Advertising people live on their wits. Yet when it comes to business and especially our business model we are collectively witless. This is because there is something terribly wrong with our business model and the truth is we know it but do nothing about it.
We give ideas away on the cheap and recover the income by charging for implementation. Whereas good ideas seem mystically rare with an intrinsic (if hard to pin down) value, implementation is merely a branch of good project management charged by the hour. Herein lies our downfall. Project management is an admirable, but easily replicable, function, which means you can hone it, unbundle it like a production line and do it oh so much cheaper.
Well the cat’s well and truly out of the bag and procurement is beginning to show its claws, decoupling the art of idea creation from the craft of implementation, driving down the cost of the latter to the point where agencies just can’t compete.
The future business model will look something like this: agencies will do the high-end thinking, create a few templates and design-production hybrids will take that idea and turn it into the ads, direct marketing and digital assets that were once seen as part of the creative process, but are being reclassified as smart’ implementation.
Trust me, it is already happening on some consumer brands and it is only a matter of time before B2B gets the treatment. You can’t fight it. Agencies – even the biggest – are hopelessly outgunned by procurement professionals with a, sometimes, dubious grasp of the concept of negotiation.
All we can do is prepare for it. Start charging properly for your ideas and for heaven’s sake don’t chuck the IPRs away like a used syringe. They are instead the heady concoction of insight, inspiration and truth that build brand-permission and that’s all clients value.
Advertising people live on their wits. Yet when it comes to business and especially our business model we are collectively witless. This is because there is something terribly wrong with our business model and the truth is we know it but do nothing about it.
We give ideas away on the cheap and recover the income by charging for implementation. Whereas good ideas seem mystically rare with an intrinsic (if hard to pin down) value, implementation is merely a branch of good project management charged by the hour. Herein lies our downfall. Project management is an admirable, but easily replicable, function, which means you can hone it, unbundle it like a production line and do it oh so much cheaper.
Well the cat’s well and truly out of the bag and procurement is beginning to show its claws, decoupling the art of idea creation from the craft of implementation, driving down the cost of the latter to the point where agencies just can’t compete.
The future business model will look something like this: agencies will do the high-end thinking, create a few templates and design-production hybrids will take that idea and turn it into the ads, direct marketing and digital assets that were once seen as part of the creative process, but are being reclassified as smart’ implementation.
Trust me, it is already happening on some consumer brands and it is only a matter of time before B2B gets the treatment. You can’t fight it. Agencies – even the biggest – are hopelessly outgunned by procurement professionals with a, sometimes, dubious grasp of the concept of negotiation.
All we can do is prepare for it. Start charging properly for your ideas and for heaven’s sake don’t chuck the IPRs away like a used syringe. They are instead the heady concoction of insight, inspiration and truth that build brand-permission and that’s all clients value.
