Advertising: Who Cares? Altogether Now

Or last week the ad tech giants along with a number of circling bankers and assorted money men came together in Cannes to celebrate the takeover of the ad business by a combination of machines and mathmenRegardless of which Cannes you were at I was at neither the ad business is not in a good place An industry built around creativity in the broad sense and the application of creative thinking to solve clientsamp8217 business problems is being reduced to number chasingThe issues we face are manyItamp8217s hard to recruit the brightest to an industry many find hard to define and frankly rather boringItamp8217s tough to explain how true objectivity in client recommendations can sit alongside the deals buyers make with media and tech vendorsItamp8217s not easy to make the case for access to boardrooms and for higher fees at a time when advertising effectiveness is confused with online metrics that are neither consistent nor independently verifiedItamp8217s hard to persuade a client to trust you when certain behaviours are questioned across so many dimensionsIt is uncomfortable for marketers to justify putting more and more of their budgets into media forms that are not only largely devoid of professional content but who also take no responsibility for what appears And to do so at a time when independent journalism is under threatNone of these things are easy amp8211 and what makes it harder is the lack of openness in discussing them The worry is that key players might withhold their favours or worse from anyone daring to open up a discussion Itamp8217s a strange and insecure business that cannot take criticism without resorting to insults and threatsA couple of months ago Nick Manning and I decided to try to do something about this state of affairsIt started with a blog post Advertising Who CaresSince then we have been amazed at the level of support whilst noting how some have misinterpreted our intentionsThis is what weamp8217re trying to doWe would like to make advertising and the advertising industry better for everyone We are seeking solutions and ideas to help make this happenWe believe in good advertising Creatively what constitutes amp8216good advertisingamp8217 is largely subjective but there are some pretty uncontroversial definitions Good advertisingEngages informs is relevant and responsibleIs respectful of its audience39s time attention and privacyIs accountable and effective in building businessContributes positively to the economyDoes not bombard the public and is not excessively intrusiveIs welcomed or at worst tolerated by the publicFunds high quality content including high quality journalism which in turn provides a suitable environment for advertisingDoesnamp8217t harm the environmentAchieving these things requires care and the application of craft skills in the content of the ads their placement and in their evaluationWe believe in an advertising industry that uses these craft skills to make the advertising experience better for those buying it clients for those selling it media vendors and crucially for those consuming it the publicTo do this the ad industry has to be accountable transparent and responsible and to be seen to be all of those thingsIt needs to treat its people and the skills they bring to bear with respectIt needs to appreciate that the cheapest deal is not always the best thing for the client 50 off the wrong thing does not suddenly turn the wrong thing into the right thingWe need to go back to providing employment with enjoyment If we continue as now we simply wonamp8217t attract talented peopleWe need business models that reward success not just that pay for the distance travelled We are skilled consultants not taxi driversThe large agencies are a critical part of this industry They have more interest in its success than anyoneThey know as well as anyone that there are many issues faced by the industry One fascinating aspect of the Who Cares initiative has been the number of people mailing us from the holding companiesamp8217 media agencies and from large vendors supporting us agreeing with our ambition and wishing us well whilst at the same time asking us to keep their names out of what weamp8217re doingWe are delighted to have them and to respect their request but at the same time we think it sad that they feel the need to do thisThe Who Cares effort crystallises at our launch event on September 12th in London at the RSAOver the past weeks we have established five workstream topics each with a highprofile and respected leader and each open to supporters to join and contribute On September 12th weamp8217ll hear their positive creative suggestions as to how to improve across all five topic areasWe will also hear from creative and media agency leaders and from clientsThereamp8217ll be no whinging no fingerpointing no apportioning of blame We all know the issues what we are looking for are solutionsThereamp8217ll also be no sponsorship amp8211 we aim for an open discussion without fear or favourOf course one event wonamp8217t fix it We hope weamp8217ll start various balls rolling towards our aim to make the industry a better placeIf youamp8217re interested in what weamp8217re doing if you want to join us on the day or if you would just like to be kept informed as to what happens next you can find all details on our website wwwadvertisingwhocaresorgWe need to come together to fix the industry We wonamp8217t do that by fighting amongst ourselvesIt really is a matter of amp8216altogether nowamp8217Posted at MediaVillage through the Thought Leadership selfpublishing platformClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillageorgMyersBizNet

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Advertising: Who Cares? Altogether Now

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Brian Jacobs

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