Over and over again, I hear from those of us that are still employed in the advertising industry how the agency is dead. They cry cyber murder, I think that it’s more like suicide.
Since their inception, agencies have been built on a business model of selling media and breaking even on creative. Many will tell you that the web killed them. In their last gasping breaths, they grab at the collar of their killer and cry SEO… Google Ad Words… pay per click… Please help me. Yet, even with a little sympathy from their slayer, their bloated lifestyle of $800 bar tabs, first class flights and golf at Pebble Beach are unsustainable.
Their tailored suits hang on their shoulders like wet towels. They grovel about the good old days, blame partners that were smart enough to sell out five years ago, and stay at the office late watching their email for a glimmer of media hope. They lay off experience and talent in favor of cheap and fast—monkeys and keyboards. They sacrifice the hope and healing of a transplant for the immediacy of a cholesterol pill. They choose a few weeks of life over the ability to live. Even wolves know when to chew off the leg that is killing them. Gnaw off the commission and save the idea.
In almost every pitch that I have been in, the potential suitor wants to see ideas. Sure, the pitch still requires spread sheets and pie charts and blah this and blah that, but it’s when the creative is presented that the prom dress comes off. The other stuff is just earrings and flowers. If you want to touch it, it’s gonna cost you and cutting the budget in half isn’t an option. No, we can’t decrease the frequency. The idea is the idea and if you want it, you have to pay for the whole thing. But, this is what we will do, you can pay us now or you can pay us later. Lots of money now, or lots and lots of money later based on a percentage of your sales.
The recovery won’t be easy. Agencies will have to train other body parts to compensate and clients will stare. It will be the brave clients, the clients that will like you because you are different and won’t mind being with an agency that has brilliant ideas. They will love you for being you. Sure, there will still be clients and other agencies that will point and laugh, but stand proud. You’re accountable. No more half-assed, safe ideas for the sake of 15%. You rise and fall based on your performance and if it doesn’t work, you can’t blame the decline in readership of magazines, the economy or the web.
