Confessions of an Agency Curmudgeon
by Gary Burandt
For those of us who have been in the advertising agency business for 30 years or more, it is sometimes hard to believe the changes we have seen ... good and bad. Just to name a few:
The function of media buying and selling, where the whole thing started, is quite sophisticated now, and frequently buying is out of the “agency” completely and into separate businesses that use their size to bully the media.
The traditional 15 percent media commission system of compensation has gone the way of the three martini lunch. Now it is hourly fees, project fees, retainer fees, pay for performance, and a low-fat yogurt at your desk.
NYC is no longer the epicenter. Great work is coming from such unlikely places as Austin, Richmond, Miami, Portland and Minneapolis. You can also see great international work from Bangkok and Sao Paulo, not just London.
The proliferation of award shows. Is there any profession anywhere as self-congratulatory?
We now have consultants for everything: new business consultants, search consultants and compensation consultants. Account competitions often take months, and procurement agents are on the front row of the pitch.
It is not just about the ads anymore. The development of integrated marketing communications provides a more coordinated and effective way to for marketers to go to market.
And then there is the Internet. I believe it will prove more important than TV to selling stuff and building customer relations. Watch it grow.
But for me, the biggest change in the agency business is what has happened to the agencies themselves. Gone are the great shops where great people worked and great ideas were born. Where are Ayer, Ammirati, Ally and Scali? Where are Dancer, Compton, Marsteller and Lord Geller? Giants like Leo and Y&R are still there, but not “there” like they once were.
What we have instead are mega, publicly held groups. They were conceived in greed and have killed much of what was great about the business. Clients were told to accept conflicts because bigger would make all things better. What’s better? Not the ads. Not the relationships. Not the responsiveness. Not the process or the profits.
Senior executives in the mega-group agencies sweat the industry analysts’ opinion more than the clients’. It is all about the numbers, the ratios and the head count. What about the work?
Fortunately for marketers, there are still some independent agencies out there that have not sold themselves or their soul. They still worry about each client’s business and do outstanding work. They still are involved in new product development, distribution activities, employee morale, trade shows, and customer recruiting and retention. They bought into integration before it had a name, doing whatever it took to help their client’s business grow. Loyalty and longevity still matter on both sides to the relationship because they have been hard earned.
Yeah, OK, the independents may be great locally but what about internationally? Well, the best have joined international networks of independent agencies to help their clients succeed in the global marketplace. These networks allow their members to offer their clients integrated services in all parts of the world through partner agencies just like themselves. The client of one member is treated like the client of all members.
Members of these independent networks often know each other better than members of publicly held networks that have the same name on the door, because they see each other more often. Most meet at least twice a year to share ideas, information and resources. They can afford to do this because they do not have one eye on Wall Street. And, while they respect all the resources their network has to offer, they are still able to maintain their independence and their focus on their clients and the work. They, not some bureaucracy in New York, London or Paris, own and operate their agencies.
I learned all of this when I became executive director of one of these networks after spending most of my career at a great agency that is now part of one of the mega-groups.
As I said at the top, much has changed in the past 30 years. And, I must admit, a lot for the better. We have more tools and can target markets and messages more effectively. But what has been lost in the promised volume efficiency of the mega-groups has been the magic of the great entrepreneurial agencies of the past.
Fortunately, clients, even international clients, have an alternative with the independent agencies and their networks. They are committed to partnering with clients to create outstanding work around the globe and carrying on in the same spirit as the great names of the past. _____________
Gary Burandt
Executive Director,
International Communications Agency Network (ICOM)
www.icomagencies.com