So is it time to ditch the word ‘advertising’?

October 3rd, 2011 by Dave Birss,

A few months ago our illustrious Honorary Chairman wrote the following controversial little tweet:

“Which business are we in? If you think it’s advertising, you are in the wrong era.”

He’s right, of course. People in the younger parts of the industry have been trying to say a similar thing for years. But unfortunately their extremist cries of ‘advertising’s dead’ just made them sound like crazed urban evangelists predicting the end of days. And nobody likes these people.

The above statement, coming from a respected member of advertising royalty, holds a lot more weight. But it leaves us with some sticky questions. If we’re not in the business of advertising, what business are we in? If we can’t use the word ‘advertising’, what do we replace it with? If the word ‘advertising’ is defunct, are the advertising skills we’ve amassed similarly out-of-date?

Over the last year or so I’ve been talking to lots of agencies about where their future lies. I’ve found that a good way to do that is to ask them to define what their role should be without using that stinky ‘A’-word. And they’ve given me quite a spread of answers. So I thought it may be a good idea to share some of those with you here. I’ll try to present them without judgement (and probably fail). And then I’m going to ask you to share your own thoughts. Let’s get going.

“We’re a brand communications agency”

This is staying in comfortable territory. It’s taking the same core skills and resources and applying them to a broader range of media. It allows the agency to augment their core advertising channels and pick up a wider range of work. And nobody gets fired. Just yet.

“We’re a branded content agency”

I suppose the thinking behind this is that the agency’s core competencies are film and writing and print and design. The businesses are set up to plan that stuff, come up with creative executions and produce it. However, this is quite a significant change of focus. But it’s a change that doesn’t need a big restructure and doesn’t cause too much disruption or discomfort. The agency simply continues to use their current skills, structure, processes and staff. And the hope is that if content actually is king, that’s where the money lies.

“We’re an integrated/360/media-neutral/cross-media agency”

Agencies have been talking about this for years. The term changes from time to time but the approach doesn’t seem to. Typically the preachers of this message were below-the-line agencies hungry to get their teeth into sexier above-the-line work. Accepting that the idea can come from anywhere is a worthy ideal. But, to put it bluntly, the term ‘integrated campaign’ is usually shorthand for one where the same visual and headline is plastered across every media channel, regardless of how appropriate it is. This is a pretty simple option for an agency. But it needs to be done with a lot more intelligence than it has been to date.

“We’re an audience engagement agency”

Ooh! This is getting interesting. This option requires a far more fundamental shift in approach and thinking. Whereas the previous definitions focus on the brand, the agency or the media channels, this one focuses on the consumer. However, this probably requires a number of skills that aren’t found in the typical agency. It requires a different kind of brief. It requires a different kind of idea. And it probably requires a different kind of client.

“We’re a marketing solutions company”

See what’s happened here? We’ve taken a step up the ladder to be more generic and embrace the entire marketing gamut. The idea is that you work on the problem before the client divvies it up into the different marketing disciplines. Then you create the best solutions without the agenda associated with a particular channel. Then you either execute it yourself or farm the executions out to the specialists. Many clients will feel that you’re stepping on their toes. But it gives the opportunity for creativity and originality to be injected at the very start of the process, across everything, rather than within the single marketing silo of advertising. But what kind of agency would do this? And how would it be structured? And would your existing clients allow you that much power?

“F**k off! We do advertising. And advertising will live forever!”

OK, OK! Maybe you’re right. Just maybe.

Over to you

So, do any of these ring a bell? Is this something your agency has been looking at? Is it something you think your agency should be looking at? Do you see any other options? Have your agency successfully made a change that you’d like to brag about? Share it with the group.

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Dave Birss is a former Creative Director. He set up the digital categories for the Shark Awards in 2010. He now runs the advertising training company, Additive and hosts the Future of Advertising podcast. This is the first in a series of posts where he hopes to piss people off and create a few enemies.