This tidbit from the Black Star Rising blog (the very cool blog of the Black Star photo agency) suggests ad agencies are lagging more than a little bit in the online department:
Consider this little story told by Jan Leth, executive creative director of OgilvyInteractive North America. The agency was assigned by Six Flags to do a promotion for the amusement park’s 45th anniversary. “They wanted to give away 45,000 tickets for opening day to drive traffic. So we got a brief to do whatever: ads, microsite, whatever.” While the creative people were trying to plan the project, the creative director went off and posted the ticket giveaway on Craigslist.
“Five hours later, 45,000 tickets were spoken for,” Leth said. “No photo shoot. No after-shoot drinks at Shutters,” and with some irony he continued, “Now, the trick is, how do we get paid?”
The last line is central to the problem: “How do we get paid?”
It’s one thing to charge a bazillion dollars for a sexy broadcast campaign. And yet another to get paid for simple online tasks — even those offering significant ROI.
How much can an agency charge for an activity the marketing director’s 12 year-old son could do?
And for that matter, how much can I charge a client for a handful of short blog entries — that could have a bigger impact on revenues than a $10,000 trade ad?
Marketing’s being turned upside down, and those who aren’t fast on their feet will end up standing on their heads.
[tags]black star, advertising[/tags]
Tom, what a great post. How is it that people forget they’re a part of the human race when they get employed by a big ad agency? How could they forget that we’re savvy, commercially exhausted, yet consuming humans?
Where do you go to get good deals? On the back of a bus? A billboard? TV? Seems to always come back to two things: permission and access.
Certainly makes room for guys like you, Tom. And here we are again with “small is the new big.”
Lisa: It seems clear that the rise of “The People’s Media” represents a challenge to agencies, who are used to doing all the talking (but little listening) through media channels reserved largely for their use.
I think we should all stay tuned for more.