Flackety flack flack flack.

The Chief Communications Officer has left the building. I’ve written about this before but it is relevant right now given the impending changes in the NY agency landscape. The economy is driving dollars out of the industry and cuts will and have to be made.

I’d start with the in house communications people. I know, I’m off killing my profession again, but when will advertising agencies wake up to the principle of outsourcing reputation management? Surely the most fundamental rule of PR is that it is not what you say about you – it’s what others say about you. So why duplicate agency support with a ‘Chief Communications Officer’. You don’t need that, you need a PR co-ordinator, someone who can pull it together, is paid a managers salary  and doesn’t influence the incredibly intricate and business lead challenges of marketing CEO’s.

The reason I thoroughly enjoyed JWT was that I wasn’t a ‘Chief Communications Officer or Publicist’ – I was a communications strategist. The best publicity comes not from that which you beg for, but from good ideas. As soon as the road block goes up on the latter, there is no former.

Hollow PR campaigns, mismanaged account wins and losses and hatches, matches and dispatches take seconds to manage, and yet so many of the big PR people in big agencies make it look like an art-form, using the same ‘wool over the eyes’ tricks that the same agencies use to get more time and more money from clients.

It’s interesting to note that I have yet to meet one corporate communications person at a large marketing agency who has ever run or even worked inside a PR agency. I think that’s a ringing endorsement at the lack of creativity, strategy and respect that agency flacks receive – and many of them simply deserve it.

I’ll caveat by saying the happy medium, at least, is those PR types who’ve even run business for agencies, at least they understand, in part, the power of the brand and the impact of ideas on reputation.

Until the marketing industry understands that managing its own reputation is as critical as its clients – we are set for more endless PR newswire appointment releases and the captivating news that yet another advertising agency sub-brand has been created, sweet joy.

At least the marketing trade press is evolving, more stories about the power of brands, more diversification, more probing analysis – the 2 American titles are actually great reads – with the lack of interesting agency news, they delve into some of the real issues this industry faces. Long may they reign.

It’s time to steal back our tricks from politics.

Politics, PR and Marketing are inextricably linked. The race to the Whitehouse is without doubt the finest example on the planet that a 360 degree approach to communications is both what works and what is needed. It’s funny and tragic then that our industry is still struggling and in fighting to mimic this collaboration. Whilst we watch the most impressive viral campaign in history from Barack Obama bring in millions in donations, we are still holding inter-agency meetings and arguing over who’ll write the contact report.

Why is it that whilst the political engine, with little historic experience of brands, marketing and technology do our work so well whilst we still can’t stitch together PR and Advertising,  media and digital or even planning and creative? To say the political world is eating our dog-food is a gross understatement, what’s happening so successfully in politics today is humiliating our industry and we have to shape up pretty quick and take back what’s ours.

My first point and probably the simple answer to this is to go out there and start hiring the people behind the campaigns (I don’t mean Mark Penn – he’s doing fine). What I do mean is the new young bright political evangelists that have given up their time, freely to find ways to market their candidate to the press and people so effectively. Instead of worrying about the next op-ed opportunity or panel to put the ECD on, I’d be briefing recruitment companies to start tracking and attracting the power behind these political campaigns and creatives.  You never know,  we might just succeed there, we have a lot to offer – higher salaries (probably) a vast array of different and exciting work and career longevity.

However, what we lack is passion. My next observation is that we need to harness the passion and loyalty that the political parties bring to their people every day. There was a time in this world – which we’ve all been recently reminded of thanks to Mad Men when our industry was exalted, we were the dream job – it was the place to work. Less so now. Why is that and how did we lost our pride?

Much of it might be down to the homogenization of marketing businesses and not the disciplines which is necessary. By that I mean the buy, sell, acquire, trading, merging of ad agencies and other marketing companies which slowly chips away at what makes them special and gives them their ‘edge’.  Hung governments are never captivating, they are compromised and leadership invariable fails. Maybe we’ve fallen foul to this. it’s a truth that the new agencies, the super cool agencies seem to attract the bright people – is that because the are ‘small and boutiquey and push the envelope’ or is it actually because they are independent that they fundamentally stand for something like the parties do right now?

Isn’t it telling that you can follow a CMO of an advertising agency from one group company to another – probably using the same rolodex, the same approach and no doubt the same jokes from corridor to corridor. What does that say to us about the power of our brands? Doesn’t it, in some way, make a mockery of all we tell our clients about standing for something. What do today’s large agencies actually stand for?

Leadership is my next point. I have no doubt that we’re not going to see a Obama & Co agency starting any time soon but how do we instill the real power of leadership into today’s agency leaders. What is the succession management plan for advertising. Looking back at recent history, Bullmore, Ogilvy, Chiat & co helped define what their firms stood for – and lead from the front creating insanely loyal and driven people completely committed to their job. Today who do we really have? 

Richard Edelman has done a phenomenal job of continuing to lead his business forward with the drive and dedication that’s so evidently missing from his other marketing leaders. Now some of this, again,  might come down to the holding company squeeze on independence and drive. However, are today’s marketing CEO’s too addicted to quarterly results and margin and not enough the the product they actually make and the people that make it. 

I walked into an agency once in Chicago (who shall remain nameless) to find on every one of their dozen plasma screens in reception work playing from other agencies. When I asked why I was told that the CEO wanted to show that they were passionate about the work for all agencies in their holding company. This struck me as entirely insane and without direction or passion. 

Bob Jeffrey at JWT made it rule number one that he had to see work regularly – every day and he does. He understands that to lose touch with your product (like a politician losing touch with the people) is brand suicide.  

So we need to prepare now for the leaders of tomorrow – identify the talent that can not just manage a p&l but bring together a philosophy and I think we’d be helped by looking a bit further a field than just our somewhat incestuous industry where recruitment is akin to the same old people throwing their keys in the bucket. 

But back to my opening point, the 360 approach. This, I think is the single biggest issue for agencies today and one that’s been talked about ad infinitum. I don’t want to harp on about it like every one in agency world does (saying but not doing) but I do want to make one point. 

How can you expect agencies to work well to together when they don’t know what they stand for apart?

Barry Diller talks of Creative Conflict, the need to push your ideas, positioning, beliefs and self even to find out what makes you tick. It’s time this industry created some conflict to blow away the past, unblock the pores of progress and take some pride in itself.  

Marketing has become so risk averse, so ‘safe’ and therefore dull. We seem to be scared to stand up for ourselves in case its not what our clients’ believe in – but we forget that our clients hired us for who we are – not what we want them to be. 

So let’s forget about 360 for now, about trying to date and smooch other companies, I believe we all individually as agencies need a makeover first; just like Tony Blair and his team gave Britain New Labour, we desperately need New Marketing. 

That’s change we can believe it.

Oh my god, the telephone!

What joy, what sweet embrace! As the scratch resistant glass kissed my cheek and I had the briefest of chats today with ‘Dear Friend in Advertising in London who Is The Funniest Man I Know’…

Not only was it a total pleasure to step outside of the artifice of Facebook, or email or whatever, it was nice to hear a human VOICE (remember those?).

I recall Barry Diller, when asked if he was into social networking simply saying ‘I’ve been social networking all my life, I have a telephone’.

So it was with trepidation that I called, I had some news to share, but immediately it was like we were back in Joe Allen’s gabbling the night away over 4 bottles of Crozes Hermitage.

He’s a man I was trying to describe to a colleague today and continued to fail until I spluttered out ‘He’s a touch Stephen Fry… but straight’ – which was immediately recognised as a ‘type’ and made the mental image I was painting much clearer.

Thank God for the Footlights (and the bloody iPhone).

Its gone far enough.

I don’t know. Maybe as one gets older one gets more cantankerous. Or maybe I’m becoming the sort of person I hate. But one thing is for sure, the more I whore myself in the whacky world of media and marketing the more difficult I become to live with.

And the intolerance levels… dear GOD you had better not catch me on a bad day. I suppose you have to accept the things you can’t – or frankly – can’t be bothered to change.

One thing you should change however is a national print advertising campaign if it had a typographical error of such stupidity even a jetlagged, exhausted down-on-his-luck consulting deadbeat like me could spot it.

Shame on you Reebok and you’re stinking trainer fetish laced retail emorium for chavs ‘JD Sports’…

Is full time a waste of time?

 

I’ve been thinking recently if business needs full time Chief Communications Officers. I understand the concept of this is biting the hand that has fed me for some time. But I’ve always thought looking a gift horse in the mouth was worth two in the bush.

When I’ve been at marketing cos in the past I’ve come to the conclusion that I wasted an awful lot of time and consequently I think my employer probably wasn’t getting best value. Also, if you’re going to be a true communications professional you need to be totally immersed in ALL types of communication whilst being able to give independent counsel when required.

I think you can have heads of comms. who may just drink a bit too much of the Kool-Aid; people who get so submerged with loyalty, conviction and passion that they lose focus on the fundamentals:

1. What is news?

2. What is a reputation issue?

3. What is true?

Look at it this way, if Communications Consultants were provided by Bain they probably wouldn’t be 5 days a week in the office. They would probably work in a number of different categories, with the same discipline and cross-pollinate ideas, thoughts and outputs.

That’s fresh thinking, and it’s the sort of thinking that’s worth paying for. This might all look like a vain attempt to promote what I do, but it’s been more of an enlightenment for me.

I was speaking with a prominent journalist at an extremely highly regarded business national here this morning; she vehemently agreed that this philosophy was the right way,. She told me that it happens this way it gives her far more information from a more credible party who can see both sides of the PR fence.

Which global ad network CEO is this?

Which global ad network CEO is this?, originally uploaded by English Man in New York City.

From my iPhone

With this Credit Crunch – will we lose all the brilliant ideas?

It’s an issue which I think is going to really change the landscape for the incubation of brilliant ideas. Will VC’s and funds still want to take risks on new bright ideas?

According to Reuters, investors are now switching out of the US not just into BRIC – especially Asia in particular – but into ‘investments of passion’ – namely wine and art.But what about the art of the new big idea? It’s pretty much agreed that big companies rarely have big ideas these days, even though they are still essential and have their place in the fertilisation food chain for entrepreneurs and bright young things.

Will investors now turn off from content, technology, mobile and other new media concepts? If so how soon until we feel the effect of this on our new industries?Perhaps the answer is for business to restart investing in innovation – it’s not just packaged goods companies that should own the new product arena; and a lot of big business seems to exist on ‘if it’s a good idea let’s buy it’ as opposed to creating good ideas inside.

I know we’ve heard it all before, but marketing companies are brilliantly placed to play a part in this. I don’t mean all that nonsense of Crispin taking a steak in a clothing company (that was tiny and largely irrelevant) but actually creating new ideas, new creative business ideas that improve their business whilst innovating and bringing new talent into the business that fundamentally grows clients’ business, not just brand awareness.

I’m bored of hearing about how advertising agencies are changing their relationship with clients to share equity – I think that’s all posturing. It would be good to see agencies work with start-ups, new businesses and entrepreneurs to create new ideas that connect in new ways.

I recall working with a global ad agency on a pitch recently. I told them explicitly that their potential client wanted ’skin in the game’ — I was told ‘oh yes, we’ll absolutely bet a bit of the farm on our work’, only to hear that they considered a fee penalty of 1 or 2 per cent as being ’skin in the game’.

Entrepreneurs and start-ups bet 100% of their livelihood and their passion on trying to advance business, technology and ideas; it’s time the marketing industry played their part. It’s not entirely altruistic; it’s actually quite old-fashioned.

The agency world is changing blah blah blah – but with only about 6 per cent of total ad revenue coming from online, it’s clear there’s a lot of space to change and evolve. Never mind online – look at how hard it is for Facebook to monetize; and I watched Mark Z present Beacon and Social Ads — never before was a group of media and stakeholders so neutral about a great concept with lousy execution.

But what about mobile? the iPhone is changing our relationship with those noisy interruptive handsets into a device that adds new value (and eyeballs and time) to business and brands that crave attention. And in this economic climate pushing a channel that consumers are addicted to, is in their pocket all day and is still relatively inexpensive and yet highly responsive could be the way to grow new ideas in a ’safe growth’ environment.

If you want to see successful User Generated Content from a subscriber base – well, what the hell is a mobile phone?Mobile has so far to grow in the US; I know this as I watched in grow first hand in Europe when I was running an agency there. I think the new colonisation for content ideas could be real and credible investment and ownership in this technology area. I’m reminded of when I was in London and FCB had loaned their basement to start-ups and smart ideas, I don’t think it came to much.

That was a concept whose time has come; now that’s worth a glass of wine.