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So last week I got myself in a little hot water. Three of the biggest agency recruiters took issue with me going public on their attempts at recruiting me for their client agency. But that was minor compared with the poopstorm I stirred up from my client side readers.
They were really hot about my flippant attitude about agency "malpractice" and the havoc this is currently wreaking in global marketing organizations. In no uncertain terms, here is their beef.
Agencies talk about integrated customer communications(meaning talking to everybody the same regardless of the sales channel for a seamless brand personality). Clients are demanding integrated customer experiences (meaning talking and listening to everybody the same regardless of the sales channel or customer touch point for a seamless customer experience).
What clients want is way more difficult than what agencies are prepared to deliver. This shortfall is a serious issue to CMOs faced with higher performance demands for the same or lower marketing resources.
My friends on the client side took exception to my playful attitude about what was to them, a major breach of faith on the part of their so-called agency partners. "Self-indulgent creative." That was the term that came up the most in conversation. That and "completely out of touch with the customer's reality." Now I was quick to remind said client types that they were preaching to the choir. But they were having none of it.
"You agency guys all have your heads up your..." was their response, as if taking a breath before rushing in for the kill. I was damned by former association. "And guys like you are the last person some agency should be throwing their money away on," was how most of the responses netted out. Then, after that, they would blast me for not grasping the seriousness of the situation that product and services marketers are currently faced with.
First, there is the growing consumer backlash that comes from the 1.5 billion pieces of spam that clog mailboxes on a daily basis. Then there is the "everything is an advertising medium" syndrome that has created the clutter that consumers can no longer hide from. Bottom line. Nobody is listening. Billions in messaging and nobody to receive it.
I'D BE UPSET TOO IF I GAVE SOMEBODY A BLANK CHECK AND THE BEST THEY COULD GIVE ME IN RETURN WAS A STUPID CLIO STATUE.
Agencies are not doing their best to help clients build trust with their customers. Ask someone how they feel about buying on the web and the first thing they will say is, "Why don't I just toss my credit cards out of the window?"
Nobody believes that online merchants are not selling their data as soon as the transaction is done. That's a real problem, not---what color should the new logo be?
How does the customer experience the brand across a dozen or more channels in a manner that is both seamless and compelling? This is the part where most agency Art Directors go, "What channel is that? CBS or NBC?"
The day-to-day nightmares of being in charge of the marketing decision-making process have not been made easier by their agency relationships. Agencies are not generally asking if the clients really know who their customers are. They are not generally digging for an understanding as to the value those customers generate for the business. "Do you think we can get Joe Pytka?" is the kind of questions you generally get from the agency side.
So the clients are finally wising up and saying, Hell no." And they are finally taking matters into their own hands.
It is the clients and not their agencies that are taking the lead in cultivating customer relationships. Forget enhancing the creative. Screw refining the media mix. Clients have begun to understand that in the context of strained customer relationships, communications must now become invitational rather than intrusive. Intrusive just gets ignored.
"Messaging" no longer applies. "Dialogue" is what is being demanded. Permission-based and mutually beneficial is the name of this latest game and the agency is not even in the room when these decisions are being made.
I don't understand why most agencies have failed to realize that customer relationships are their client's strongest asset.
The agencies could have been in the driver's seat in building long-term customer equity and propelling brand profitability.
But, nooooo. You can't get to Cannes talking customer expectations. You can't make Creative Director on customer-centric marketing metrics. So while the agencies have been busy talking to themselves, their clients have taken to listening to their customers. Will the last person on Madison Avenue please turn off the lights.
Stay tuned.
For more of The Intern click here .