Advertising: "A Hard Business"

The Media Leader picked up on the same issue although Nick Manningamp8217s piece there identified a different underlying cause MoneyI think both have a point But thereamp8217s more to itAlthough it is fashionable to blame burnout stress working late and the rest on the industryamp8217s ills it was ever thus It always used to be a badge of honor to be noticed staying later and getting in earlier than anyone else and whilst it was neither clever nor necessary it was a thing it did happenI suspect but canamp8217t prove it that if there was a way of measuring the time spent actually working as opposed to travelling socializing generally fannying about todayamp8217s admen work no harder and no less hard than their predecessorsWhat is true thank goodness is that we are certainly more aware than we used to be of the impact long hours at work or the stresses caused by the threat of losing an account has on overall wellbeing and mental health But when allamp8217s said and done Iamp8217m not convinced that the ad world is all that different from other service industriesAs to money the industry has never been able to compete with what it would consider its competitive set Management consultancies as one example used to pay a starting salary in my day around double that paid by the agenciesAgencies are not massively profitable enterprises for a host of reasons but first second and third amongst them is the sad fact that many many client boards donamp8217t see the value in the work that we doWeamp8217ve been complaining about access to the CSuite for years and have not advanced our cause one jot We now have the tools we need we just donamp8217t use themWe need to change that so much is clear but underneath it all there are far too many agencies and far too little work In a buyeramp8217s market especially when the thing being bought is a vaguely defined commodity like impressions or views as opposed to priceless creativity prices will dropManagement consultancies of whom there are comparably few compared to even media agencies pay to attract the best We donamp8217tIn the past we got by on the basis that advertising was a fun creative way to earn a living Agencies used to spend time going around the universities presenting at careers fairs promoting the industry I may very well be wrong but Iamp8217m not sure they do that so much these daysI think the decline in the attractiveness of the industry starts with the word quotcreativequotThe Guardian piece at the start of this post quoted four campaigns In chronological order they were Leviamp8217s Launderette 1985 Guinness Surfer 1998 Cadburyamp8217s Gorilla 2007 and John Lewis The latter is current although for how much longer given their change in creative direction is questionableJohn Lewis aside the latest in The Guardianamp8217s hall of fame is 16 years oldThe latest public musings from Leviamp8217s had their CMO talking of the brandamp8217s priority to be always on in effect placing quantity of audience over quality of messageGraduates used to want to join the ad world because of the ads Yes the money was important but the focus within the industry on creativity and originality of thought over academic qualifications was appealing to manyToday the focus is more to quote Sir Martin Sorrell on mathsmen over madmenWe want creators of spreadsheets social media obsessives interpreters of acronyms and masters in understanding the numbers over having and honing the skills to unlock the desires wants and needs of real peopleIn 1947 Bill Bernbach wrote a letter to his agency colleaguesIt started quotOur agency is getting big Thatamp8217s something to be happy about But itamp8217s something to be worried about too amp8230quotIt ended quotThe danger lies in the temptation to buy routinized men who have a formula for advertisingquotPeople are leaving or not joining the ad industry because itamp8217s no longer about magicThe rest is noisePosted at MediaVillage through the Thought Leadership selfpublishing platformClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet

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Advertising: "A Hard Business"

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Brian Jacobs

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