The best advertising is not advertising

By Shaun Abrahamson on June 3, 2009

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Last week, I had the unique opportunity to visit BBH and participate in a session hosted by Sir John Hegarty. Sir John described 10 reasons why he believes this is the best time to be in advertising.

Thankfully, right at the start, Sir John pointed out that the best advertising is not advertising. And this is likely one of the challenges for agencies, since it means that many many other companies are doing things that dont look or feel like advertising, but get results like better awareness and ultimately more sales.

So after dwelling on the “best advertising is not advertising” for a bit, this is what I came away with.

1. Agencies can innovate - Ok. They can, but they dont always. And this is likely the problem for many. If you get paid for selling media, what is your incentive to try things that dont involve selling media? So yes, they can, but the incentive is still “to not to”. One last thing – non-agencies can innovate too, which is where the competition is coming from.

2. Agencies can create media opportunities – which means they can be publishers. I love this. But how do publishers feel? I guess they become agencies? The BBH example was Audi TV. Brands creating content? Expect to see lots more of this – Audi TV sets a pretty high production bar.

3. Agencies can create programming – yes they can.

4. Agencies creativity can be the media – lots of data to support this. Some of the top viral content is professionally produced…ADVERTISING. Interesting. But there need not be any media buying (do you sense a media buying trend here?).

5. Agencies can persuade clients to be brave – I love the example used to make the point. If you are skiing too fast, your instinct is to lean back, when you should lean forward. Or more simply – instinct can be bad for your health. Rather than the traditional focus group, agencies now have so many new ways to test. In fact, Google built a business on this idea – keep throwing ideas out to see which ones work. It seems like the demand for new ideas has never been greater because you can test so easily and figure out which ones are working. Maybe this isnt about persuasion but about being persuaded by data. Dr Ken makes this point rather well.

6. Agencies can tackle growing social issues – the largest advertiser in the UK, is the government. BBH does not shrink from difficult subjects – interestingly one of their ads was so shocking it received a record number of complaints in the UK.  But it was not pulled because it was deemed in the public good.

7. Technology can be a spur to creativity – now more than ever. Amen.The challenge is – where are all the creative technical people likely to go? Its not clear agencies have made a case for themselves to be in the consideration set.

8. Agencies can expand their influence with clients. Integration is vital. In a state of flux, where assumptions need to be tossed and new ones created, its never been more important to be closer to the business. So how do you do this?

9. Agencies can invent products. This may be my favorite part of the discussion. Agencies like BBH are dipping a toe in. RGA created Nike +. CPB has taken equity positions and worked with start-ups like Method Products.

The agency as Venture Capitalist? Why not?

Great agencies are in the insight business and so this should position them perfectly to sport new business opportunities, not just opportunities for existing businesses. Further, most statups raise money in large measure for “communication” (new product launch, growth, etc). Agencies seem very well positioned to start with the communications plan and then work with partners to get the product/service/experience delivered.

10. Use the recession to be more creative. Or die trying.

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