About 15 years ago, before I had spent more than a couple of hours online, I got a call from a digital agency for a job as a copywriter. I was intrigued, as I almost always am, by things that are new, so I went over to the agency to have a chat.
Before I did, I talked to a wise friend of mine who handed me this insight. "Geo, the problem with the internet is that there's no hierarchy. No organizing principle. It's not like a book or even a magazine. Everything is equal."
I think about that today because I think the web's lack of hierarchy is hampering the development of digital agencies. What I mean by this is simple. Digital agencies will spend as much time, man-power (or human resources if you must) on developing work that will reach a few dozen people as they will on work that will reach millions.
An agency I know spent months and hundreds of hours creating a Face-schnook page for a particular client. To date, that page has 47 people who like it. Much like the You Tube videos posted for the same client whose views are in the low hundreds.
Wise advertising agencies, whether they're digital or traditional, would do well to, in the parlance of account people, "fish where the fish are."
In other words, spend the most time and effort on work that reaches the greatest number of people or the most important people.
That concept should not be hard to grasp.
