Abandon Hope for all yea who enter Advertising Agencies!
That goes for Clients as well as staff.
Because the party is well and truly over. Although truth be told the advertising agencies are the last ones to realize that fact..
A very recent report from America states that “one marketing executive who sees agencies as ‘a necessary evil’, rather than a strategic partner”. While another marketer complains “Most senior ad execs appear more comfortable with conventional channels, which they claim are integrated because they have tacked on a website!”
Meanwhile the latest blue chip gizmo, Social Networking Sites, is falling out of favor. Clients are experiencing fast diminishing returns on their social networking ad investments. Users are becoming more or less desensitized to advertising. One Client claimed “You won’t make money on it.
Meanwhile the press continues to give marketing bad coverage.
One leading National newspaper posed the question “What doctrine of marketing teaches that reminding people you won’t answer their question is good PR”?
The writer went on to say “I arrived back in London to open a form letter from EDF energy announcing a hike in gas and electricity prices. It trills about “a range of innovative products” to save energy. It tells you the old prices. It is sub-headed: ‘We’re here for you.’”
No you *$#-$*# aren’t scream a million householders. Rage. Red mist.
Bad marketing. I wonder how much did EDF pay consultants to design a communication that opts for exactly the wrong tone? Repeat three times after me, PR and Marketing gurus: “Delivering a bad-news message in a good-news voice just enrages people.”
Ah but the real problem is the fact that advertising/marketing/PR have dehumanized the whole of the communication process, because they really don’t understand the meaning of the word “communication.”
I’m not against marketing and PR, I’m against bad marketing and PR, of which there are heaps of examples around.
Then there is the rage against data-creep. The situation is apparently become so ridiculous that one man tells us what happened at his local DIY store when he declined to give his postcode. The cashier called the supervisor and they refused to serve him! This is becoming serious, marketing decides to whom they sell their products to…what a wacky way to market products!
But the really insane part of all this is the fact that, despite all the emerging evidence that conventional media is failing to get the message across they are planning to place your message on the mobile telephone…what is the wonder of the mobile that makes it more effective than any other (failed) medium?
Abandon hope if not anything else, at least that way you’ll save some money
Meanwhile Clients cannot even expect the respect they deserve when it comes to their relationship with their agency. The lack of experience in agencies affects business. IPA director general agrees, “There is a relentless shedding of talent between the ages of 30 and 40 due to pressure on agency costs…the nature of the business is such that to be cost efficient, processes get dumbed down and farmed out to more junior people. There is a tendency to commodity, and that can lead to work being de-skilled”.
So yes, come on Mr. Client, please increase your budget with us this year and we promise to place less talented people onto your account….!
Meanwhile back in America, research indicates that consumers now rely less and less on marketing messages when in buying mode whilst another key factor is the proliferation of media choice has consigned the notion of a captive audience to the rubbish bin.
A fundamental change in Agency thinking is desperately needed. The selling of one-size-fits all messages has to go, agencies and creatives are still clinging to the mass model, either to produce messages or distribute them.
Hmmm…here’s an interesting headline, “GM clocks up second worst corporate loss”, - now I wonder how much money they will have to spend on marketing/advertising to make it the first worse corporate loss.” ?
Because the party is well and truly over. Although truth be told the advertising agencies are the last ones to realize that fact..
A very recent report from America states that “one marketing executive who sees agencies as ‘a necessary evil’, rather than a strategic partner”. While another marketer complains “Most senior ad execs appear more comfortable with conventional channels, which they claim are integrated because they have tacked on a website!”
Meanwhile the latest blue chip gizmo, Social Networking Sites, is falling out of favor. Clients are experiencing fast diminishing returns on their social networking ad investments. Users are becoming more or less desensitized to advertising. One Client claimed “You won’t make money on it.
Meanwhile the press continues to give marketing bad coverage.
One leading National newspaper posed the question “What doctrine of marketing teaches that reminding people you won’t answer their question is good PR”?
The writer went on to say “I arrived back in London to open a form letter from EDF energy announcing a hike in gas and electricity prices. It trills about “a range of innovative products” to save energy. It tells you the old prices. It is sub-headed: ‘We’re here for you.’”
No you *$#-$*# aren’t scream a million householders. Rage. Red mist.
Bad marketing. I wonder how much did EDF pay consultants to design a communication that opts for exactly the wrong tone? Repeat three times after me, PR and Marketing gurus: “Delivering a bad-news message in a good-news voice just enrages people.”
Ah but the real problem is the fact that advertising/marketing/PR have dehumanized the whole of the communication process, because they really don’t understand the meaning of the word “communication.”
I’m not against marketing and PR, I’m against bad marketing and PR, of which there are heaps of examples around.
Then there is the rage against data-creep. The situation is apparently become so ridiculous that one man tells us what happened at his local DIY store when he declined to give his postcode. The cashier called the supervisor and they refused to serve him! This is becoming serious, marketing decides to whom they sell their products to…what a wacky way to market products!
But the really insane part of all this is the fact that, despite all the emerging evidence that conventional media is failing to get the message across they are planning to place your message on the mobile telephone…what is the wonder of the mobile that makes it more effective than any other (failed) medium?
Abandon hope if not anything else, at least that way you’ll save some money
Meanwhile Clients cannot even expect the respect they deserve when it comes to their relationship with their agency. The lack of experience in agencies affects business. IPA director general agrees, “There is a relentless shedding of talent between the ages of 30 and 40 due to pressure on agency costs…the nature of the business is such that to be cost efficient, processes get dumbed down and farmed out to more junior people. There is a tendency to commodity, and that can lead to work being de-skilled”.
So yes, come on Mr. Client, please increase your budget with us this year and we promise to place less talented people onto your account….!
Meanwhile back in America, research indicates that consumers now rely less and less on marketing messages when in buying mode whilst another key factor is the proliferation of media choice has consigned the notion of a captive audience to the rubbish bin.
A fundamental change in Agency thinking is desperately needed. The selling of one-size-fits all messages has to go, agencies and creatives are still clinging to the mass model, either to produce messages or distribute them.
Hmmm…here’s an interesting headline, “GM clocks up second worst corporate loss”, - now I wonder how much money they will have to spend on marketing/advertising to make it the first worse corporate loss.” ?
Tags: accountability, advertising, clients, communication, consumer, creativity, customers, dehumanized, marketing
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Steve Hall on -
I think it's that one party has, indeed, ended but the next one hasn't started or it's just got a few people. This is one of the most amazing and crazy times in this biz. There is so much going one. Everyone is trying to figure it out. And we will. Slowly. Over time. Most people don't like change and certainly large organizations do not adapt well to it but it will happen. It has to happen. It's still all about the green and where there's green, companies will find out how to get the green,
Agencies and marketing organizations will certainly change in in a few years won't resemble what we see today. That's just natural evolution. Those who adapt will survive. Those that don't will die and leave behind business for those that do adapt.
It's natural for people to cling to what they know. We all do it to some extent. It's less natural to be in a constant state of change but that seems to be what is required to survive these days. Some will be able to and others won't. There will always be stuff to sell. There will always be people to buy it. Therefore, there will always be a method to make that happen.
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Permalink Reply by Paul Ashby on -
Steve I must be honest with you, I read your response to my Adrant and thought, “Now there is a guy I would like to talk to”, but instead I became, in this instance “A lurker”!
I firmly believe that we have invented the future of marketing communication.
My biggest stumbling block has been the advertising agencies where I have been dammed by faint praise, of one sort or another, like: “Yes we understand what your talking about (they didn’t I hasten to add!) And if we have any money left over from our TV spend we will call you in (They never did!).
Perhaps the perfect model for the advertising executive of today is Christopher Columbus. Consider these facts. He set off with no clear idea of where he was going. When he arrived he didn’t know where he was. When he returned he didn’t know where he had been. And he did it all on other peoples money! Sound familiar?
I want to start a conversation, on several levels, with you.
May I suggest, should you be at all interested, to visit my blog: http://interactivetelevisionorinteractivetv.blogspot.com
Then please wade through all the guff and have a look at some of the research…bearing in mind that all the changes recorded are as a result of just one exposure to an interactive programme vs. conventional reach and frequency.
Then please remember that I am not talking about interaction as a technological facility but a concept based upon an understanding of communication, human behavior and the desire to become involved.
Phew…that’s enough, I hope, to whet your interest so until the next time…
All the very best
Paul Ashby
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Permalink Reply by Diana Oyaga on -
i agree some people may think that.... and maybe in most cases advertising can't or must not stand alone, but it has proven how effective it is, and then why are the biggest and smallest brands in the market still doing advertising? it's true that advertising can't be a creative design alone... it has to have a smart copy, a strategy and a concept at its roots. but does it work? it works... does it sell? it sells.... is it awesome, sometimes artsy, and even decoratively fashionable? it is!
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Permalink Reply by Paul Ashby on
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Diana, thank you for responding. Please allow me to say that there are a hell of a lot of reasons why small (& others) brands continue to advertise on TV. One is the iniquitous blackmail imposed on brands by the major retailers,(yes we will stock your brand if you will guarantee to spend so much on TV) unfortunately there are many such instances which are not widely published.
Frankly the retailers do not care one jot about accountability!
Recently it was reported that 65% of all marketing spend in 2007 had no effect on consumers!
Despite the fact that working in Advertising is not rocket science, accountability is not a strong factor…creativity is!
As more and more evidence emerges as to the failure of advertising to do what it says it does…. Sell products/services, there are some errors that advertising people commonly make. One is a complete failure to learn from experience. The other is the advertising ego. Advertising people hate facing up to information like “65% of all marketing spend had no effect…” because that forces us to acknowledge that they aren’t as clever as they make themselves out to be!
In my opinion the industry must adapt to a coming world where consumers enjoy total control and will no longer tolerate tedious commercials that hold them hostage to messages they care nothing about.
There are still a lot of people in the business that don’t accept what is about to happen. That is myopic. Perhaps it is time for the advertising and TV industries to get contact lenses, because the latest research suggests that trouble lies ahead.
The impression exists that most people in the industry(s) still do not understand what the process of communication is all about.
To start with, advertising people tend to think of it as ‘message sending’, and thus spend hours and hours crafting a message, primarily a 30 second TV Commercial and then arranging for it to be transmitted.
Marketing people are moving away from that totally inaccurate picture, however fmcg marketing people still haven’t cottoned on to the fact that “you can sell more goods to less people, and still be more effective”, that is if you understand the benefits of ‘conversations’.
Media people, newspapers, magazines, TV and radio lovingly call themselves ‘the communicators” and say they “are in communications.”
They are not…never have been… all they do is prepare messages and then send them…they most certainly not communicators.
They are totally unaware of those delightful words cognitive dissonance; selective exposure and selective perception. Wonderful words that, however, profoundly affect the meaning of our message and we ignore them at our peril!
However it is the ego that chooses to ignore the word communication, the ego and that other overworked word ‘creativity’, hence the rush to hire, at greater and greater expense the latest creative genius who is going to sell all those wonderful goodies! Utter rubbish!
Certainly in this day and age of commercial clutter creativity alone is no longer the answer, as if it had ever been, to the commercial needs of marketers. Creative genius is not the sole criterion to the success or otherwise of the marketing campaign.
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Permalink Reply by Jake Fields on -
Things are definitely in flux and will no doubt settle into a much different environment but embrace this much needed reality check. It is obvious that there are shortcomings with todays agency model, but this is creating a strong push for change. There are many very intelligent creative thinkers in the advertising world, the cream will rise to the top.
One thing mentioned is, the disservice to clients when agencies farm out work to "junior people," sometime true, in other situations these "junior people" have a fresh perspective and true understand the landscape.
Someone just better make sure they don't start a grassroots campaign of, "young smarts, fire the old farts!"
Thanks Paul
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Permalink Reply by Paul Ashby on
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Whoops Jake I've posted my reply below...sorry
Paul
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Permalink Reply by Paul Ashby on
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Jake thanks for your observations.
However here in England they are firing the old farts left, right and center!
And, being an old fart myself, I do feel that they are getting rid of all the wit,wisdom and knowledge that could play a major role in bringing about much needed change!
Again, Jake, and as Buddy said elsewhere, "The coffee and sandwiches are on the table"
"Talk" to ya later dude (Or that's what I've heard some Americans say)
Warm Regards
Paul
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Permalink Reply by Diana Oyaga on
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I strongly believe advertising is and will keep on being a strong means to sell products and get them into the consumer's heads... but due to all this boooos we've been getting it would be important to maybe do a campaign on how advertising works..... What do u think? or at least something fun we could send to the customers to get them hooked on advertising, and let them know that in the same way... people will get hooked on their product.
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Permalink Reply by Paul Ashby on
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Greetings Diana, at the onset let me state that I have no desire to disparage your obvious enjoyment of the advertising business.
However I do think that it is important that we question, and hopefully, improve, marketing communications to our mutual satisfaction.
I really believe that advertising is suffering from an earlier misconception about its effectiveness. I read a fascinating article, out of America, that gave me an interesting insight and that was that, at the end of the second world war there was this pent up desire to acquire the (necessities?) of the modern world, and there was this explosion of buying, this occurred at the same time that advertising was really starting to develop, Advertising was thus credited with the power to sell goods when really it was the deprivation resulting from the war that caused this desire to acquire!
Surely it is time we conducted a thorough examination of the very principals that govern the existence of advertising. However, since then:
Advertising has to modernize and change – dramatically.
The current model of advertising was developed in the Sixties when product choice was much more limited and people were easier to stereotype into categories like income, sex and class. It was much easier for advertisers to target people and bombard them with sales messages.
Today’s marketplace is different and all the old certainties are gone. To be effective in your communications it is sound advice to start with the premise that you know nothing about the people that you believe your product is aimed at.
Advertising has become too parochial, too introspective, too convinced by its on hyperbole.
In the 20th century, the rise of mass communications media enhanced industry’s ability to address even larger markets with no loss of shoe leather and mass marketing truly came into its own.
With larger markets came higher rewards and these higher rewards had to be protected. More bureaucracy, more hierarchy and more command and control meant the customer who looked you in the eye, was promptly escorted out of the building by security.
The product of mass marketing was the message, delivered in as many forms as there were media and in as many guises as there were marketers to invent them.
Delivered locally, shipped globally, repeated inescapably, the business of marketing devoted itself to delivering the message. Unfortunately, what all these gurus of marketing did not realize and still do not today is that the customer never fully took delivery!
Why, because there is no demand for these advertising messages. Let’s face it, consumers don’t want to hear from business.
The message that gets broadcast to you, me and the rest of the population has nothing to do with me in particular. Consequently, it’s worse than noise.
It’s an interruption in my life and like most people, I would rather do without it thank you very much. Just leave me to watch/listen to my program without any facile interruptions.
And that is the awful truth about marketing and advertising. It broadcasts messages to people who simply don’t want to listen or see it.
Every advertisement, press release, publicity stunt and give-away designed by the Marketing Department, or Advertising Agency is colored by the fact that all their hard work and planning is being presented to a public that doesn’t ask to hear or see it.
Recently the Sunday Times, in the UK, had this to say about advertising: “Things have changed a lot since you used to get 20 million people gathered around television sets to watch Coronation Street and one advertisement could reach them all.
Marketing budgets are being spent differently, and this means less money is being allotted for advertising. A couple of million pounds can buy you a few hours on television but marketers are realizing that it can buy an awful lot more if it is spent elsewhere.”
Advertising agencies may be flatfooted in responding to the change, Advertisers cannot find what they need from the big agencies, which tend to be biased towards television advertising.
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Permalink Reply by Jake Fields on
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Hahaha, I totally agree Paul, we do need your wit, wisdom and knowledge. Maybe we shouldn't "Abandon Hope" some people just need a little fire lit under their ass, which is currently happening.
(And beyond the wit, old farts are particularly good at looking a client in the eye and telling them "we charge $300 an hour, [dude]")
Cheers
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Permalink Reply by Paul Ashby on
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Dear Josh, thank you for responding, I found your observations most interesting and constructive.
I myself think that advertising has to modernize and change dramatically. For me advertising agencies still don’t understand the true meaning of the word “communication”, once they do then they can go forward, away from the passive one-way advertising best exemplified by the 30-second TV commercial!
You may find my blog to be interesting: http://interactivetelevisionorinteractivetv.blogspot.com as it deals with the subject of communication and interactivity, and accountability.
Thus is more important than ever that we completely re-evaluate advertising
The question is not "Has the advertising model broken"? The question now is "What are we going to replace it with"?
The complacency of the IPA (institute of Practitioners In Advertising), your equivalent would be the AAA, is overwhelming, they appear not to be doing anything to answer the increasingly strident complaints.
Complaints such as, clutter, and here the irony is that advertising agencies appear to think that placing more advertisements is the way to solve clutter!
Complaints such as lack of accountability, to day, and after fifty years of extensive advertising, there are no reliable figures available on audience measurements.
And most certainly there are no effective studies as to the effectiveness of advertising…on sales…. As a return on ROI…and much more.
To day it is more important that a close investigation as to the suitability of advertising on Web 2.0 be undertaken instead of rushing onto the Net and ignoring all the signs. These are that it is a highly unsuitable medium for advertising.
After all it is "The Wild West" where anything goes!
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© 2008 Created by Steve Hall
