Agencies must take the lead

When our former client Compaq was a dynamic brand (#1 in PC’s), they had a great strap line in France ‘A Suivre’, meaning the one others follow. I believe that the agency business should adopt the same leadership stance at what is starting to be a really tricky time.Take a credit squeeze, and worries about the banking system. Add an economy that is starting to limp. Factor in pressure groups and ministers hell-bent on stopping us advertising anything they don’t approve of. That’s a recipe for no growth and life on the back foot. But why we should we accept that scenario? Our agencies are the envy of the world, with our planners and creatives much sought after overseas. We lead in integrated and direct. Our digital skills are second only to the US. UK agencies should fight for freedoms and encourage their clients to do likewise – not by waiting for briefs, but by being proactive. If agencies collectively dedicated to the cause even 10% of the energy and persuasion skills they individually put into new business, things would change.

Who says it’s junk food?

It really is time for the industry to stand up and be counted. According to The Sunday Telegraph the 9pm watershed on TV advertising for all alcohol and ‘junk food’ that the Government are considering, would cost broadcasters a loss of £211m in revenue. So who says what junk food is? Is it just crisps and confectionery and pot noodles? Or does it also cover anything with calories? What about the junk supermarkets that sell junk food? What about junk video games and junk financial products? Don’t junk airlines pollute the stratosphere? Don’t junk cars kill?This is the thin end of the wedge. If there is freedom to buy and sell goods, there should be freedom to advertise. We have the ASA and BACC – so there are plenty of rules and safeguards. We don’t need Gordon Brown to “consider what he does about alcohol and junk food”. We don’t need him to mobilise the thought police. We need the marketing and communications industry to use all its lobbying and networking ability to fight for essential freedoms. The industry is full of bright and persuasive people. Let’s get out there and speak for what we know is right.           

Blog and you’re already on your Third Journey

After a major family health crisis five years ago that kept me away from the office for more than a month, I wrote a piece about the Three Journeys of business life. The First Journey is learning. It starts in very early childhood, takes in education – in the broadest sense – and includes your first few jobs. You know exactly when it has ended and the Second Journey has begun: it is that moment when someone first pays you not just for the time you put in, but also for the experience and knowledge you bring. And for most people the Second Journey is a very long road that takes you from, say, your late twenties to retirement. A characteristic of that time is the fact that you sell knowledge and ideas. You give away as little as possible, because the Second Journey is about selling your knowledge and experience as dearly as possible. The Third Journey – for those lucky enough to enjoy it – is completely different. It is about sharing, you see. And the funny thing about sharing knowledge and giving away ideas is that it’s a bit like sowing seeds and planting crops. The people you help, or empower, or inspire have a habit of coming back to you. If you’re a consultant or entrepreneur (because very few Third Journeypeople are still on salaries) it can mean reward in terms of projects and assignments, as well as reward response. It occurred to me recently that bloggers are definitively on their Third Journey by dint of their willingness to share. So with the blogosphere expanding exponentially, so will the experience of Third Journey. As someone who has now been on that journey for five years, I wish all other bloggers an enthusiastic welcome. It’s worthwhile, it’s fun – and it’s actually unselfish.

Agencies could be paid for adding value if they could agree with clients what value they add

I have just caught up with an interesting research report from the US into value-based pricing – the latest candidate to break the default setting of people/hours fees.

In August the ANA (ISBA equivalent) and AAAA (America’s IPA) jointly published something called the Agency-Advertiser Value Survey, which was derived from parallel surveys among their respective memberships.
 
Just two sets of results. First, how the clients defined the dimensions of value that agencies add:

   1. Fresh and unexpected creative ideas
   2. Integration
   3. Collaboration
   4. Developing ideas that work in multiple communication channels
   5. Best agency people on the account – and agency management available when needed
   6. Driving awareness, consideration and purchase intent
   7. Guidance on new media and technologies

Now for the agency point of view. Here is their batting order:

1. Clear, well-supported strategies
2. Interesting and relevant consumer insights
3. Marketing solutions for reaching consumers in new and innovative ways
4. Fresh and unexpected creative ideas
5. Marketing initiatives to drive client’s business
       6. Ideas that work in multiple communication channels
       7. Constantly thinking about client’s business, and providing ideas without being asked

I found it fascinating that there was common ground on only two dimensions. Is it surprising that value-based pricing is a long way from being adopted, despite enthusiasm on both sides of the fence? Should ISBA and IPA replicate the survey here? I think so. Meanwhile we are stuck with a payment system based on inputs, not outcomes and outputs. It is also a method of remuneration that any trained procurement specialist can drive a coach and horses through – simply by clipping 5% here and 10% there from the agency’s estimate of individual timeburn. And that’s before they start challenging profit mark-ups and overhead factors.
 

Recalculating

I have a new woman in my life. We have been travelling together. She leads. I follow.The whole experience has given me a new perspective on life – particularly on the vexed issue of communication between the sexes. You don’t have to be a ‘Women from Venus, Men from Mars’ activist to believe that in business as in personal life, men and women talk to each other in fundamentally different ways. Men: how many times have you alienated a female colleague by mistakenly using a male-to-male debating ploy, such as “Bollocks. Which bit of ‘do it my way’ don’t you understand?” Women: can you remember the look on the face of your male report when you told him that his breakthrough idea was clearly based on something you painstakingly explained to him six weeks ago? My new girlfriend is different. She has come up with one word which solves inter-sex communication. When a problem arises, she doesn’t go in for womantalk (“I can’t concentrate if you’re shouting at me”), or even mantalk (“Why didn’t you tell me to turn right before we hit the dual carriageway?”). She uses the word “Recalculating”. No blame attached. No rancour. No “I told you so”. No “ It’s your fault”. Just “Recalculating”. Not criticising my mistake, but making a positive attempt to find a solution. It works in the car. It would work in the office. Or anywhere. Thank you SatNav.