Funny but true

No work in progress

I'm sure you've heard by now about the agencies of Belgium going on virtual strike to protest the way that companies there handle the pitch process.

Agencies involved replaced their website with a letter explaining why the action had been taken.

Honestly what is the point? I mean, how often do clients look at agency websites? Not very I'd imagine.

The whole "strike" just seems a bit lame to me. In fact if they hadn't PR'ed the stunt I very much doubt that anyone would have noticed.

Farewell Freeman

Just heard one of my favourite little US agencies is shutting its doors. After more than 20 years Cliff Freeman & Partners has fallen victim to the GFC. They leave behind a body a charmingly clever work including this wonderful TV spot for Little Caesers.

Thinking inside the box

Fledgling Canadian agency Zulu Alpha Kilo found an interesting way to get their name out there while also demonstrating their creative abilities.

They put themselves in a white box.

Not just any white box mind you. There's was the size of a small bedroom and it was placed in a prominent public square in Toronto.

Posters across the town raised awareness. Driving people to the white box to submit their questions and problems to the agency staff within.

Reminds me a bit of the Yahoo Big Chair in Sydney a few years back. Although I think it takes that idea a step further.

Certainly beats most agency self promos I've seen. Click here to see some of the questions submitted and a couple of nice videos.

How many is too many?

How many agencies does the average brand need?

Ask an old school adman and he'll tell you just one.

Chances are these days it more likely to be a couple.

But I doubt anyone reading this could guess how many agencies Sony work with in the UK.

Believe it or not it's 130. And no that's not a typo!

Rumour has it Sony are looking to whittle those 130 UK agencies down to just a handful.

Carl Pring, head of UK brand and advertising, told Marketing magazine that Sony UK wanted "consistency in its marketing activities."

Given that Fallon do most of the high profile Sony work, what on earth do the other 129 agencies work on?

Emperor's New Clothes?

Does Australia really need another agency?

Yes. If they're going to be doing something new, amazing and never been done before.

No. If they use cliches like this:

“We are a new type of agency that goes beyond the world of advertising’s traditional media planning and buying dictate which is too often stuck in the old paradigm."

And how does a "new type of agency" announce their arrival down under?

Pavement stencils!

Kinda interesting me thinks. But not when they are supported by a rationale like this:

"Our targeted stencils go some way to support this point by challenging the accepted norms of targeting broad audiences “P25-54″ (all people aged 25-54) and the obsession of accountability by percentages such as 48.76% 2+ reach etc."

Far be it from little old me to tell a global media agency how to go about their business, but perhaps they might want to get a copywriter to look at their PR releases.

After all you can't be a "new type of agency" when you're peddling the same old corporate speak as everyone else.

Ad agency layoffs

As rumours fly about retrenchments and layoffs at ad agencies it was surely only a matter of time before someone started to cover the news.

Click here to follow their twitter feed.

What will you do next?

I got this from Kirsty. No idea who said it, but it makes for a very interesting read.

"...and I think it's the end that makes it worth starting, because the best reasons for starting in advertising are the countless opportunities you've made for yourself when you leave.

Adland may have lost much of its glamour and its preeminence in the pantheon of global creativity but it's still the best training you'll ever get for most of the things you might dream of doing.

It's like a gateway drug for interesting jobs; a never-ending, always-changing training scheme. You're constantly moving from one client, one problem, one opportunity, to another.

No project ever lasts that long, you rarely do exactly the same thing twice and you bump into all sorts of other experts, industries and professions.

Which means ad people have the best collections of odd and arcane jargon you'll ever come across, picked up from various clients.

But all this flitting from one thing to another isn't just pointless dilettantism, you're building up a tremendous body of experience; expertise in some broader creative endeavour.

You learn how to work with talented artists and monstrous egos. You're obliged to consider what everyone in the country might want and what a few CEOs and cabinet ministers might want.

You get good at explaining the complicated and the intangible to the unwilling and ill-informed. You come to understand the peculiar and different demands of images and words, briefs and ideas, traffic and production.

You find out when to brainstorm, whether to workshop and how to take things to the next level.

And, eventually, at some point, most advertising people take these ineffable, unteachable skills and go and do something else. They pursue some private passion or quieter life".

It ain't getting any easier

I was chatting with a young art director today who told me that their agency was going onto a 4 day week.

If you want my opinion, I think that's a good idea.

Sure everyone has to take a pay cut, but that's surely better for team spirit and moral than sacking people who are doing a perfectly good job?

When I got home I told my wife about it. She told me that a friend of hers had also gone onto a 4 day week.

Then in the B&T newsletter today I read that Ogilvy in Sydney had introduced a 9 day fortnight.

Advertising has never been an easy industry to crack.

And whether you're an aspiring creative or someone with plenty of experience this year may well be the toughest ever.

I'd really love to hear how you see this year panning out.