Cheap is cheap.

Think of what we endure all to get the "lowest price."

Non-existent service.

Nuisance fees.

Horrible products.

No innovation.

Sales help that simply doesn't help.

This is what we get from cable companies (my internet saga continues), telcos, big box retailers, airlines, government agencies and more.

Not surprisingly, this is what clients too often get from ad agencies.

They've so squeezed us so to the bone that we've become adversaries not partners.

What I don't understand is that no one in any industry positions itself as "reassuringly expensive." Or, even slightly more expensive but worth the difference.

Ogilvy used to have the reputation of paying its creative people more. They got better people. And because their salaries were high, they were able to keep them. Clients understood that they were getting a qualitative difference. They were, for years, willing to pay more for that difference.

Today, everything is a race to the bottom. Who can answer the bell cheapest.

So you get cheap people.

Cheap thinking.

Cheap service.

Cheap results.

That's what we're paying for.