A Letter to Santa: Gifts for the Ad Industry in 2020 and Beyond

I39ve been in this business quite an embarrassingly long time 50 years That39s longer than I was expecting when I started out in fact it39s longer than I was expecting when I started this blog six years agoFortunately I like advertising I like the people the discussions the passion the different opinions the amazing creative work the dynamism and the speed of change amp8212 even if speed doesn39t necessarily mean progressMost of all I like the agencies creative and media just to be clear I want them to succeed I want them to be in a position to do their best work as their best work is just terrificBut things have been going wrongMedia agencies got greedy and arrogant thinking they could do absolutely everything even though they often can39tCreative agencies got stifled partly by their holding company owners amp8212 whose interest has always been financial see the greedy comment over and above the excellence of their work amp8212 and partly by clientsSome brands have shifted from a longterm focus on creative to a shortterm focus on procurement Consider Audi doing an account review after 37 years with BBH Even setting aside the cost of the review to BBH what was the internal cost to Audi of a review that went nowhere The time spent the meetings held The cost of pitches to clients is rarely raised or discussed though it should beAnd what were the network media agencies doing acting in their own best interests ahead of the interests of their clientsGiven that here39s what I would like from Santa and industry leaders this holiday seasonMedia agencies to place planning front and center of everything they do They need to charge properly for their services And they should execute to the plan not to some agency deal policy Media auditors and consultancies need to get uptospeed the likes of ID Comms who rightly hate the auditor tag get it others including some of the largest do notAs part of this media agencies need to rediscover thought leadership Yes I know all about the articles that appear from one or two quottransformation leadsquot but they39re too often random reflections on a broad topic Agencies used to be great at leading the media industry39s thinking on media issues now they seem too enthralled with the likes of Facebook and their ilk to say anything And when they do as Initiative39s CEO did here their holding company masters slap them downWe need to rediscover fun I don39t know who writes the GrumpyAgencyGuy or MediaLad tweets but they along with the consistently wonderful Dave Trott and Bob Hoffman all help keep us sane If you don39t follow them you shouldCloser ties between media and creative remain essential More collaboration less fighting turf wars over who gets to keep what share of the revenue It39s all so tiresome and tribal Good luck to all those agencies forging close media and creative linksAgencies of all shapes and sizes can surely play a role in curbing the lying as well as the editorial excesses that exist among vendors Place greater importance on integrity on data accuracy and on accuracy of reportingI39m a massive newspaper fan so I wish every journalist trying to ply their trade and showcase their skills despite the pathetic management obsession with clicks all the best And to my friends and client at the investigative newspaper and site Byline Times long may you digMedia research has been a favorite Cog Blog topic of late All the best to the advertiser trade bodies such as WFA and ISBA as they step in to knock a few heads together to get things done Let them succeedThe shining light in media agency land is the independent sector The7stars Bountiful Cow December 19 and Goodstuff have all had excellent years all have a point of view are all brave and entrepreneurial and all express themselves fearlessly I39m hoping even expecting that they have a brilliant 2020To Facebook I wish an outbreak of integrity and honesty in the content they accept and in the data they produce A big ask even for SantaFinally to every creative award organizer and jury Led By Donkeys have done stellar work it deserves to be recognized by the industry they are not in but should beFinally Santa it would be great if we were all a bit kinder and more generous to our fellow man in 2020 amp8212 even if we disagree We can all listen betterThanks for reading the Cog Blog this year in everincreasing numbers and may you have a very Happy Christmas and a wonderful and successful 2020Disclosure BJampampA has done work for the7stars and Byline Times both mentioned hereClick the social buttons to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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A Letter to Santa: Gifts for the Ad Industry in 2020 and Beyond

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Brian Jacobs

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A Letter to Santa: Gifts for the Ad Industry in 2020 and Beyond

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