Ah, crap, they're doing it again. The traditional agency on the account decides once again that they are going to make their foothold on the interactive side of their client's business. Like Fallon trotting out the BMW films project, the traditional agency usually relies on some one-off creative tactic that garners attention at award shows to give them the bravado that all of a sudden, again, they "get" internet advertising.

The AE is responsible for ensuring that most interactive work flows through them and their agency, and the loss of control is disconcerting. When the traditional agency sells an idea -- a large idea -- the AE is often criticized for not developing more ideas and pitching bigger projects.

What the AE does not realize is that the traditional agency may not truly get how to drive the client's business day-to-day. They may not understand much about media planning and efficiency or about measurements beyond view-through and clickthrough. But what they do get is how to sell an idea.

Rarely are the traditional shops' views of interactive based on comprehensive strategic approach and measurement. It's a tactic here and execution there; a "we have this great idea." Far too often interactive shops limit themselves to dealing with more business-centric performance goals. There are fundamental differences between lean-back media like television, and lean-forward media like the internet. In fact, the internet is not as much a medium as it is a virtual analogue of the physical world. It is the first permanently dynamic one.

And that is what causes interactive AEs to break into a cold sweat. No longer can they rest on the laurels of knowing all media and formats. The client may know more than they do, and it is an ever-expanding miasma of technical internet soup: internet video, Flash 5,6,7,8, integrations, rich media, point-roll, pre-roll, post-roll, mid-rolls, user-generated content, widgets, blogs and RSS advertising.

The problem -- and what the panicked online AE realizes -- is that sometimes clients are not that well-educated in the online space either. So the traditional agency, which usually has more senior-level exposure at the client side, presents ideas. Senior management at the client gets pumped for those ideas, and even your hapless client contact gets pulled in. And that is where the proverbial pain point is for the internet AE, also known as, "the cringe." The client pours a ton of money into an idea. How is it going to be measured? "Well," the traditional agency replies. "It's not about that, it's a brand campaign idea."

And then the AE cries.