Sorry it’s been a few weeks since my last post… my family and I took some time to visit the great state of Maine…. specifically Bar Harbor, what a great place I highly recommend it for a relaxing and fun filled time.

That being said, I just viewed the latest 3-Minute Ad Age post from Brian Reich the author of “Media Rules” who believes the future of advertising is the elimination of ad agencies between clients and television stations.  He claims ad agencies get in the way and between the client and the television stations and somehow muddy the water in the messaging.

Now in all fairness, I haven’t had the opportunity to read Mr. Reich’s book so he might have some additional points which I’m not privy to, however, I do have some initial thoughts.

1. What Business Are TV Stations In?  Easy answer for me – to sell time to advertisers in order to cover costs of programming, salaries, utility, rent, etc. etc.  What’s left over is called profit and that usually goes to shareholders.  Yes, TV stations do unique programming things to keep the users engaged with the content or the commercials, so they do have a creative element.

2.  What Business Are Ad Agencies In?  This ones a bit more complicated but I’ll list the biggies…
1. Branding
2. Communications
3. Strategy
4. Program Development
5. Audience and Research Management
6. Media Buying/Planning and Idea Creation
7. Integration
8. Traffic Cop
9. Logistics
10. Events/Tradeshows
11. Forward Thinking
12. Oh, and that little thing called Creative

3. Who Should Do What?  I have news for Mr. Reich…. I meet with media folks all the time… guess what every single presentation says “we’re #1” – we beat our competition across the board and we know our audience.  And guess what…. each one of them is right, but it depends on the lens you look through. 

Agencies are a critical part of the entire marketing eco-system… I dare say that no TV network could produce the level of creative spots that Goodby Silverstein & Partners has for HP. 

I do agree with Mr. Reich that the customer is the most important part of the equation, but it’s the client who needs to manage the component parts to meet the goals of the company/campaign/initiative/communication.  Do we do it perfectly, heck no…but we’re trying like you wouldn’t believe.

To get another view of the topic, I’d suggest picking up a copy of “Kellogg on Advertising & Media” from Bobby Calder….I’ve spoken about it before, it’s a compilation of a number of business and academics who describe thoughts about the future.

I’ll leave you with this thought…. My Mom’s a pure Saint (I know everyone says it, but she really is) and I love her more than she’ll ever know.  She gave birth to 2 sons some 40 odd years ago, but that doesn’t make her qualified to take the place of a doctor and start delivering baby’s on the side.  I think we still need the ad agencies to help “birth” our strategy and marketing communications.

Love your thoughts on this….

Scott