Cynics and Sentimentality

If like me you spend far too long following global media agency leaders on social media you would be forgiven for thinking you had stumbled across a rare breed of world leaders crossed with Nobelprize winning thinkersAs an industry we are not exactly blessed with an excess of humilityFor example the Internet yields up many lessons from media agency gurus for marketing leaders written in the main by those whose common characteristic is that they have never themselves had to act on the daytoday issues faced by a marketing leaderOr a mass of advice on the importance of building trust amongst consumers from a group whose own customers are hardly brimming over with trust in their agency partnersThe fact is that the media agency business is facing a reputational crisisSome would say this is down to a lack of trust in many of the network agenciesamp8217 objectivity Some would point to the digital side of the industryamp8217s inability to sort itself out some to the impact of marketing procurement teams on agency fees some to a failure by the agencies to explain transparently what they do with their clientsamp8217 budgetsWhatever the cause the truth is that the relationship between media agencies and advertisers is not currently looking too cleverSo why donamp8217t the agencies take some of their own advice If a client came to them with a problem at the heart of which lay a lack of trust between the client and their customers what would they proposeI suggest that one thing they would say is that trust is hard to build and easy to lose Leaders can say what they like about honesty and transparency from their ivory tower the unfortunate truth is that the first time some lowly employee in some outpost somewhere acts in an inappropriate manner all the fine words count for nothingThey would point out that a consistency throughout an organizationamp8217s touch points with its customers is important the words of a bankamp8217s CEO can be undone by the rudeness of a branch counter clerkNext value needs to be proved Itamp8217s easy enough to claim to be the cheapest but if you want to charge a bit more for whatever youamp8217re selling then you need to able to demonstrate its worthOscar Wildeamp8217s quote from amp8220Lady Windermereamp8217s Fanamp8221 pictured above is often used but rarely completed In full it readsamp8220Cecil Graham What is a cynicLord Darlington A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothingCecil Graham And a sentimentalist my dear Darlington is a man who sees an absurd value in everything and doesnamp8217t know the market price of any single thingamp8221A balance is required in other words Focus on costs at all costs and you cheapen your offering Ignore costs and youamp8217ll rightly be painted as impractical and otherworldlyThe agencyamp8217s advice would no doubt focus on the need to use a variety of means and channels to generate demand Underpinned by the quality of the product and the consistency of your staffamp8217s actions to create desire to service wonderfully well and thus by doing all of these things well to justify a premiumAct honestly and professionally and you can survive the odd error and the odd misfortune Do these things poorly and your reputation is so weak that the first gust of wind will bring the whole thing crashing down around your earsThere are many smart people in media agencies Several of them delight in writing articles or even books on aspects of leadership or strategic thinking or even the power of truthMaybe these people should turn their talents to addressing the two fundamental problems their businesses faceIf a media agency went to a media agency for advice it seems likely they would advise themselves to quantify whatamp8217s driving the core issues of trust and remunerationIf things really are as I suggest then they would probably stress the need to start by ensuring the whole organization understands the need to behave in a manner consistent with their leadersamp8217 words To service their clients wonderfully well To use a mix of channels to create demandAnd finally having put the basics in place to work to prove the business case for what they would describe as a fairer remuneration modelBut then again why would a media agency listen to a media agencyThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillageMyersBizNet management or associated bloggers

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