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Five Deadly Sins That Can Kill an Agency
Mike Willard
The agency business these days is fraught with danger primarily because the economic environment within which they and their clients exist has a narrower margin for error. There are many ways to fall over the precipice of profitability. We list here what we call the five most deadly sins that can kill an agency.
1. Thinking in terms of time and not value. Time is merely a measurement. Value is more quantifiable to a client. One can see time committed, but one can experience value as in more sales. .Time can always be pushed down and usually is. If an agency allows value to be pushed down, shame on it.
2. Focusing on a single "big idea" without realizing the strategic value of having many satellite tactical ideas. Too often the emphasis is on a "kick-ass" television concept. That's a heavy load for any 30-second spot to carry, particularly in an age of multiple delivery platforms, traditional and digital.
3. Having a stable of 20th Century thinkers in the 21st Century. The tried and the true can be magnificent, but don't rest on your laurels of what you did successfully in the 1990s. You will be thought of as the agency that died but no one has informed the agency of this fact.
4. Believing that money is the currency of marketing, and not ideas. We recently saw this example: Question: How much does it cost to reach a million people in a medium-sized TV marketing? About $60,000. How much does it cost to reach a million viewers on You Tube? About zero. Nada. Zilch. Point made.
5. (Related to No. 3) Believing that measurements of reach and frequency and cost of impressions is really that important in a digital multi-platform world. We're often talking about that flirtations wink in the dark that is not really seen. It's about emotional connections. It is about that metaphoric handshake or hug. Everything else is merely air kisses.
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