Why agencies are failing

Joseph, that's a great article and it should be required reading for everyone involved with traditional advertising.

But I must say -- perhaps unintentionally, you're making the case for truly great creative in broadcast. In fact, in the context of the internet and today's audiences, broadcast is absolutely worthless without great creative. The problem is of course many agency directors and clients know great creative if it slapped them in the face.

Let me point to one of your examples, the Geico campaign. Contrary to what you write -- it works, and it works hard. It engages consumers. It's somewhat measurable, or at least testable. Geico sees an uptick in calls precisely when ads run. Talk about interactive -- once someone calls the number, they're talking to a live human, the ultimate in interactivity.

I believe you wrote that the commercials are "a stretch". To the contrary, mostly they deal directly with what people are concerned about. The success of the campaign ought to speak for itself, no matter what your and my well-founded leanings may be.

That being said, broadcast can only be effective these days with truly great creative. Not creative that merely has great craftsmanship. Great creative implies great execution against great strategy. The strategy must be informed by profound insights, which probably requires diligent research. All of which is consistent with your ideas.

David Kennedy of Wieden & Kennedy, who as a young art director worked on Pillsbury Doughboy of all things, once said: "We're not in the business of making commercials, really. We're in the business of making a connection." This holds true today more than ever.

Your article demonstrates that making a connection has become harder and harder for one-way communication. And more and more a job better suited for interactive media.

As an internet information architect, I have been watching this transition for years. Slowly attention is shifting from televion to a more interesting platform. Traditional agencies are trying to catch up, but generally do not have the ability to seperate the mentality differences. I always talk about "what brought someone to this point" on the internet, and use the thought process of the information seeker to dictate the communication pattern.
Ray
Focus Internet Services
www.focusinternetservices.com

You raise several good points here, particularly your thought on the importance of "listening". Agencies are failing to engage consumers in the interactive space because many of them view consumers as something to be manipulated - listening is just an account planning formality. And many brand marketers are still so focused on quarterly results they won't invest in long term engagements. I once had a CMO tell me "I don't want a relationship with my consumers, I want a ROI".

Btw you might be interested in this series of posts I wrote last year on CGC and branding:
http://koolaidantidote.wordpress.com/2007/07/10/ugc-cgc-and-upcs-part-i/

inspiring topic, Mr. Dumont, let's get right to the point, the reason advertising ( television, media outlets) do not connect or lose sight of the brand and consumer is because of the time / costs involved to think creatively, many of the ad houses are thinking quick kill, the thinking of, being in it for the long haul, building a client base is all but extinct, to much emphasis now is, "just deliver the product", bottom line, make a profit as quick and get out. Yes, consumers are leaving traditional television / media outlets for the internet, why, because those forms of information & entertainment are non-informative, boring, no creative expression. The internet provides quick access and to the point without listening to local corespondents sparring with each other. The consumer / people are tired of being misguided (who,what & where) loss of industry ethics, which leads people to gravitate for the get away from it all quick fix instead. Television has become creatively expressionless. Yes sir, crappy job is right. .

Awesome points! Listening to the clients' needs and offering them choices...that is what it is all about. Only now, the choices can include viral marketing, social networking, seo, sem, ppc, metrics across all levels, and smo (social media optimization). Digital is here to stay - it has leveled the playing field for what was a game ruled by major conglomerates like Viacom, NBC, Fox, CNN. User generated content and cell phone video has opened the door to posting what I want to see, share, and comment on. No more companies telling me what I should watch and listen to.

If agencies don't jump on board and catch up, they will be lost. This is not an option; it is survival!