BUT POSSIBLY NOT FAST ENOUGH – 3 OBSERVATIONS Around the world and in Australia in particular, advertising agencies are struggling to maintain profitability. Agencies of all shapes and sizes, even those with long traditions, are closing down. There is little doubt that the heady days of advertising agencies making people of questionable ability very wealthy, […]

BUT POSSIBLY NOT FAST ENOUGH – 3 OBSERVATIONS Around the world and in Australia in particular, advertising agencies are struggling to maintain profitability. Agencies of all shapes and sizes, even those with long traditions, are closing down. There is little doubt that the heady days of advertising agencies making people of questionable ability very wealthy, are over. Certainly, the days I remember when agency heads boasted about how much they paid their creative directors are well and truly over. There are many reasons for this, and none of them relates to the inability of clients to be able to afford the services in tough economic times. They include: the focus of agencies on creative ahead of strategy the demise of traditional media to which they are addicted the focus on awareness and brand ahead of behaviour While both are important, strategy will always be more important than creative, and the…