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When did bad advertising begin? And what to do about it.

Exactly when did bad advertising begin?

I think it began somewhere deep in the Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc cave.  The client looked at the cave drawings and said, “I’m not digging the bison.”

Human nature being what it is, these days there are a lot of clients not digging the bison.  Sometimes the agency is serving up less than stellar ads. Sometimes the client company will take the safe, well-paved route to “me too” advertising.

This is a conversation that has taken place in the halls of every agency long before Don Draper was conjured up.

In 1985, John O’Toole Chairman of the Board of the great agency Foot, Cone and Belding, gave a short speech in Chicago called “Who holds the keys to great advertising:  the client or the agency?”

27 years ago and it stills resonates. 

Here are some of the good bits.

 “Who are we to blame for non-great advertising -- or for dull, predictable, banal, even insulting advertising: the advertiser or his or her agency?  To put it, more positively, which party really holds the key to great advertising?

 A case can, and frequently has been made on either side of that question. 

Those who say that the client holds the keys point to the fact that an agency’s output varies in quality, sometimes achieving greatness for one client while falling far short for another. And there does seem to be a greater consistency from product to product on an advertiser’s reel than there is from client to client on an agency’s reel.

 Those who content that that the keys are in the hands of the agency observe that an agency change has occasionally taken a drab advertiser to greatness overnight.

Both sides are right. Both sides are wrong.  And it probably doesn’t make too much difference anyway.  Because the fact is that great advertising only occurs when client and agency are totally in accord.

From my point of view, a good agency can do good advertising for any company.  It can do bad advertising for any company. But it can only do great advertising for companies that crave it.

And that craving, like any other policy statement from a company is only credible, only actionable, only reliable when it is articulated and demonstrated at the top.

There is sufficient evidence to warrant a conclusion which I’ll call “O’Toole’s Rule”:

The higher up advertising involvement goes in an organization, the better the advertising.

 …I view with some alarm those companies where the system has been so warped that those in top positions may never see a great advertising idea -- companies where top management makes it clear t hat other priorities prevail or where an idea in its most fragile and vulnerable stage inevitably succumbs to a brand manager’s fear of terra incognita.”

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Terra incognita with all it’s ancient roots, captures the essence of the problem.

The agency doesn’t know with surety what will work.  The company, even with reams of consumer insights doesn’t either.

Show me research that says a duck or gecko will sell insurance.  Or a chubby, slightly cloying boy made of dough will sell Pillsbury bakery products.

Nearly three decades later, we’re still having this us vs. them conversation. And we probably always will.  There will always be people who don’t like bison.

O’Toole had it right.  An agency can only do great advertising for companies who crave it.

So here are Baker's Rules:

1. Follow the money

The classic detective line works in virtually any industry.  Who ever pays, decides.  Agencies can walk away from bad clients but no agency is going to kill a cash cow because an agency is ultimately a business.  

2. Respect is double-edged

I have worked with CEOs and Marketing Managers who see marketing as a necessary evil.  So the agency becomes a simply vendor.  If you want to alienate an agency, treat them like vendor.  And it works the other way.  If an agency thinks the marketing team or the CEO doesn't have a marketing bone in his or her body, they are probably missing key insights and not leveraging the experience of the boots on the ground.

3. Embrace constructive conflict

When I was a playwright, one of great assignments was to give two actors in the same scene conflicting motivations (unknown to each other). (i.e. Actor one, your job is to get the other actor to feel bad about himself. Actor two, your job is to make the other actor laugh.)

If we look through the motivation lens, we see that below the CEO level, the #1 job of the marketing team is keep their boss happy. At an agency, the #1 job is to create advertising that will impress potential clients and get you a job at another agency.  Can you see the conflict here?

Both clients and agencies will tell you that it's about building the brand and selling products -- but I'm talking from 30 years experience and see the day to day reality.

What I notice is that few people are well trained in constructive conflict.  The meeting room suddenly becomes very uncomfortable when ideas are challenged.  Especially when the agency challenges a CEO.  It has a chilling effect. Clients and agencies have to learn how to fight and defend ideas -- and not make it personal.  Yes, it's hard. Very hard.

Thanks John for 1985 and good luck to all you fellow cave dwellers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted on Monday, April 9, 2012 at 08:30PM by Registered CommenterCreativity Central | CommentsPost a Comment | References37 References

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