We all recognize that the advertising business is all about the big idea. The big idea that breaks through the clutter and creates momentum for a brand -- that idea is what makes or breaks an agency. You could argue for ROI, strategy, and even scale is emerging as a key differentiator.   But the reality is regardless of what clients may admit – they want the magic sauce too. I often say “the prettiest girl in school does not exactly go for the most dependable guy” – the same thinking applies when clients pick agencies.

So if you work in or with a shop that is perceived as highly creative, you are probably nodding your head.  But don’t get too comfortable. You may be in trouble.

Here is the trick. The medium is changing fast and what may appear similar to the uninformed simply is not. For example, writing for TV is actually quite different than writing for film. Selling in a new tagline is not the same as selling in a new business model.  And, lastly, designing a multichannel, interactive brand experience that is driven by a complex technology back-end is simply outside the scope of what an art director/copywriter team can concept over a few lattes.

Conceptual ideas are cheap and meaningless unless realized. How many times have you walked down the street and caught a new product or new business or a new campaign and said to yourself I came up with that years ago?  Don’t be mistaken; we do not get credit for what we doodled in our sketchbooks, or concepts on the whiteboard. Clients only give us credit for what we have done. The big idea is “real”.

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The downturn of many “once great” companies can be attributed to simple ignorance. This particular form of ignorance is a product of arrogance, the arrogance to think, “we make products or services that people want” when they never bothered to ask their customers if in fact the still wanted them.

Consider how the mighty have fallen. Not too long ago every corner Mom & Pop video rental shop was put out of business and replaced by a blue and yellow phenomenon called Blockbuster, there was one of these bad boys in every corner. Again not to long ago we can still picture these guys in their boardroom boasting about how they ruled the world. Then this little thing called NetFlix happened. They obviously did not see it coming, at least not until it was perhaps too late.

The point I want to make is that they should have. There is really no excuse. You don’t need a crystal ball for this, all you need to do is pay attention. Shifts in consumer behaviors don’t happen overnight, but you can always count on the fact people change.

Companies spend an ungodly amount of time and effort keeping tabs on what their competitors are up to. It’s amazing to me how little effort they actually spend understanding their customers.

This week was “bring you Son or Daughter to work” week. It occurred to me companies should institute a new holiday – and it should be scheduled everyday.

If I have not made my point here are a few more clues – The newspaper industry, the music industry, the airline industry, and buggy whips!

No more surprises  - declare today – “Take your customer to work day”

How many times in the past week have you heard the term “Mobile Media”, or “Mobile Advertising”? I have clients, analyst, and reporters ask me constantly. “Who’s your mobile media expert?”, “What percentage of my budget should go to mobile media?” – Silliness in my opinion.

Most marketers associate the term media with a medium to deliver or PUSH your advertising.  Basically if you see mobile as just another place for your ads, if you intend to include another line item in your media plan that says “mobile” – you have it all wrong.

Mobile is not media it is a point of interaction between a brand and a consumer. You may say well so is a TV spot, and that is media right? Not necessarily the key word here is interaction, and I mean the two-way kind.

Mobile, email, and even the good old telephone are amazing little tools to continue a conversation they should not be used as a medium to solicit one – that is called SPAM.

I can’t count how many times we are asked to “support our offline campaign online” – I get this, but my view (and maybe it is just semantics) it’s about driving an integrated brand experience. This week in a study conducted by Group M a subsidiary of WPP said online ad spending will surpass TV spend in the UK by next year. The forecast calls for UK Internet advertising revenues to hit £3.4bn this year. TV advertising, on the other hand, is expected to grow by less than 1 per cent to £3.56bn in 2008. And by 2009 the UK will see digital as the dominant channel.

Wait so does that mean finally the above the line agency will get that all to familiar call. “Guys we need you to come up with some of that TV and radio stuff to support our campaign” – never-say-never

I had my first ever glass of Johnny Walker Blue Scotch not long ago. Scotch is my drink of choice and I was excited at the prospect of trying what many have told me was going to be the best scotch I have ever had. And sure enough it was. The whole experience, from the feel of the weight of the glass in my hand to the warm flow of the scotch down my throat to the satisfying burn I felt as it passed into my system were all exactly what I had imagined. It was a great experience. And, it got me thinking. Mind you I only had one so it was definitely not alcohol induced thinking. I wondered whether it actually tasted that good because in fact it is that good or because I expected, and in fact my mind believed it was going to be that good. Of course, the answer is both. I was pre-conditioned toward a positive experience and the product delivered. So yes, the distillers, the packagers, and the distributors all did their job to create a positive experience for me. But of course so did the advertiser who pre-conditioned me for the experience. Advertising heightened my expectations and the product delivered. Exactly as it should be.

Of course this mental rambling got me thinking about brands in general. I thought about chocolate and then instantly of Hershey, I thought about high performance cars and then of BMW. Of family entertainment and then Disney. Of soft drink and then Coke. You get my drift. Think of the power of this. In the famous book “Positioning The Battle for the Mind of the Consumer” Al Reis and Jack Trout talked about the power of occupying space in the consumers mind. Owning a word, a concept, basically a brand. And as my stream of consciousness reminded me, once that brand sits in that space in ones mind it is very difficult to replace. Clearly a combination of factors contribute to my positive association with the brands I mention above, but advertising has to be top of the list. Multiple impressions served over a long period of time with great impact and I was hooked. In fact, I started thinking, all driven by that glass of scotch, that this was exactly why I got into advertising in the first place. To build brands and help clients own the hearts and minds of their consumers.

But then I was struck by the sobering thought (to carry the drinking analogy further) that at present I was not really in the advertising business. I am in the interactive advertising business and today there is a clear difference. Interactive agencies don’t own the brands, or more specifically are not chiefly tasked by brand managers to be the primary voice of the brand in the marketplace. Sure we get to express the brand in a given channel. But its kind of like the difference between leasing and buying. Traditional agencies own the car outright, it sits in the driveway fully paid for. Interactive shops may get to play with the car ,but it’s a short term lease and eventually you need to give it back. Interactive shops are experts. Need a web site built you go to an interactive shop. A banner campaign, we’re your guys. Need analytics work to better understand consumer behavior and our phones ring. Don’t get me wrong it’s great. As technology has advanced our industry has quite literally boomed. The things you can do now to target and then acquire and retain customers is absolutely staggering. In fact our industry is booming for good reason, our brand of advertising is highly effective and highly measureable. We can clearly tell clients that for every dollar paid this is what was returned. It is very satisfying, and I am proud of the work we do. But is it memorable? 

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