My rap against digital agencies is one borne from experience. I think, generally speaking, they engage in tools and tactics, not brand stewardship. Brand stewardship has traditionally been the province of traditional agencies. And despite the decline of those agencies, they still seem to have a) the bulk of marketing revenue under their roofs and b) a seat closest to the CEO or CMO.
If I ran a digital agency I would take out a full page ad in various national newspapers. The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, maybe US Today and The Washington Post. It would read.
Dear President Obama, we will build your website.
We have built hundreds for the biggest companies in the world.
Websites that have built brands and businesses and sales.
Websites that function seamlessly, intuitively and without a hiccup.
Websites that are smart, self-improving and secure.
We've built them on time and on budget.
We can do it for you.
In fact, if we can't build one for Obamacare in six weeks, we'll do it for free.
Call me.
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My guess is the government wouldn't call.
But you'd get some new business out of it.
4 comments:
I love the irony of a digital agency having to run traditional media to get business. It's positively scrumptious.
Excellent advert, though. Good thinking.
@Cecil B. DeMille -- it occurs to me that part of the reason traditional media still gets attention in some ways is cost. Anyone can send out a free tweet. And indeed, many do, so it gets lost in the millions and millions.
But not everyone can afford to run a full-page ad in the NYT. That grabs attention, and shows the world you're serious.
~Graham
There's no digital equivalent of a "double truck with gutter."
No real big space ads that grab attention.
No "money where your mouth is."
@Graham
I think the reason traditional media costs something is because, by and large, people pay attention to it. We know it works. It has for years. When it doesn't, it goes away.
In this case, as in many, you get what you pay for. Every client is looking for a home run ball but they don't want to buy a ticket to the game.
The same argument can be made for creative. The rise of crowdsourcing was driven, in my opinion, by cheapness and trendiness and the misguided idea that consumers mostly give a rat's ass about brands.
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