« April 2008 | Main | June 2008 »
Mary Beth Kemp posted the following on the Forrester Agency Blog the other day:
Ad Industry Value: Up or Down?
Last week, while France, I, and indeed nearly the rest of Europe enjoyed long, bank holiday weekends, Ad Age heralded digital as the savior of agencies in their 64th Annual Report. Sure, digital is a great ride. And now, with marketing services, drives up to half of the billings in the top 4 groups.
But has digital really been as good as all that for agencies’ business?
Digital requires a different business model, often very different expertise and specialized competencies. Add to that the complexity of good digital marketing, the blinding innovation of the digital space…and the last minute technical glitches that no one seems impervious to, pushing up time spent and project cost.
But agencies didn’t have a choice, right?
I had an interesting discussion with a former collegue, the head of an international agency within a large group. We were speculating as to the overall value of the advertising industry. Has value been destroyed or created? Is advertising a more valuable industry than it was 30 years ago?
And we worried that increasing pressure on costs coupled with the continuing need of lots resources - junior and less expensive - was driving a negative spiral. Among other things, this spiral makes it hard for agencies to hire people at their just value, often driving the best young graduates elsewhere (as client-side marketers, or to another industry altogether).
The ad industry has lost its spark.
http://blogs.forrester.com/agencies/2008/05/ad-industry-val.html
Mary Beth only has it partially right.
Yes, it has been tough for some agencies to adapt to the digital era. But does that mean the industry has lost it's "spark"? I think not.
There is no better time to be in the agency business. If you are young, bright, and want to work with talented and creatively driven people, then the ad business is for you. You just need to make sure that you get a job at the right agency.
The business hasn't lost it's spark. What it will be losing is all of the agencies that don't get What's Next, which is the convergence of the ability to tell great stories while engaging the consumer across technology driven platforms.
There may be fewer players in several years, but I can assure you that they will continue to supply plenty of sparks. ; )
Mary Beth Kemp posted the following on the Forrester Agency Blog the other day:
Ad Industry Value: Up or Down?
Last week, while France, I, and indeed nearly the rest of Europe enjoyed long, bank holiday weekends, Ad Age heralded digital as the savior of agencies in their 64th Annual Report. Sure, digital is a great ride. And now, with marketing services, drives up to half of the billings in the top 4 groups.
But has digital really been as good as all that for agencies’ business?
Digital requires a different business model, often very different expertise and specialized competencies. Add to that the complexity of good digital marketing, the blinding innovation of the digital space…and the last minute technical glitches that no one seems impervious to, pushing up time spent and project cost.
But agencies didn’t have a choice, right?
I had an interesting discussion with a former collegue, the head of an international agency within a large group. We were speculating as to the overall value of the advertising industry. Has value been destroyed or created? Is advertising a more valuable industry than it was 30 years ago?
And we worried that increasing pressure on costs coupled with the continuing need of lots resources - junior and less expensive - was driving a negative spiral. Among other things, this spiral makes it hard for agencies to hire people at their just value, often driving the best young graduates elsewhere (as client-side marketers, or to another industry altogether).
The ad industry has lost its spark.
http://blogs.forrester.com/agencies/2008/05/ad-industry-val.html
Mary Beth only has it partially right.
Yes, it has been tough for some agencies to adapt to the digital era. But does that mean the industry has lost it's "spark"? I think not.
There is no better time to be in the agency business. If you are young, bright, and want to work with talented and creatively driven people, then the ad business is for you. You just need to make sure that you get a job at the right agency.
The business hasn't lost it's spark. What it will be losing is all of the agencies that don't get What's Next, which is the convergence of the ability to tell great stories while engaging the consumer across technology driven platforms.
There may be fewer players in several years, but I can assure you that they will continue to supply plenty of sparks. ; )
Articles all over today about JetBlue "thinking" about hiring a PR firm to help them with their recent image problems.
http://adage.com/article?article_id=127170
The head of marketing for the airline says that they have to mind their costs as fuel prices rise and competitive pressures mount.
Are you kidding me?
Let's all think back a few years to when JetBlue was the darling of the industry. Has so much really changed since then with how they run the airline? Nope. What has happened is that they have had a couple of terrible snafu's operationally and then responded to these issues very, very poorly.
So I am dumbfounded that they would come out publicly and say they are "considering" PR counsel.
A spokeperson said: "The rising price of oil is adding enormous cost pressure on every department within the company," she said. "We believe [hiring an agency] is the right thing to do, however, we also have to protect our cash balance and the bottom line."
If I was JetBlue, I would be RUNNING to hire PR help. PR is often the forgotten child in marketing discussions. But understanding how to leverage and respond to the press needs to be a core part of a marketing plan, especially when the company is as high profile (and publicly traded) as JetBlue.
So I've heard good things about this movie. Have to admit my wife and I did enjoy the series so we're looking forward to seeing it.
(Note: We'll Netflix this. As other parent's of younger children will know, you save in-theatre viewings for those movies that MUST be seen in the cinema...Matrix, X-Men, Harry Potter, etc.)
But I have to tell you, this microsite really sucks. Bad. Very surprising that Apple would associate itself with something so badly done.
http://www.sexandthecitymovie.com/macbook/#
Bummer.
Alan Wolk writes a pretty good blog called "The Toad Stool". No one knew who was writing it until recently when Alan was outed. Alan used to work at DraftFCB and is now out looking for another job (no reason given in the article I read).
It's a pretty decent read every once in a while, and I appreciate his perspective on how traditional creatives need to learn the digital space.
http://tangerinetoad.blogspot.com/
The AgencySpy blog interviewed Alan about his blogging life. I found his answer to this question interesting:
7. Everyone is concerned about the future of the ad biz and its slow
shift toward innovating the business and its model. What do you think
the biggest change is that general market agencies could make to stay
at the top of the game and successfully fend off over eager PR and
media agencies?
It's a tough one. As I've written,
there's only so much agencies can do to change the paradigm if their
clients aren't willing to play along. Agencies can say they want to get
involved with things like product design and customer service training
and everything in between. But clients have to be willing to pay them
for those services, and all too often that's not the case: they already
have a product design vendor and don't see why they should turn that
role over to the people who make funny TV commercials for them.
So step one has got to be to get clients to start seeing agencies as
resources for things other than banner ads. And then finding ways to
get paid for those services the way the McKinseys and Bains of the
world do, so we're not just focusing on specific deliverables.
Step two in that process is for agencies to bring in the sort of people
who truly understand that things have changed and that it's never going
back to the way it was.
Ever.
A comparison I keep coming back to, is the immigrant experience in
America: there are some immigrants who realize that the old country,
the old way of doing things, is permanently and forever behind them,
and that it's time to become Americans and start adapting to the new
culture. And their experience is a lot different than those immigrants
who cling tenaciously to their old culture, who resist even learning
English and spend a large portion of their time negatively comparing
everything American to the way things were back home.
You've got the same thing going on in agencies now. People who were
brought up in traditional advertising implement changes only to the
degree necessary to stay in business, while idealizing the good old
days and griping about the clear banality and uselessness of the new
world they find themselves in.
And changing that mindset is not as easy as bringing in a bunch of twenty year olds, as Lee Clow
Which is not to say we need to throw craft out the window. Craft is
more important than ever. It's just that we need to realize that craft
is mostly about the consumer these days, and to paraphrase David Ogilvy,
the consumer isn't another art director, she's your wife. Ads - in
whatever form they take - don't have to be boring to be consumer
friendly. In fact, just the opposite should prove true, since "what I
want to hear" is never going to be a series of pre-packaged,
client-dictated selling points.
I know it's a cliche and then some, but I really do feel like this is
an incredible time to be in the business. So much is changing, on a
daily basis, and I find it really exciting and energizing to be a part
of it.
Right now, anyway.
Note the use of the word "ever". He's got that right.
