Getting Back to Basics

Today, I read with great interest that Bartle Bogle Hegarty in NY is experimenting with a new agency model that puts the emphasis on senior executives being more tied to client business. To quote their Group CEO Simon Sherwood “We need to ensure that talent is returning the greatest value to the business”. Brilliant! No really, I mean that sincerely. Makes a lot of sense.

Upon further reading, it set me to thinking…what have we been doing all these years? How have we been treating our clients? How have we been bringing value to their businesses? And how have we been rewarded for our efforts?

In recent years, we’ve seen an emerging attitude that stripped away the unique qualities of one media versus another, forging a general laissez-faire attitude and a commoditization among media offerings. It’s become all about the lowest out-of-pocket, the cheapest CPM and the greatest number of impressions. The quality of the media seems to have been sacrificed and relegated to the back of the bus. Increasingly, client CFO’s and procurement officers have largely driven this mentality downstream to the advertising agency and its media agency. And the agencies for the most part haven’t figured out how to react smartly. Gut reactions have moved many to seek the most common denominator of “let’s cut staff” in an effort to eke out a profit. The result of all this is that today’s client businesses are more than likely being managed by very junior staff who simply don’t have the business experience to add strategic value. And don’t think for a moment that clients haven’t noticed. Beware. There could be danger ahead.

In the 1980’s, I remember well an instance where the agency I was working at lost the Xerox account because senior management took its eye off the client’s business. The client knew it and the business was gone. The agency was shocked. Have we not learned any lessons?

Ensuring senior management involvement in every piece of client business isn’t a new or novel idea. It’s simply smart business and I applaud Bartle Bogle Hegarty for noticing. They understand the value of “getting back to basics”.