of society, with vastly different life experiences. Not only did they have a real empathy for them, they developed a real enthusiasm for the cause. Well done guys, I can’t wait to see the work.

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24Sep / 2007

Brand America

An unnamed friend, from an unnamed agency, working on a huge, unnamed American account sent me through a brief directly from his client last week. And I kid you not, in the little box titled ‘why should people believe what you’re saying?’ they put the following in capital letters. Just in case you didn’t hear them of course.

‘BECAUSE WE’RE AMERICAN!’

I’m hoping this was intended to be a joke and they weren’t being serious, but some how after watching things like this as well last week, probably not. Here’s one for the fight fans. Go on Ricky, shut him up!!

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18Sep / 2007

Activists for the liberation from seagulls

Image via

I’m a bit of a sucker for anything related to group dynamics and problem solving, particularly when it comes to a good old fashioned agency ding dong about processes and politics. To the annoyance of my colleagues no doubt, I’m somewhat of an idealist. I believe there should be way more collaboration, more productive conversations with smaller groups than long, pointless meetings with all and sundry.

I also get angry with pessimists, idea killers and micro managers. They are the antithesis of the kind of people you need in an agency to get ideas off the ground. In my opinion these people should realise their skills might be better suited elsewhere, like perhaps a bank, or better still a factory.

I like to refer to these people as Seagulls. They fly in to meetings squawking away without any idea of what’s going on and then proceed to shit all over everything. Undoubtedly this will be repeated everyday up until there is nothing left in the team or the idea. They will then blame everybody apart from themselves and simply fly off and shit somewhere else. There’s at least one of these in your agency, admit it? You avoid inviting them to meetings at all costs, or you refrain from putting yourself forward to work on certain accounts. They sap the life and enjoyment out of everything and turn the process of creation into a stressful and frustrating job, that just needs doing. That’s why I find this idea of coliberation refreshing.

I try my best not to get caught up in all the politics, but occasionally it’s inevitable, particularly as a planner. It might just be me, but I think the ‘planning department’ is often treated a bit like Switzerland. You’re seen to be this kind of objective mediator between feuding nations. I believe we would all like to think of ourselves as liberators as opposed mediators and coliberation is a much more productive term than collaboration when it comes to agency group dynamics.

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11Sep / 2007

Life outside London

I just want to make a few things clear before I get into this post. Which has been inspired by the very good Adgrads. First of all I do believe that the majority of the best brands, agencies and people, are as a rule, generally based in London – I’m certainly not disputing that. I also encourage anyone who is looking to break into the industry to start in London if you can.

But it’s not the be all and end all and it’s not for everyone. I did my one-year placement in London and loved it. I too applied to a lot of agencies in London after graduating, without much success. The couple that I did manage to pull off were paying less per year than my final total student debt. So as much as I would of liked to have taken them, it was a financial impossibility. It would have actually cost me money to work there.

I think this is quite a big issue for the industry, I’m not sure that the pay off of working in a creative environment outweighs the lower starting salaries anymore. Agencies will also be left with a workforce from one social class. Which to me doesn’t make for the most interesting environment.

As a result I decided to stick around my hometown and find the best agency I could. I managed to get an account exec position and I haven’t looked back since. Four years on I’m now a planner working across our entire group of agencies, working on everything from digital, PR, TV, to recruitment marketing. I certainly moved through the agency a hell of a lot faster than I would of in London. You could call this ‘Big fishes in small ponds’, and there is an element of truth in that, but I would just call it less competitive. You need to remember that that there is a lot of crap in London as well. With anything big and shiny, it will attract the good, the bad and the ugly.

There are some downsides I have to admit. Not everyone has the same enthusiasm as you in agencies outside London (I refuse to call it a regional agency), which can be really frustrating, but there are some very good, ambitious people here and some great brands willing to spend money with us. It is just a smaller propensity than in London.

You would also be surprised with how many people do the London thing and then move out to bring up young families in more pleasant surroundings. All our senior positions are full of people who have worked in huge London agencies, so you do learn from good people. I think it’s a myth that agencies outside London aren’t as capable, although you do have to do a bit of searching. As an example we were the only UK agency to win a Cyber Lion at Cannes last year. Not too bad.

My advice is if you can get in to London great, but if not don’t give up, it’s not for everyone and you can find some great agencies outside London if you put your mind to it. London is a tough place to start an agency career and for some it will be financially impossible to do so. So cut your teeth outside, fly through the ranks and then make the move. Just get yourself in somewhere that has good opportunities.

Not only that, if you are lucky like me you might find a place where you can go for a run in complete peace and quiet before work here

Or attempt to stand on a board after work here

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06Sep / 2007

AAAA – The culture of creativity

This is one of the best vids I’ve seen for a long time. Sir Ken Robinson, at the AAAA Conference, gives one of the most entertaining and inspiring speeches on creativity I’ve ever heard. I can’t claim to have found it, Mark posted it last month. I’m surprised I’ve only just come across it. It’s so good I had to post it on here.

Not only is it good, it made me really think about my time at school and in particular one important moment. At the time it didn’t seem like such a life changing decision but looking back now I reckon it’s the reason why I now work on a PC rather than a Mac. When I took my options at high school I had to choose between Art or P.E. In fact there was a group of ‘creative’ or ‘enjoyable’ subjects that you were only allowed to pick one of. My school simply wouldn’t allow you to do more than one. I’ve know idea if this is the norm? I loved both and I reckon I was pretty good at them as well but I decided to take P.E, mostly due to the influence of my careers advisor and my Dad.

I ended up taking English, Psychology and Sport Science at A-levels, before going on to do a Marketing communications degree at Uni. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not sad about it, I’m more than happy doing what I do. It just proves a few of Sir Ken’s points:

1 – Creativity should have the same status as literacy
2 – We shouldn’t be so afraid of making mistakes. If we’re not prepared to be wrong we won’t come up with anything original
3 – People don’t grow into creativity we grow out of it, or get educated out of it

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30Aug / 2007

Planning agencies

Following up on this from PSFK, is this great presentation by Zeus Jones. Which I came across at Adam’s great blog – thanks for the timely find.

Now I wouldn’t say this is the model that will change things over night, but it’s the thing that is exciting me the most at the moment.

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30Aug / 2007

Change the world?

The ‘advertising’ world perhaps? The old theories and the agency flab definitely. Get doing it absofriggingloutley! This is well worth watching if you can make the time. It has a nice mix of hatred for ‘BDAs’ (George Parker of Adscam), idealistic thinking about marketers being the saviour of the world (Steve Stainaker of Hub Culture), a perspective from an agency that really does do things differently (Johnny Vulkan of Anomaly) and a touch of ‘cut through the crap’ realism (Russell Davies of OIA).

First of all I don’t believe that marketers could or should be contemplating changing the world. By all means go and work for a charity or a pressure group. Use your skills for something different with a higher purpose, but don’t forget what clients pay us for if you work in an agency. I do believe every business should be socially responsible, but unless it’s relevant and a central part of the brand, then we shouldn’t be doing it just because it’s fashionable, or because it allows us to feel better at dinner parties. I’d hate to see every agency and brand from soap to cars being cause related and purpose driven. As Russell says: ‘leave changing the world up to revolutionaries and governments’.

Unless it’s authentic, which is easier said than done, just concentrate on doing things better. I’ve said it before, it’s not about ‘BDAs’ vs digital agencies it is just about tearing up the rule book and doing the right things, not just ‘differently’. And despite the often gloomy outlook there are a lot of cracking agencies and people doing just that.

The second point from this is about cutting out the rubbish and deconstructing what it is we actually do. There isn’t a Holy Grail that will make our lives simpler as much as we would like one. It will vary from agency to agency and discipline to discipline. We shouldn’t be so hell bent on pigeon holing the industry. Terms such as advertising, marketing and brands have become meaningless. They are just used to generalise what we do so we don’t really have to explain it, or god forbid go into more detail and risk being exposed as money grabbing charlatans. If you want to read a great book on how strange concepts and beliefs supplant rational thinking over time, then this is a great place to start.

I personally really love Anomaly’s ethos. I can’t for the life of me work out how they get clients to work within their fee structure, but they do, so fair play to them. But being in the business business just makes sense. It sums it up perfectly to me. Anomaly feels like independent, fluid, problem solvers that actually create stuff that’s useful for businesses. I know it sounds quite vague, but that is the point, it is free to do what is right. I think it’s the clearest way of describing the kind of agency that clients will find more and more attractive.

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The Communications Room

Category Archives: The weird world of agencies

Do recessions make agencies lazy?

80 things you actually really need to know about advertising?

Adios amigos!

Planning on the margins

Brand America

Activists for the liberation from seagulls

Life outside London

AAAA – The culture of creativity

Planning agencies

Change the world?

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