Back in the Box - Jeff Einstein - MediaBizBloggers

A quick random review of mission statements found on agency websites leads me to an alarming but inescapable conclusion The only place to find innovative thinking nowadays in back inside the box where one is amp8211 at least if the agency mission statements are any indication amp8211 less likely to encounter the legions of obsequious outsidethebox thinkers who preach ad nauseum how they39re quotclientcentricquot and quotROIobsessedquotGranted the agency industry has always been exceptionally riskaverse a euphemism for spineless even when notorious rogue personalities like Hal Riney George Lois Jay Chiat Jerry Delafamina Bill Bernbach and David Ogilvy ruled the roosts And it39s not for nothing that all of the above rogues argued the efficacy of creative magic over an obsession with measurement because that39s the eternal though recently orphaned truth of advertising advertising works not because of but in spite of the media Indeed there seems to be an obvious inverse relationship between measurement and performance the more we measure the media and the more media we measure the less well advertising performsNowadays however the rogue personalities are all but gone for good in part because they either got bought out or died and in part because large brand advertisers care more about media ubiquity than creative amp8211 what happens over time once you begin to view your advertising as an extension of MBAdriven procurement The result everyone sings the same ROIobsessed clientcentric tuneWe should note that the rogue personalities of advertising did on behalf of their agencies and retirement packages what advertising does best They sold the intangibles the emotive components that resist measurement and invoke the human heart and soul The rogues knew amp8211 contrary to most of their peers amp8211 that their advertiser clients are invariably wrong so they frequently billed for the requisite time to tell them so in no uncertain terms Back then we called it setting realistic client expectationsNowadays however there are no more client expectations because there are no more rogue personalities to set them Instead we encounter the exact opposite realistic agency expectations set not by the agency but by the client Realistic agency expectations are predicated on the agency39s response to two basic client questions a can you handle my volume and b how much faster can you drop your pants and bend over the next time we meetNot long ago I spoke with the owner of a small creative digital design shop with aspirations to move from projectbased tactical engagements into larger retainerbased strategic engagements His online mission statement amp8211 like every other agency39s online mission statement amp8211 describes his agency39s passion for advertising that performs his variation on the digital ROIobsessed virus that has so thoroughly infected and despoiled all marketing and advertising in recent years So I asked him quotHow much of your new business relies on your reputation for advertising that performsquotHe thought to himself for a few seconds then looked at me and said quotNone Not a single dollarquotquotOf course notquot I said But why is that And why amp8211 with all of the selfprofessed obsession with ROI and outsidethebox thinking amp8211 does media performance continue to erode It39s because the big brand advertisers amp8211 the deeppocket guys who can truly afford to gorge themselves on inventory and sweat the ROI details amp8211 are the very guys who care least about actual performance They and their big agency proxies may talk the ROI talk but they simply don39t walk their own talk They simply don39t buy performance nowadays they know better So they buy ubiquity and the ability to manage it instead They buy ubiquity precisely because the myth of media performance is now so transparently inane and so utterly exposed amp8211 especially for any advertiser who delivers hundreds of millions of daily impressions The only reason why PampampG now delivers two billion daily ad impressions is because the first 1999999999 no longer get the job done Quite contrary to what any reasonable obsession with ROI might suggest the big advertisers buy ubiquity in the presumed absence of actual performanceYet our obsession with ROI amp8211 like Laerte39s sword amp8211 continues unabated and envenomed and it accelerates in direct proportion to bandwidth growth Its poison has all but paralyzed the creative nervous system of the agency industry so much so that the agencies amp8211 suffocating in their own inertia amp8211 can no longer even distinguish their own brands let alone those of their clients Go ahead ask your agency what distinguishes them from their competitors Just be prepared for a barrage of outsidethebox thinkingAbout Jeff EinsteinDigital media pioneer Jeff Einstein is onehalf of the Brothers Einstein a contrarian brand strategy and communications boutique The Brothers Einstein have just announced the release of their Just BE Workshop a fullday handson seminar designed to help senior marketing executives lower the barriers to innovation and restore common sense to its rightful place atop the hierarchy of modern management toolsRead all the Einstein Brothers39 MediaBizBloggers commentaries at the Brothers Einstein MediaBizBloggersCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBlogger

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