How sad, the very first entry on Google. When a brand is linked to tragedy.
What a shame that something that (for us who were allowed to drink stuff with sugar and fake color a long time ago) was so iconic and happy, has such a sad legacy.
So it goes with your agency.
Drinking the Kool Aid®
I see it every day. I hear it all the time. If you’re in Advertising and you have a pulse, can hear or read, then you know that digital Is Where It’s At.
Digital is exciting. And it’s given a wide berth, both in consumption of client dollars and in agency resources.
The Adcontrarian calls out the questionable data, and the folks who worship it like the latest markdown at Filene’s Basement.
I agree with the Adcontrarian, because I too hear it every day and find it remarkable that intelligent folks actually buy in - hook, line and click-through - that because what they do is so important that following rules isn't for them.
I see it on the operational side, and it makes me wince.
I believe in the power of digital, mobile, viral – but advertising, whatever form (channel) used – it still has to sell stuff (eyeballs aren't conversions). And agencies that produce it have to make money so they can keep their doors open.
Your clients have to make money so they can pay you. If your digital wizardry doesn't work for them, then they go on to the next bestest Rainmaker. Basic business.
But digital is different, you say.
Yeah, and so are the people who do digital.
They run faster and jump higher than your average (traditional) ad team.
They have metrics, optics, engagement, conversations, insights, Big Data, on and on. (Frankly I can’t keep up with the language of digital.)
But what I can keep up with is this: you still have to run your agency as a business.
Yes you can have great strategy, planning, creative, execution and whatever else. But you have to know where things are at any given time; how much that project you just finished cost your agency (and you’re only worried about metrics for the client); how much more work you can bring on – and why you can do that.
I don’t usually drink Kool Aid®, but when I do, I drink cherry.
Now go forth, and create a profitable legacy.