Jaffe Juice

August 9, 2006 Focusing on what matters Filed Under: Fixing the Ad Agency Mess

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» Ad Industry Lags Behind in Innovation from high
Why does the advertising industry lag behind others when it comes to innovation? [Read More]

Tracked on Aug 14, 2006 2:57:13 PM

» Ad Industry Lags Behind in Innovation from high
Why does the advertising industry lag behind others when it comes to innovation? [Read More]

Tracked on Aug 14, 2006 2:58:37 PM

Comments

Seems like Chiat's new media arts experiment is an example of an agency doing something right. Especially since it's being tested with a real client (Apple).

Here's an idea: "The 24 Hour Ad Agency." The focus isn't on spending 4 months crafting the hell out of a 4-color magazine spread, but on creating new ads hourly, even minute-ly. Match the audience's appetite for content, versus just living up to the agency and client's abilities to clock thousands of hours on one idea. It's as much about constantly measuring the pulse of society and the client brand in that environment, as it is reacting almost instantly to the culture.

Why should consumers have all the fun? If you've got your brand figured out, if you've done your strategy properly, then it's really a matter of infrastructure and a change (an innovation!) in attitude. Less emphasis on the exacting details of a single ad. More emphasis on quantity of good ideas.

One of the big differences between interactive-only shops and the rest is speed. The money-per-ad is lower, which means you spend less time on each ad. The demand for volume is higher. These forces end up turning (interactive) ad agencies into something more like news bureaus or publishers. But it's the strategic preparation and insight, and focus on the brand's agenda, which defines these shops as ad firms first.

Posted by: Tim Brunelle

Interesing question. Things are changing so fast due to the Internet that most agencies are really playing catch up. Interactive agencies think its all about web sites, e-mareting campaigns, key word purchases and so on. Traditional agencies think of the Internet based marketing as an add on or after the fact. PR agencies that are forward thinking have gotten into blogging but not other forms of marketing.

The reality is that the essence of great marketing hasn't changed - you need to know who your audience is, come up with compelling and creative ways to reach and communicate with them, and use the most effective mediums (usually several done in an integrated fashion). So the best marketing is done when all these new and traditional mediums are taken into account in light of their audience. The real kicker is, that the Internet and the new applications brought forth in this Web 2.0 era, is that instead of just pushing content out, you can now invite it back in. You can talk with instead of to your audiences. Kudos to the agencies that really get it for that is the future of marketing.

Posted by: Mike Behr

Joe,

THANK YOU.

Finally someone in the Ad community is raising this very legiitimate question. Are agencies ready to truly innovate? And what does innovation mean in this industry?

Take a look here:
http://www.davidarmano.com/thought.html

Notice that there are no references to advertising. My POV is that you have these companies out there who are re-thinking their entire business model, or they are innovating the hell out of their products and services and it's making a huge impact on their bottom line.

P&G has undertaken huge culture changes and has embraced design in their products. Motorola has transformed the mobile handset business with one product. Google continues to experiment and expand with media and other areas outside of the bread and butter search arena. Chris Bangle from BMW ensures that quality and style are not comprimised in the final product. Trader Joe's has proven that an alternative supermarket experience can be successful.

Personally, I think the Advermarketing community is getting our asses kicked by companies like this who place an ruthless focus on providing great experiences to their customers.

Nowadays, I rarely seek inspiration from advertising. What's going on oustside of advertising seems even more relevant to me.

If you are ever looking for a good read, you should take a look at "How BMW turns Art into Profit.

http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/2006/04/bmw_creativity.html

Posted by: David Armano

Neither side is doing much.
Interactive-only shops continue to be filled with "technicalists" - people who don't get advertising, never bothered to learn the business. And it shows. Their creative, from a pure entertainment standpoint, is leagues behind what the general agencies come up with. That means not as funny, not as clever, not as memorable. The fact that their creatives aren't very well paid (vs. general agency creatives) and their production budgets are minimal seems to be driving that.

General agencies still have their heads in the sand. It's all about the TV campaign, the one where they get to hang with celebs and travel to LA and stay at the Roosevelt and see Brtiney Spears in the elevator and maybe even shoot with a director who mostly does indy films. The web stuff is just secondary. And if the client doesn't have money? They'll shoot the same TV commercial, run it on the internet, and call it viral or a webisode or something.
Then they'll take some outdoor billboards and claim they're web banners.

General agencies haven't come to grips with the fact that the world has changed and interactive shops still don't attract the type of talent that will allow them to compete on ideas with general shops.

Since it really IS all about the Benjamins, I'm surprised a shop like agency.com hasn't coughed up the bucks to hire a name player from the general world. Someone to give them cred with the kids coming out of school. Sort of how the AFL and ABA hired NFL and NBA stars back in the day to give themselves some cred.

Just a thought...

Posted by: Alex Cross

Actually Alex, I think some of the interactive agencies have stepped up in ways that aren't maybe "funny" or "clever" but are certainly entertaining memorable and even useful.

R/GA's Nike ID and Nikewomen initiatives come to mind. The Nike ID case study was innovative from both the experience perspective as well as pioneering the "interactive Times Square billboard" approach that is so popular now. Nikewomen.com was one of the first interactive efforts to utilize HD video shot exclusively for the Web as opposed to being an afterthought

And AKQA did a hell of a job designing the interface for the XBOX 360. That's both memorable and entertaining. But is it advertising? Well, AKQA is an agency at the end of the day after all.

A couple of examples that come to mind immeditately. I agree that the ad industry needs to really come to terms with getting serious about innovation (not to be confused with winning awards) but we also need to re-think what advertising is these days...

Posted by: David Armano

"with respect to leading their clients into the future, embracing change..."

Embracing change, this is really where we will see who comes out on top.

Sarah

Posted by: Los Angeles Advertising Agency

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