11.11 9:17

Why are we so bad at selling ourselves?

The recent toe-curling self-promotional rap film from Sapient Nitro has traveled
‘round the business like wildfire: “Working hard day and night and coming up with
big things” is just a sample of the lyrical flow that won’t be giving Eminem any
sleepless nights.

But before we all start sniggering into our five-year plans, let’s consider this: why is it that an industry dedicated to marketing is generally so bad at marketing itself? The evidence is everywhere: terrible ads in trade mags that betray not an ounce of the wit and invention that we’d routinely lavish on our clients. The tendency to create points of differentiation by inventing laughable descriptors for what we do (“idea engineers,” “imagineers” and “opportunity agents” for crying out loud!). Not to mention the agency websites that are so gnomic you’re left wondering what basic skills or services are
on offer.

Is it just a case of “communication fatigue”? That we’ve been so busy tending to our clients’ brands that we’ve exhausted the energy to do justice to our own? Or is it that, in trying to avoid coming off as too arrogant and boastful, we end up with the opposite problem – being too vague and wishy-washy.

Maybe it’s time to try something new. Here’s an idea: why don’t we do an old-fashioned skills exchange and ask other agencies to pitch for a chance to do our marketing while we return the favor?

Imagine the advantages. You’d lose the numbing familiarity that comes with working in a place every day and free up someone to look at your brand with fresh eyes. You’d have agencies really straining to deliver the creative goods because no one wants to look stupid in front of their peers. You’d have planners honing the agency proposition with the precision of Swiss watchmakers. You’d create some interesting inter-agency relationships that aren’t just built on competition and mutual suspicion.

There’d be no issue of confidentiality – everything you share is notionally going to end up in the public domain anyway. And, who knows, it might even give agencies a greater appreciation of what it means to be in a client’s shoes.

In the time-honored advertising fashion, it’s even a great excuse to create another awards scheme.

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