There's an old joke about advertising: Nothing's as certain to undermine your confidence in a product as knowing that the commercial selling it has been approved by the company that makes it.
Today, a corollary statement could be made about interactive agencies and their websites. And at the risk of talking to ourselves instead of focusing on our clients' problems, today we're going to look at interactive agency websites and figure out how to make them better.
A dirty job (especially if you've got to do it)
Now, before we go any further, let's agree upfront that doing your own agency's website is a thankless task, like putting a roof on the builder's house or performing a transplant on a surgeon. Everyone's an expert. Everyone at the agency feels free to play creative director and starts spouting out ideas, relishing their artistic freedom. Even the UPS delivery guy has thoughts on color palette.
If you're the agency person in charge of doing your agency's website, take my advice and invest in a case of Tums. Pronto.
Perhaps it's the magnitude of the task that causes so many agencies to forget everything they allegedly know about the internet when they do their own websites and social media initiatives.
Really, other than sudden-onset amnesia, how else can we explain the gratuitous use of Flash and the allergy to search-friendly HTML text? Why are so many sites treated as though they were gorgeous (in someone's opinion) baubles -- pretty to look at, but without a whole lot of substance for the various user segments likely to be visiting the site? And why do so many follow the same old structure of: Who we are | What we do | Our portfolio | Etc.? Did Congress pass a law?
Let's just say it out loud: Agencies are often the most egregious violators of the sensible rules and best practices they would follow when working with a client. Yes, given complete license and, one would think, a business imperative to put up a site that will convince prospective clients to say, "These guys get it! I'm going to give them a call," many agencies somehow fall short. Let's be charitable and say that interactive agency websites are like the proverbial shoemaker's kids: The agencies are so focused on their clients' business that their own websites go barefoot. Collectively, we're a walking, talking case of "Do as we say, not as we do."
Is anyone getting it right?
Now, not every agency is guilty of putting up irrelevant, self-indulgent, barely coherent drivel. Rather than focusing on the bad -- and spending the rest of my career finding new ways to apologize to colleagues at industry events -- let's first talk about which agencies are doing some things well. Or at least making things interesting.
A great website: R/GA
RGA.com does two things really well. It puts R/GA's press front and center (and, let's face it, R/GA gets the best press in the business). And it positions R/GA as a thought leader in tackling the fundamental questions of what the interactive industry even is and what it means for a brand to create a digital platform. The user can't help but come away with the sense that there are some very smart people working at R/GA. Also: Excellent use of short-form video to convey concepts that might be dry in print while also introducing the viewer to the R/GA team and demonstrating R/GA's expertise in video production.
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