Oh dear! Is anyone paying attention?

Sigh. Read this article last week.

It's not the first time I've come across something similar to this. I've lost count the number of articles that have cropped up all over the place, all of them saying the same thing.

The old agency model is broken, big time. But is it beyond repair?
Many is saying that it's not, that it's just the matter of adopting new ways of doing things. But so far, what most agencies are doing are just adopting new tools of the trade, in which case, the new flavours of the century; digital, analytical and results-tracking capabilities.

When it comes to results-tracking, what this article is saying is that many ad agencies are not results-driven or do not have the necessary tools to track results.

Sigh, again. Admittedly, many agencies are still trying to re-live the 'good ol' days' when they can create expensive campaigns without any consequence, other than wasting client's money down the drain.

But that I think, applies to the traditional advertising scenario. All those print ads, TV and radio commercials, the outdoor medium...those that one can only guess at its efficacy.

But digital...that's where hope lies for agencies. Finally, a medium that an ad person can safely put hand on heart and say, "Mr. Client, you can use this and measure the results you want." And in real-time, too.

One can do that with CRM too, provided that the client is very clear in terms of the results they can measure. But then again, some clients don't get what CRM is all about. When they hear that CRM is measurable, they immediately think ROI and what it translates to sales. But CRM is not always used to garner sales.

Sigh...that's a whole other blog post.

So, is it doom and gloom for the advertising industry?  Let's see now.  I'm reminded by yet another article. It was quoted in that article "I start worrying about losing an account the minute I get it.” And this was in the 70s!

Agencies were worried back then and they're still worried now.  Maybe they should stop worrying and do something...and that something had better not be about coming up with pretty words and pretty pictures that don't sell anything but the agencies themselves in their self-glorifying quest for meaningless awards.

Whatever pressure that is being put on agencies these days are actually self-inflicting wounds. An agency cannot consciously go into this business saying that they're there to help clients build sales and end up doing something else that doesn't help sales at all.

But somehow, no one's paying attention in class.....again.