Over at Ernie Schenck’s blog, there’s a debate on brands not utilizing non-traditional methods of marketing as much as we thought they might by now. It’s said we only use 10% of our brains. Well, can’t the same be said of agencies and companies using only 10% of their brand?Instead of simply being waitstaff taking orders from the client, (say to make the logo bigger on the latest brochure), don’t both agency and client have a responsibility as partners to help develop the brand together in new ways that reflect the changes we’re seeing today?
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I thought about this a little more after several recent pitches I was involved with. In both cases, there was only a narrow focus given to just one aspect of the brand, and almost no thought given to non-traditional techniques. With so many other avenues besides print available, it’s frustrating to watch agencies cling to what they’ve always done in past situations, just because it’s in their comfort zone. Evolve or die.
The old model says that spec is a four-letter word. Forget about showing new ideas without being paid for it! Well, I have to think that since more brands like Sprint will offer demos of their product to customers to have at it and give feedback, agencies might have to start doing that with their creative and their clients more and more. In my experience, I’ve watched a few clients take their brands elsewhere because they weren’t being shown new thinking by their existing agencies.
It seems like an obvious thing to try, but how many agencies actually do it? Would it be such a bad thing? Creatives and account group might actually get to break out of their routine and flex a little. Showing some far out ideas once in a while might just keep the client interested longer.
And for brands, those new ideas can come from anywhere, even though the vast number of agencies working on a brand don’t believe in this practice. Heaven forbid the sales promo agency comes up with a tagline the ad agency didn’t think of.
Check out a great book – Life After The 30-Second Spot from Joe Jaffe – a must-read for brands and agencies afraid or unsure of just how to take the journey into the modern age. I found myself nodding in agreement at the same mistakes agencies and brands make time after time.
I’ve always felt it’s not just one aspect of your marketing efforts (like print) that will promote or sell your brand – it’s all the things working together. You have to integrate everything, from the promotion, to the display, to the online component and beyond. This doesn’t mean either that you have to be a Crispin or W+K working on Coke or VW to apply this to your day-to-day brands.
Tags: brands, einstein, marketing, viral
3 comments:
I'm not sure how many clients with decision making power want to "share" the responsibility of building a cohesive brand, though that depends on whether they thinik it's credit or blame at stake. Now, admittedly, my experience is stale and comes from an agency with a lousy creative reputation, but I remember many occasions when an agency team committed to "thinking outside the box" (as it was called at the time) only to be met with anger, disgust or confusion from the client. What you're describing is a near-utpia with a smart and selfless agency staff and corresponding client team, free of ego-driven turf wars and backstabbing. I've heard of such places existing for short times in third-hand lore.
But the need for such an environment, as you note, is urgent in such a scattered and smothered media world. For now the new creativity seems to be in media, finding new and often irritatingly intrusive ways to find eyeballs that needn't witness 30-second spots. No one seems too worried about what the actual message is once you find those eyeballs. I think the noise around the milliondollarhomepage is an indicator of the desperation.
Bear in mind, I'm writing this after only one cup of coffee, so I'm probably not up to mental speed. But why did you put Coke and VW in the same sentence? Just because they share an agency?
I'll sign this anonymously just to irritate New Jersey.
That's ok, I’m a transplant to NJ. I try and irritate it every chance I get.
Clients don't have to share 100%. I found with them it’s more a thing of ‘I know I wanted something new, I just didn’t know what it was until you showed it to me,’ or my other fave, ‘We didn’t know you guys could do that.’ And they go elsewhere.
That’s where I think the agency needs to re-present itself on occasion to keep things fresh, AND educate the client on new trends, (after they themselves learn something new).
Having said that though, I think you also need to temper the out-of-the-box presentation with some traditional media, just so it’s not a total departure for the client.
And if the client won’t go with the far-out stuff? Give ’em the regular stuff and save whacky for the award shows. (Yeah, agencies never do that.
As far as the Coke/VW comment, it wasn't about shared agencies. It was referring to any high-profile brand from a big agency vs. a regional/local client for a much smaller shop. People from smaller shops tend to say “That’s all well and good for a CP&B, but I have real clients every day with small budgets.”
I’d counter this way: Ok. Fair enough. But you can still expand their thinking. Why limit your options?
(I believe W+K is now working on new stuff for Coke.)
As far as getting attention for attention’s sake, it’s interesting, but risky. Are we only trying to break through the TIVO-ness of the world no matter what? I wonder if the public has become so numb that the only thing that will cut through the clutter is live executions on :30 spots. I agree you have to grab attention, but agencies need to be careful it doesn’t come with a brand disconnect.
Besides, I think consumers will ultimately have the final say as to what’s too much and what’s not, (as they always have). Brands play down to the widest common denominator that is the Wal-Mart crowd, and when the plain-speaking folk of Iowa complain about wardrobe malfunctions, they listen.
Allow me to nod vigorously. My neck sounds crunchy.
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