Good post from Marc Babej on what makes an agency "hot". Marc eschews the standard measurement of hotness as represented by Pat Fallon and instead asks:
But at the end of the day, the standard for “hot” should be rooted in
the only thing that really matters about advertising: its ability to
generate sales and/or justify margins. Who knows which is the hottest
ad agency by that measure? And even more importantly, are enough of us
asking?
I agree. Accomplishments like "gained market share", "increased
revenues", "dislodged industry leader", "increased margin", "increased
price", "decreased marketing budget" are missing from almost every award show or annual rankings when determining who’s "hot".
But Marc brings up a larger point. If you read Marc’s "Code Of Ethics" you will see Marc pledges to maintain client confidentiality including using client data in case studies or even releasing client names. A code we agree with. Most of our campaigns we cannot discuss and some of our best results cannot be made public due to confidentiality concerns. The last thing a client wants to see is his celebrity CMO and "hot" agency on the front page of Ad Week discussing successful strategies and tactics.
So the point here is that the most effective agencies and marketers are totally off the grid. They don’t show up in annuals, they don’t do the beauty contests. They win business in very subtle ways that never involve speculation or agency shoot-outs. They know how to tap on the right shoulder, at the right time with the right message. Babej is that kind of guy. But he’d be the last one to tell you.
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