Integrity, one word most people in the ad industry can’t lay claim to. We sell things people don’t need; we make business decisions in the face of creativity. So often we fall on our knees hoping the client won’t fire us for whatever reason has struck their fancy that week. We aren’t do-gooders, we’re not particularly green, heck, most of us aren’t even that friendly to outsiders.
It pains me to admit all this. I always wanted to save the world. Instead, I’ve sold my soul and gone into the industry that does the exact opposite. Honestly though, I don’t regret it.
I got lucky. I started my career at CP+B in Boulder, interning at an agency that, unlike most agencies, has integrity. They try to do the right thing, because that’s how Alex Bogusky has brought up their corporate culture. They try to line up their beliefs with their creative (Bramo’s B-cycle, Plum Card’s initiative to help small businesses, Domino’s transparency). The agency stands up for their creative, for their people and for the good of society (as much as the industry allows them).
I remember one Town Hall last summer when I interned at CP+B, the partners announced that they wanted everyone to spend the day coming up with a solution to stop the BP oil spill. The result of that brainstorm wasn’t much, but Just the fact that tried, made us feel better about our job for that one day. There's integrity in that intension.
Today, from where I stand, CP+B is showing another sign of the principles Alex left behind. According to him, the agency is probably parting with BK because ‘they have too much creative integrity to do the work the new BK team is asking for.’ Where most agencies would bend over backwards to keep such a big client, CP+B shows us yet again that selling your soul is really not worth it after all.
It’s not okay to just be sell-outs. It’s not okay to go against your beliefs and let the creative suffer: it’s not okay to be agencies that have no backbone. It’s certainly not okay to sell things you don’t want to sell. There is a way to be a part of a better advertising industry. We have to make those decisions ourselves.
So here’s to integrity. May we all retain ours.
Cheers.
PS check out Alex Bogusky's blog on the topic. http://alexbogusky.posterous.com/the-king-is-dead
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The client-agency relationship is like dating. There needs to be mutual trust and respect. Without it, unfortunately, the relationship collapses. Same thing happened with Ikea. Putting an account on review is like "looking around in greener pastures" even though your partner is satisfying you. And how many of us like that? Would we sit around waiting for them?
ReplyDeleteI think all agencies should unite in this and make a stand against unfaithful clients. How should an agency trust a client if a client doesn't trust in the agency? As a student who's already had one terrible client, I've found that you begin to love the client's product or service as your own. You begin to really believe in it. When the client doesn't believe in you, it is really hard to reciprocate.
I think this is what every agency's response should be to clients that do not trust. Props to Alex for having the confidence to be able to tell them to take a hike!
Thanks for the post- integrity is definitely something that we often miss in this world- even beyond advertising.
So true. I think that agencies are partly to blame. If they don't stand up for their own people, and leave them to fall under client pressure, there's no way they'll push good work out there. That's a lose lose situation. Also, clients that don't trust their agencies are so not worth the trouble.
ReplyDeleteHi. You know, I wrote more than the first poster just now and I just deleted it all because yeah. I just wanted to say I agree with all your points Shivani, and your comment above too. Having interned at a small agency that puts creative integrity at the bottom of the list, I saw it from the opposite side you did and all the benefits and flaws are there. The thing about these agencies is they commonly misinterpret their "selling out" for "but..that's what the client wants and we can't afford to lose the account or we'll go out of business". To be honest, for small businesses, although still wrong, it is understandable why they view it that way; for medium and large agencies that can afford it though... ehhh lol
ReplyDeleteKudos for CP+B, as a large agency, for not sacrificing what they view as creative integrity for the new BK team.
ReplyDeleteTakes guts.
Looking at the other side of the coin for just a moment, I can't help but remember one of the things we learned at Seneca regarding creativity + advertising though: "It's only creative if it sells".
After reading Alex's blog talking about the ad press, I'm not sure about the accuracy of it but if BK sales were down for 6 quarters according to a link on Suzanne Pope's blog, the quote above has merit then.