Heaven and Hell in Advertising

What is Heaven in AdvertisingAdvertisers recognize that they have brand performance problems and Chief Marketing Officers commit to solve them with the help of a few key advertising agency partnersThe agencies are empowered to figure out why brands are underperforming and where quotunrealized brand potentialquot for sales and profit growth might lie The agencies analyze brand performance identify the potentialamp160and develop consensus with their client about the positive things that can be achieved with the right marketing program They jointly agree to pursue the potentialThe agencies then develop proposals for media spend and mix along with proposed creative Scopes of Work deliverable by deliverable to quotachieve identified resultsquot amp160These marketing programs are costed out and the agencies are paid by the deliverable at a fair rate permitting them to staff the work properlyAgencies then staff the Scopes of Work with the appropriate resourcesThe brand performanceimprovement programs begin and as feedback is received from the marketplace the SOWs are adjusted along with associated fees to increase the odds of successAt the end of the year forecasted performance meets or exceeds expectations and a new round of analysis and planning begins for the following year amp160The return on marketing investment was very attractive amp160The Chief Marketing Officer is perceived as successful at hisher job and if additional marketing investment is desired it can be obtained The partnership between the advertiser and the agency is seen as successful and it feels quotrightquot satisfying for both parties who value their working relationship with one another and look forward to future successesAgency employees who work on the marketing program are rewarded with bonuses that fairly reflect their contributions to increasing the client39s shareholder value amp160They feel valued respected and competent despite occasional midnight efforts and lastminute crisesThe agency CEO recognizes their accomplishments and uses the example in agency training programs as an agency quotbest practicequot for relationship management amp160The example is used in new business pitches to structure new relationships amp160Success builds on successesWhat is Hell in AdvertisingChief Marketing Officers are uncertain about how to turn around brand performance so they focus on quotoptimizingquot their marketing spends by cutting costs through zerobased budgeting benchmarking fee reductions creation of inhouse agencies and fooling around with various smartsounding cost ratios like quotworking versus nonworkingquot whatever that is amp160They call for agency reviews and change incumbent agencies amp160They divide responsibilities among many agencies bringing in quotbestinclassquot agencies who specialize in narrow marketing areas amp160They hire additional junior marketing people to handle the growing complexity of the agency portfolio which now includes a growing inhouse agency that has ambitions to do highlevel strategy and TV work amp160The new marketing people decide who gets briefed and who gets paid via the new projectbased remuneration systemPhew The marketing workload is very very heavyThe Scopes of Work are developed on an adhoc basis quarter by quarter since no one knows what really worksamp160and it39s better to delay briefing until the last minute since the marketplace is changing all the time amp160Multiple agencies can be briefed at the same time to maximize the number of ideas that can be obtained at low cost amp160Every brief is a jumpballAgencies staff the client to the degree they can given the low fees even though the SOW workload is large The junior agency people who work on the account are stretched and after many months of this they quit and find other jobs but not before trashing their job experience on Glassdoor Rework was always a chronic problem as were depressed salaries and nonexistent bonusesUnfortunately the client marketing program fails amp160The brands continue to languishamp160and the CMO is fired after 36 months amp160A new CMO is foundamp160and heshe promptly calls for an agency review promising the CFO and CEO that a new agency or agencies or holding company will be engaged at lower costIt39s damp233jamp224 vuamp160all over again but this timeamp160it will workUnfortunately as in life Heaven is a fantasyamp160and Hell is closer to homeAs JeanPaul Sartre reminded us quotl39enfer c39est les autresquot amp8211 Hell is other people and those other people are in advertising doing what everyone in the industry has been doing for many yearsCartoon Credit Danny Shanahan The New Yorker The Cartoon Bank With permissionClick the social buttons above or below 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 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Heaven and Hell in Advertising

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Michael Farmer

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Heaven and Hell in Advertising

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