On Good Salesmen

I recently had a short talk with an account from (luckily) another agency, she asking me why I never considered a job like hers. Before I even could answer she already answered that with another question: “Is it because you’re afraid you would lose a client?” … WTF!? … I never even considered that being an option among the idea that a career as an account manager simply does not serve my interests or even qualifications. I was stunned that this was considered an option, perhaps even THE option and goal for her and I think it showed what’s wrong nowadays how a lot of agencies are being run and operated. We’re going backwards.

One of the many reasons why advertising became so booming in the sixties and following decades is because you had a shift in leadership and client relations. Creatives were sick and done with the fact accounts would take all the credit for winning over a new client “Because they both play golf on Sunday”, while the creative masterminds were left behind in the shadows with their ideas and accomplished work that proved to be effective. In those days, lots of brilliant creatives also left that ‘business oriented’ environment to start their own agency, where they could pull the strings themselves and prove good work sells. And it’s most of those agencies that proved their success by still being the leading ones today.

But I think we’re slowly growing away from those brilliant days again. Because campaigns are simply not one print advertisement or TVC anymore; 360 campaigns require a lot of different and varied angles, talent and people to make everything work and fit together. Because everybody is so busy contributing his part to the big puzzle, client relations suffer. And so, bigger responsibility comes into the hands of accounts (again). Don’t understand me wrong: I have nothing against accounts or their job. I think I would terribly suck at it myself. But I do feel we need more people in the industry that know how advertising and creativity work precisely. Who are not driven by a fear losing a client or a relation, but driven by the same passion the Creative Director has for the work the entire team has worked on. And out of that passion, good and persuasive selling skills can grow and develop. We need more accounts that don’t think individually their job depends on how the client thinks of the agency or even their own position; but think in a team spirit how the agency thinks of the client. And how we can help them grow and become better.

I do am optimistic. In those Mad Men days, an ad agency was more than simply producing advertisements for them; they were the entire communication consultancy for a company. One company: one agency – and everything that had to deal with the tone of voice of an industrial HQ, the ad men were there to help you to bring something human inside and outside. I think we can go back to those days. While the online world and communication is taking over and changing our entire way of interacting with each other at such a rapid speed; companies will need again one strong leader and opinion maker who consults them and is highly engaged with the knowledge of how to communicate at your best today and tomorrow. Since the world is becoming globally so connected and a lot more complicated; companies will need highly effective agencies to keep up with the world, the communication, the people and everything that comes along with that, as they will be too busy looking over the markets that are intriguing and challenging the status quo anywhere possible.

Time for agencies to prove themselves worth again …

Digital Discussion

It’s ironic I’m at AKQA now while I’ve always been bashing the “digital focus”. As choosing to study psychology and always been around with a vast interest in human behavior, I suddenly came to question if pursuing a job in the ad scene was still a good and relevant thing to do when I got introduced to it during my first internship two years ago. I was scared we would start to lose our focus on human interaction and sell it out for computer driven data. My very first posts on this blog where actually about this issue and a talk with a high up and respectable planner last week reminded me to keep on focusing which path into the above and beyond the line material I would chose to keep everything as efficient, effective and meaningful possible.

First of all, it’s bloody scary and dangerous if there are still planners out there who do not recognize the value of digital advertising and marketing. I’m not going to dig into this as I assume everybody reading this blog is smart enough and has already figured that out a long time ago. But apparently there still advertisers out there who want to hold only on traditional media. I can only hope that species will extinct soon and make room for more inspirational and innovative thinkers this scene grows on.

But why was I scared and why do I believe we all should be aware of the dangers? Because it’s an easy trap to fall in when going through digital data. It’s so easy to lose focus on what the key motivator was why people where there (in a certain digital space) in the first place. Because only internet data simply does not reveal anything about our consumers, it actually limits it. And while these data could be relevant and useful for the strategic marketing department of our client, it is not for the creative process of coming up with relevant ideas that have a deeper meaning and impact on the consumer. Because we may never forget that we’re talking to human beings and digital data alone can not bring us there.

And why do I feel safe and for the moment extremely excited at AKQA? Because for the projects I have been involved in so far (in the few weeks I’ve been here), we included both online and offline behavior. Because I got to understand that AKQA sets itself apart from other “digital” agencies in the knowledge that digital is the medium in the communication and not the objective. Because AKQA sees itself not fully as a digital agency, but perfectly integrated between the traditional and digital ones, what makes this really a unique place to work. Because at AKQA, the idea still comes first. But the most important one without any doubt is realizing that we’re here because of the value of communication and that we now simply happen to live in an area in history where digital has tremendous benefits and is becoming the prior tool in communicating. The first channel that brought us to widespread massive communication started with book publishing. Along came the telephone, the radio and the tv. The internet, smartphones and tablets came next but they are still the same as their previous partners: a channel, a medium. Only that this is now going through a two-way dialogue direction instead of the monologue we had in traditional advertising. Where will we be in 10 years?

Sometimes Creativity Is Not Enough

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