Morning meditation on a razor blade

Melbourne Herald Sun, Friday July 1, 2011

A mystical Hindu fakir will meditate in lotus position, sitting on a bed of sharpened nails. Personally, I do much of my meditation on the edge of a razor. Mind you, the blade is well protected by Mr Gillette’s inventiveness and it’s wielded on my chin rather than on my nether regions. But the deep state of contemplation is otherwise much the same.

It is the meditation of the shower, shampoo and shave, a half-hour of quiet, solitary time behind a closed door.

So the other morning I got thinking about you, and your business, and about your advertising and marketing. Specifically: why would you need an advertising agency?

As the cost pressures mount and the competition intensifies it's hard to justify that seemingly big-corporation luxury. Especially when it's so easy to do so much in-house.

Sure, an agency will handle the choice and placement of media, which involves knowledge and experience. But let’s face it, you could do it yourself - perhaps hire one or two extra staff, or pick up the phone for one of the excellent media services around.

No, there has to be more. There’s the marketing advice and assistance an agency offers, specialist knowledge in the advertising area. But then most medium-sized clients these days have several marketing graduates on staff who can draw up a marketing plan, and specialist information can be found from research. So that’s not it either.

In the end it comes down to one thing: the creative. The campaign that is going to stand out, the ad that is going to portray your product as never before, the phrase that will hook itself into a customer’s mind, the picture that makes your product irresistible. These are the fruits of creativity.

You can look at any publication - do it now, with this one - and you can tell the difference between the ads compiled by the client’s staff, or the commercial thrown together by the TV station, or the brochure produced by the printer - as against an ad created by a good advertising agency. There’s a professionalism, a gloss, a wit about the work of good agencies which stands head and shoulders above.

Creativity does not come easily. Many more people believe they have it than really do. The fact is that talent is not abundantly distributed. On top of this, the skills needed to produce highly polished advertising only come after many years of work and practice.

Being skilful with Photoshop places your products on the page, it does not create compelling advertising. An exchange that sounds witty in the office can be totally flat in the camera.

Of course there are the clients who would not know quality work if it grabbed them by the throat and throttled them. For such a client the ultimate and only criterion is price.

“Never mind the quality, show me the width!” they cry. Then there are those who know what they’re looking at, who appreciate creativity and artistry. Ah, these are the good clients to work for.

If you choose an agency, take a close look at the work they have done for others. Ask yourself, could these folk make a difference to me?

The work will need to increase your sales, or make your product look wonderful, or give it a truly professional edge. If the work is good enough, these criteria all follow each other. Insist on wonderful advertising - and then allow them to do it.

There, now for the after-shave and off to work.

ray@ebeatty.com