Authors: Frazier, Mya mya@frazier.com
Source: Advertising Age; 6/7/2010, Vol. 81 Issue 23, Special Section p22-25, 4p
Document Type: Article
Abstract:
The article discusses the use of social media to target working women for advertising campaigns. Because working women spend less time in the home, advertisers are turning to the internet and social networking web sites to tout their products which are geared towards women. The article presents survey results which describe women's personal activities during work and their use of social media.
Sunday, 20 November 2011
Wednesday, 26 October 2011
Withstanding man's demands.
Authors: Herskovitz, Jon
Source: Advertising Age International; Jan2000, p27, 1/6p
Document Type: Article
AGENCY PRESIDENT
NAOE WAKITA
DENTSU EYE, TOKYO
[TOKYO] Naoe Wakita recalls too well the male chauvinism she faced in 1988 when she was appointed president of Dentsu Eye, a unit of the giant ad agency that specializes in marketing to women.
At one of her first client meetings, executives approached a male colleague, wrongly presuming he was the boss. Even after business cards were exchanged, several clients still did not acknowledge her as in charge.
"Clients always demand a man. Unless they change, then it will be tough for society to change as well as the advertising world," said Ms. Wakita, still one of Japan's few women in a boardroom
She started at Dentsu in 1964 and stood out as an award-winning copywriter. While most female workers at the agency quit when they got married and had kids, Ms. Wakita stayed on as she raised two children.
Today, Dentsu Eye has 57 employees, 55 of them women, frequently tapped from among Ms. Wakita's network and nurtured by her. With annual billings of $63.2 million and clients that include Revlon and Nestle, her unit has withstood the recent economic turmoil in Japan.
As is common in Japan, Dentsu Eye often shares clients with other agencies. Its strength is in redirecting male-conceived campaigns to get women to buy products. For example, Dentsu Eye recast a TV campaign its parent company created for a Nestle Japan ice coffee drink. The unit dropped an actress popular only with males in favor of stylish housewife characters, and sales increased.
"The major issue is the choice of talent and the scenario in which the product is used. Men and women have different views on these things and the head of the advertising department for most companies are male," Ms. Wakita said.
A founder of the Japan Women AIDS Association and a member of numerous government panels and advisory groups, Ms. Wakita said, "As I grow older I feel that I need to make some kind of contribution to my country. ... Unless women voice their concerns and thoughts, nothing will change."
Source: Advertising Age International; Jan2000, p27, 1/6p
Document Type: Article
AGENCY PRESIDENT
NAOE WAKITA
DENTSU EYE, TOKYO
[TOKYO] Naoe Wakita recalls too well the male chauvinism she faced in 1988 when she was appointed president of Dentsu Eye, a unit of the giant ad agency that specializes in marketing to women.
At one of her first client meetings, executives approached a male colleague, wrongly presuming he was the boss. Even after business cards were exchanged, several clients still did not acknowledge her as in charge.
"Clients always demand a man. Unless they change, then it will be tough for society to change as well as the advertising world," said Ms. Wakita, still one of Japan's few women in a boardroom
She started at Dentsu in 1964 and stood out as an award-winning copywriter. While most female workers at the agency quit when they got married and had kids, Ms. Wakita stayed on as she raised two children.
Today, Dentsu Eye has 57 employees, 55 of them women, frequently tapped from among Ms. Wakita's network and nurtured by her. With annual billings of $63.2 million and clients that include Revlon and Nestle, her unit has withstood the recent economic turmoil in Japan.
As is common in Japan, Dentsu Eye often shares clients with other agencies. Its strength is in redirecting male-conceived campaigns to get women to buy products. For example, Dentsu Eye recast a TV campaign its parent company created for a Nestle Japan ice coffee drink. The unit dropped an actress popular only with males in favor of stylish housewife characters, and sales increased.
"The major issue is the choice of talent and the scenario in which the product is used. Men and women have different views on these things and the head of the advertising department for most companies are male," Ms. Wakita said.
A founder of the Japan Women AIDS Association and a member of numerous government panels and advisory groups, Ms. Wakita said, "As I grow older I feel that I need to make some kind of contribution to my country. ... Unless women voice their concerns and thoughts, nothing will change."
Agency redefinition brings the walls down.
Authors: Wentz, Laurel
Source: Advertising Age International; Jan2000, p25, 3/8p, 1 Color Photograph
Document Type: Article
AGENCY CHIEF EXECUTIVE
M.T. RAINEY
RAINEY KELLY CAMPBELL ROALFE YOUNG & RUBICAM, LONDON
[LONDON] M.T. Rainey is an agent for change.
With three partners, she opened a London ad agency in 1993 that redefined the parameters of an agency's role and relationship with clients by charging them for creative, strategic ideas.
"We changed the way agencies were compensated," Ms. Rainey said. "The currency of ideas ramped up after we created debate around it."
Now the walls are coming down--literally--at Young & Rubicam in London following that network's acquisition last year of Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe.
"We're breaking down the departmental structure and flattening the hierarchy," said Ms. Rainey, 44, now joint chief executive of the merged agency. She's also the planning director, but having abolished separate departments, she doesn't use that tide.
>"She's a great leader," said Y&R Chairman Ed Vick. "What you need at the top is leaders, not managers or administrative people. It's not just that M.T. has great ideas about clients' brands. People want to follow her."
"We try to create rugby teams, not relay teams," Ms. Rainey said. "It's more about owning [a project] with the whole team, as opposed to passing a baton. So you can't say the planning's good, but the creative's not."
After five years, the Rainey Kelly agency was ready for an international move. And Y&R London hadn't lived up to its potential.
"We couldn't think up another five-year plan," she said. "We didn't have any capability to pitch for global or international business. It wasn't about growth per se. We didn't want to be excluded from a part of the market that's vibrant, challenging and growing."
Scottish-born, Ms. Rainey spent a decade at Chiat/Day, starting in 1983 as San Francisco-based head of account planning, one of the first to introduce British-style account planning in the U.S. market. In 1989, she moved back to the U.K. and opened the London office of Chiat/Day.
At Y&R, her influence is already reaching beyond London. Mr. Vick, for example, cited her role in a task force of planners from all over the world: "A lot of ways she's done it are being integrated in the planning that leads up to the creative product."
Source: Advertising Age International; Jan2000, p25, 3/8p, 1 Color Photograph
Document Type: Article
AGENCY CHIEF EXECUTIVE
M.T. RAINEY
RAINEY KELLY CAMPBELL ROALFE YOUNG & RUBICAM, LONDON
[LONDON] M.T. Rainey is an agent for change.
With three partners, she opened a London ad agency in 1993 that redefined the parameters of an agency's role and relationship with clients by charging them for creative, strategic ideas.
"We changed the way agencies were compensated," Ms. Rainey said. "The currency of ideas ramped up after we created debate around it."
Now the walls are coming down--literally--at Young & Rubicam in London following that network's acquisition last year of Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe.
"We're breaking down the departmental structure and flattening the hierarchy," said Ms. Rainey, 44, now joint chief executive of the merged agency. She's also the planning director, but having abolished separate departments, she doesn't use that tide.
"We try to create rugby teams, not relay teams," Ms. Rainey said. "It's more about owning [a project] with the whole team, as opposed to passing a baton. So you can't say the planning's good, but the creative's not."
After five years, the Rainey Kelly agency was ready for an international move. And Y&R London hadn't lived up to its potential.
"We couldn't think up another five-year plan," she said. "We didn't have any capability to pitch for global or international business. It wasn't about growth per se. We didn't want to be excluded from a part of the market that's vibrant, challenging and growing."
Scottish-born, Ms. Rainey spent a decade at Chiat/Day, starting in 1983 as San Francisco-based head of account planning, one of the first to introduce British-style account planning in the U.S. market. In 1989, she moved back to the U.K. and opened the London office of Chiat/Day.
At Y&R, her influence is already reaching beyond London. Mr. Vick, for example, cited her role in a task force of planners from all over the world: "A lot of ways she's done it are being integrated in the planning that leads up to the creative product."
Role model hopes to spark ad interest.
Authors: Koenderman, Tony
Source: Advertising Age International; Jan2000, p24, 1/6p, 1 Color Photograph
Document Type: Article
AGENCY LEADER
NOMA SIMAMANE
BLGK BATES, JOHANNESBURG
[JOHANNESBURG] As the first black woman to head a major South African ad agency, Noma Simamane is conscious she's an important role model in a business still dominated by white males.
"The main reason we don't have enough black people in this industry is that it's a career that is culturally foreign to people in the townships," said the new managing director of BLGK Bates. "We need to raise interest and awareness among black youngsters of the opportunities in advertising. But the process is a nonstarter if we don't provide a receptive environment within the ad agencies. That won't happen until you have people like me with authority, understanding, experience and clout," she said.
Ms. Simamane, 40, a divorced mother of four, sought a position in Unilever's IT department in 1983. Instead, she was offered one in research. After moving into brand management, Ms. Simamane transferred to Kenya as marketing manager for foods.
She joined B.A.T, BLGK Bates' biggest client, in 1995 and spent 18 months running a global project in the U.S. before returning to South Africa as marketing director.
In October, Ms. Simamane moved to Bates. She said her main task is to "create business partnership with clients. The agency should be seen as more than a supplier of a service. It has to work with the client to establish the best communications solutions for the brand. BLGK is a very solid agency, but it needs to raise its profile," she said.
Born and bred in Soweto, the huge black city adjacent to Johannesburg, Ms. Simamane said she finds it ironic that while most consumers are black, whites tend to dominate the marketing industry.
"Many of them don't have a real appreciation of black consumers who make up 85% of the market," she said. "Only when you know what the brand stands for in their minds can you can find the best communication hook."
Source: Advertising Age International; Jan2000, p24, 1/6p, 1 Color Photograph
Document Type: Article
AGENCY LEADER
NOMA SIMAMANE
BLGK BATES, JOHANNESBURG
[JOHANNESBURG] As the first black woman to head a major South African ad agency, Noma Simamane is conscious she's an important role model in a business still dominated by white males.
"The main reason we don't have enough black people in this industry is that it's a career that is culturally foreign to people in the townships," said the new managing director of BLGK Bates. "We need to raise interest and awareness among black youngsters of the opportunities in advertising. But the process is a nonstarter if we don't provide a receptive environment within the ad agencies. That won't happen until you have people like me with authority, understanding, experience and clout," she said.
Ms. Simamane, 40, a divorced mother of four, sought a position in Unilever's IT department in 1983. Instead, she was offered one in research. After moving into brand management, Ms. Simamane transferred to Kenya as marketing manager for foods.
She joined B.A.T, BLGK Bates' biggest client, in 1995 and spent 18 months running a global project in the U.S. before returning to South Africa as marketing director.
In October, Ms. Simamane moved to Bates. She said her main task is to "create business partnership with clients. The agency should be seen as more than a supplier of a service. It has to work with the client to establish the best communications solutions for the brand. BLGK is a very solid agency, but it needs to raise its profile," she said.
Born and bred in Soweto, the huge black city adjacent to Johannesburg, Ms. Simamane said she finds it ironic that while most consumers are black, whites tend to dominate the marketing industry.
"Many of them don't have a real appreciation of black consumers who make up 85% of the market," she said. "Only when you know what the brand stands for in their minds can you can find the best communication hook."
Creative baby steps.
Authors: Mills, Lara
Source: Marketing Magazine; 03/05/2001, Vol. 106 Issue 9, p12, 1/2p
Document Type: Article
It's time for the ad world to be pushed kicking and screaming into the 21st century
So Judy John's having a baby. Congratulations to her-but so what?, you might think.
Come April, when the joyous event takes place, John, who heads the creative department at Leo Burnett in Toronto, will, as far as we can tell, be the first chief creative officer in Canada to give birth while in that job. And this could have entirely positive implications for the ad business.
Trail-blazing is nothing new for the 30-something John. In 1994, when she was just 27 and already had a pile of prestigious creative awards to her credit, she left an associate creative directorship at Taxi Advertising & Design to start her own shop, Guerrilla TV, with Dave Medlock and the late Michael O'Reilly. Four years later she was named group creative director at Ogilvy & Mather, and in the fall of 1999 she left for Leo.
When John took the top creative post at Leo Burnett, she joined a small cadre of women CDs holding their own in a sector of the business still dominated by men. Some, like Nancy Vonk and Janet Kestin, O&M's co-CDs, and Karen Howe, CD at Due North Communications, were already moms when they gained their top titles.
What John's experience will show is that, if a woman so chooses, it's possible to have a baby, take a decent maternity leave and then go back to the demanding job of running a creative department and doing fab work. And that will be an achievement in an area of the business that is-subtly or not-so-subtly-still unwelcoming to women.
In 1998, O&M's Kestin wrote a column in these pages lamenting the fact that the ratio of men to women in most creative departments-four to one, according to her informal survey-hadn't changed since 1990. During her research, Kestin unearthed a chauvinist's treasure trove of supposed explanations for this statistic, right down to "I'd hire women if I could find any good ones."
Now, we can only hope that whoever said that is sitting somewhere alone and jobless, having far too slowly come to the realization that execs in media, packaged goods and, heck, even the auto industry have come to long before him: that women are just as able and as talented as men (though it pains me that I still have to spell that out).
With all else equal, could it be that some women are being overlooked for creative advancement because they have the ability to have kids? I remember one senior female creative telling me that she wasn't even considered for the top job at her shop several years ago because her superiors-and, yes, they told her this-figured she'd probably want to start a family soon, given that she'd been married for a few years. Fortunately for the agency in question, this woman opted not to call her lawyer.
This is insidious stuff. No one wins when a woman is denied opportunities just because she has a uterus. This type of thinking also ignores a couple of important facts: some women, married or not, never have children; and many men also leave jobs unexpectedly, for all sorts of reasons. But no matter how sensitive, child-loving and enlightened a guy is, no one's ever going to look at him in an interview and think: Hmmm. Wonder when he wants to be a daddy?
It's the height of paternalism when a woman is denied the right to choose whether or not to take a job based on someone else's assumptions about her priorities in life. Judy John got to make that choice on her own, and her employer is the better for it. Hopefully, other young women and the industry as a whole will view John's decision as a sign that creative advertising and babies do, indeed, mix.
Sure, John's six-month maternity leave poses a challenge for Burnett, as it does in any business. But with two associate CD teams stepping up to the plate and Burnett president and CEO Jim McKenzie pinch-hitting when necessary, they'll manage. And for McKenzie, it's a no-brainer. "If you want to encourage and grow talented women in your organization, then you have to be prepared to have maternity leaves. It's just as simple as that," he says. "You don't have to think that your career is limited because of the fact that you want to have children."
~~~~~~~~
By Lara Mills rd ek
Source: Marketing Magazine; 03/05/2001, Vol. 106 Issue 9, p12, 1/2p
Document Type: Article
It's time for the ad world to be pushed kicking and screaming into the 21st century
So Judy John's having a baby. Congratulations to her-but so what?, you might think.
Come April, when the joyous event takes place, John, who heads the creative department at Leo Burnett in Toronto, will, as far as we can tell, be the first chief creative officer in Canada to give birth while in that job. And this could have entirely positive implications for the ad business.
Trail-blazing is nothing new for the 30-something John. In 1994, when she was just 27 and already had a pile of prestigious creative awards to her credit, she left an associate creative directorship at Taxi Advertising & Design to start her own shop, Guerrilla TV, with Dave Medlock and the late Michael O'Reilly. Four years later she was named group creative director at Ogilvy & Mather, and in the fall of 1999 she left for Leo.
When John took the top creative post at Leo Burnett, she joined a small cadre of women CDs holding their own in a sector of the business still dominated by men. Some, like Nancy Vonk and Janet Kestin, O&M's co-CDs, and Karen Howe, CD at Due North Communications, were already moms when they gained their top titles.
What John's experience will show is that, if a woman so chooses, it's possible to have a baby, take a decent maternity leave and then go back to the demanding job of running a creative department and doing fab work. And that will be an achievement in an area of the business that is-subtly or not-so-subtly-still unwelcoming to women.
In 1998, O&M's Kestin wrote a column in these pages lamenting the fact that the ratio of men to women in most creative departments-four to one, according to her informal survey-hadn't changed since 1990. During her research, Kestin unearthed a chauvinist's treasure trove of supposed explanations for this statistic, right down to "I'd hire women if I could find any good ones."
Now, we can only hope that whoever said that is sitting somewhere alone and jobless, having far too slowly come to the realization that execs in media, packaged goods and, heck, even the auto industry have come to long before him: that women are just as able and as talented as men (though it pains me that I still have to spell that out).
With all else equal, could it be that some women are being overlooked for creative advancement because they have the ability to have kids? I remember one senior female creative telling me that she wasn't even considered for the top job at her shop several years ago because her superiors-and, yes, they told her this-figured she'd probably want to start a family soon, given that she'd been married for a few years. Fortunately for the agency in question, this woman opted not to call her lawyer.
This is insidious stuff. No one wins when a woman is denied opportunities just because she has a uterus. This type of thinking also ignores a couple of important facts: some women, married or not, never have children; and many men also leave jobs unexpectedly, for all sorts of reasons. But no matter how sensitive, child-loving and enlightened a guy is, no one's ever going to look at him in an interview and think: Hmmm. Wonder when he wants to be a daddy?
It's the height of paternalism when a woman is denied the right to choose whether or not to take a job based on someone else's assumptions about her priorities in life. Judy John got to make that choice on her own, and her employer is the better for it. Hopefully, other young women and the industry as a whole will view John's decision as a sign that creative advertising and babies do, indeed, mix.
Sure, John's six-month maternity leave poses a challenge for Burnett, as it does in any business. But with two associate CD teams stepping up to the plate and Burnett president and CEO Jim McKenzie pinch-hitting when necessary, they'll manage. And for McKenzie, it's a no-brainer. "If you want to encourage and grow talented women in your organization, then you have to be prepared to have maternity leaves. It's just as simple as that," he says. "You don't have to think that your career is limited because of the fact that you want to have children."
~~~~~~~~
By Lara Mills rd ek
Industry must now make work choice.
Source: Campaign (UK); 5/17/2002, Issue 19, p22, 2/5p
Document Type: Article
In this week's Campaign Essay, Christine Walker acknowledges she makes an unlikely chairperson of a committee investigating how the industry can stop its best talent from straying by offering more opportunities to better balance life and work.
The Walker Media founder has made the kind of sacrifices few other woman would have been prepared to tolerate in her rise to the top of an all-consuming and male-dominated business. And she seems to have been fortunate to have an understanding husband and tolerant children. Not many other women in advertising have been as fortunate. The industry has long forced them to make brutal choices between either letting down their employer or neglecting their families — and to feel guilty when, inevitably, they're unable to satisfy both.
A lot of this is down to an over-supplied, intensely competitive and demanding industry which fears to admit to clients that all its staff aren't at their perpetual beck and call. Indeed, it's unlikely any agencies contesting a significant piece of drinks business protested very loudly recently when the client asked for presentations on Bank Holiday Monday!
Yet, as Walker points out, women have merely been the pioneers in what is now a social issue touching advertising's entire workforce — both female and male. And it's something the industry must either address or watch its talent pool dry up. It's not just a question of money, but more to do with the life choices and the opportunities to taste new experiences now available to young people. They're helped by a new attitude of mind which allows them to flit to a new job as soon as the old one fails to stimulate. At the same time, new fathers want to be with their children as they grow up, not wait until they've retired and the kids have flown the nest.
The industry has never offered jobs for life. But bright young things entering the business usually expected to spend their working lives in it. That's no longer the case as the most talented may not just switch jobs but careers also. The industry will always have workaholics such as Walker, but it will also have to incentivise the growing number of staffers who have a different view about what quality of life means. To borrow and adapt an old ad slogan: It must never forget they have a choice.
Phillipson has his regional work cut out
Of course, one way of readjusting your work-life balance is to sell up in Barnes and head north. But there's a price to be paid. Northern agencies find it difficult either to attract good staff from London or stop their best talent gravitating to the capital. What's more, they're willing to take on small-scale assignments London shops would neither wish to do nor could make money on.
Mike Phillipson, the former Time Computers marketing director, reckons his Leeds-based start-up can break the mould by offering London quality from out-of-town. Let's hope he's got deep pockets.
Document Type: Article
In this week's Campaign Essay, Christine Walker acknowledges she makes an unlikely chairperson of a committee investigating how the industry can stop its best talent from straying by offering more opportunities to better balance life and work.
The Walker Media founder has made the kind of sacrifices few other woman would have been prepared to tolerate in her rise to the top of an all-consuming and male-dominated business. And she seems to have been fortunate to have an understanding husband and tolerant children. Not many other women in advertising have been as fortunate. The industry has long forced them to make brutal choices between either letting down their employer or neglecting their families — and to feel guilty when, inevitably, they're unable to satisfy both.
A lot of this is down to an over-supplied, intensely competitive and demanding industry which fears to admit to clients that all its staff aren't at their perpetual beck and call. Indeed, it's unlikely any agencies contesting a significant piece of drinks business protested very loudly recently when the client asked for presentations on Bank Holiday Monday!
Yet, as Walker points out, women have merely been the pioneers in what is now a social issue touching advertising's entire workforce — both female and male. And it's something the industry must either address or watch its talent pool dry up. It's not just a question of money, but more to do with the life choices and the opportunities to taste new experiences now available to young people. They're helped by a new attitude of mind which allows them to flit to a new job as soon as the old one fails to stimulate. At the same time, new fathers want to be with their children as they grow up, not wait until they've retired and the kids have flown the nest.
The industry has never offered jobs for life. But bright young things entering the business usually expected to spend their working lives in it. That's no longer the case as the most talented may not just switch jobs but careers also. The industry will always have workaholics such as Walker, but it will also have to incentivise the growing number of staffers who have a different view about what quality of life means. To borrow and adapt an old ad slogan: It must never forget they have a choice.
Phillipson has his regional work cut out
Of course, one way of readjusting your work-life balance is to sell up in Barnes and head north. But there's a price to be paid. Northern agencies find it difficult either to attract good staff from London or stop their best talent gravitating to the capital. What's more, they're willing to take on small-scale assignments London shops would neither wish to do nor could make money on.
Mike Phillipson, the former Time Computers marketing director, reckons his Leeds-based start-up can break the mould by offering London quality from out-of-town. Let's hope he's got deep pockets.
Collaboration can help sell creativity.
Source: Campaign (UK); 2/7/2003, Issue 6, p16, 1/5p
Document Type: Article
One of the most depressing shortcomings of Britain's ad industry has been its failure to translate fine words into action on too many fundamental issues. For years, its most enlightened voices have spoken out about how badly the odds are stacked against women trying to rise through the creative department ranks. Indeed, Peter Souter put the matter at the top of his agenda during his recent D&AD presidency.
Now new IPA census figures show how righting such scandalous wrong is like pushing water uphill. For all the good intentions, 87 per cent of art directors and 80 per cent of copywriters are men. It doesn't auger well for the declared intent of D&AD's president-elect, Nick Bell, to commit the organisation to a programme of educating young clients on how to buy creativity.
That's not to say Bell's initiative doesn't deserve to succeed. Far from it. Years of under-investment in education and training has not only resulted in a growing number of nervous young marketers but agency staff who don't inspire the confidence to help them make their decisions. Hardly surprising that creative ideas get strangled at birth, research results become an unhealthy prop and the instinct to play it safe is overwhelming.
There are a number of reasons for this. One is that clients can call on all sorts of outside advice when buying other marketing services, such as media. But, when it comes to creative work, they're often left to make a leap of faith. Other causes are more historic. Gone are the days when agency and client staff learned each other's ways through regular job swaps. A brutal economic climate and fewer numbers of long-term relationships between agencies and clients scuppered that. And what happened to the practice of agency staff meeting monthly to watch and discuss a reel of the latest TV work?
Bell will be only too aware that his initiative must not be interpreted by clients as ad industry arrogance. For the truth is that the best creative work will always be a collaboration between agencies and clients. At present, the shortcomings of both sides mean not enough such work is being produced. For their part, clients need to be weaned off their over-reliance on research. But that cannot happen until the industry rediscovers a collective passion for its creative product. If agencies don't show it, how can they expect their clients to do so — or to have the confidence to buy?
Document Type: Article
One of the most depressing shortcomings of Britain's ad industry has been its failure to translate fine words into action on too many fundamental issues. For years, its most enlightened voices have spoken out about how badly the odds are stacked against women trying to rise through the creative department ranks. Indeed, Peter Souter put the matter at the top of his agenda during his recent D&AD presidency.
Now new IPA census figures show how righting such scandalous wrong is like pushing water uphill. For all the good intentions, 87 per cent of art directors and 80 per cent of copywriters are men. It doesn't auger well for the declared intent of D&AD's president-elect, Nick Bell, to commit the organisation to a programme of educating young clients on how to buy creativity.
That's not to say Bell's initiative doesn't deserve to succeed. Far from it. Years of under-investment in education and training has not only resulted in a growing number of nervous young marketers but agency staff who don't inspire the confidence to help them make their decisions. Hardly surprising that creative ideas get strangled at birth, research results become an unhealthy prop and the instinct to play it safe is overwhelming.
There are a number of reasons for this. One is that clients can call on all sorts of outside advice when buying other marketing services, such as media. But, when it comes to creative work, they're often left to make a leap of faith. Other causes are more historic. Gone are the days when agency and client staff learned each other's ways through regular job swaps. A brutal economic climate and fewer numbers of long-term relationships between agencies and clients scuppered that. And what happened to the practice of agency staff meeting monthly to watch and discuss a reel of the latest TV work?
Bell will be only too aware that his initiative must not be interpreted by clients as ad industry arrogance. For the truth is that the best creative work will always be a collaboration between agencies and clients. At present, the shortcomings of both sides mean not enough such work is being produced. For their part, clients need to be weaned off their over-reliance on research. But that cannot happen until the industry rediscovers a collective passion for its creative product. If agencies don't show it, how can they expect their clients to do so — or to have the confidence to buy?
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