Agencies, forget the channel and start thinking about what works
Advertising. I love it. Then again, I don’t so much now. And here’s why.
Simon White
It was only when I started working in the industry that I realised I didn’t want to make ‘adverts’. I wanted to create, to have ideas. And once I’d done that, I wanted to execute them in the way that best met the challenge outlined in the brief. To me, it didn’t matter what I was making, as long as it helped a client meet their objectives.
I was slightly naïve. While I did know that one specific agency did the telly stuff and another did the begging letters in envelopes (complete with free pen), and yet another one took some of that stuff and made it work on the web, I didn’t understand why that was. It didn’t make sense to me. Surely an idea that you could execute in the right places was a winner? And what did it matter if that idea was a puppet show, or 30-second spot, or an interactive comic strip?
You see, I had always considered any advertising’s job to be about helping a business find a solution to a problem, to transform them or raise awareness of what they do, sell or make. Why was it about what an agency could do in a specific channel?
It still doesn’t make sense to me. In fact, it’s the one thing that truly annoys me about the land of advertising: that the people at the top don’t understand that things have moved on.
These gatekeepers are wedded to their comfort zones. Sure, they hire in the skills, only to consider them as production, or worse. In my first truly integrated job at a well-known London agency, I was asked by an old school art director to take some screenshots of websites – and then he moaned at me when they didn’t look good on A3 boards.
Okay, that was 2003. But there are still advertising agencies that work in this way. Thankfully, they’re dying out. It’s no longer about digital and traditional. It’s about what works. Brands are getting wise to this, too. They are looking to reach the public – or a specific audience – using the best means possible, and the right channels, and delivering a message at the right time.
As the world of communications fragments, agencies should look to use this to their advantage and embrace the diversity available for reaching people. Distribution costs are low, which should mean more of the budget gets spent on a fantastic idea that’s well executed. It could well be a TV advert, or a piece of PR. Or a travelling circus, or, as I recently pitched to a client, a short film about delivering gifts to the ISS.
The pinch is coming in another direction, too. Brands are starting to see that they can do this themselves, with minimal external input – which is a worrying trend.
Some agencies are waking up to this fact. They are mostly new agencies choosing to ignore the ridiculous creative boundaries and the politics that govern them. They’re refusing to be defined by channels.
They are letting good ideas be expressed in the way that answers the brief and makes a positive difference to the bottom line. Agencies like Mr President, Creature London, and An Abundance; even old stalwarts like BBH, W+K and SapientNitro, as well as media agencies like PHD, are getting in on the act. I like that. It should mean I won’t have to stay annoyed about this for much longer.
Simon White used to be ‘just an advertising creative’ at the likes of M&C Saatchi, GT, LBi and Rapp before becoming an occasional strategist. He currently works as a consultant for agencies and brands and you can find him on Twitter @purplesime