Well, it all depends really. Ad agencies get hired based on their reputation. And their reputation is based on the types and number of awards they have won.
And they haven't won the awards for the improvement they made in their clients' businesses.
Oh, No.
They've won their awards based on how creative their portfolios look.
No one has ever asked the executives...
"Based on specific success indicators that you track here in the boardroom, how has this ad contributed to your company's success?"
You know what?
The executives are likely to blush, admitting the mistake of hiring the agency. Then, if you push them, they will mumble something barely hearable.
Case in point: The "Got Milk" campaign has won multiple awards. But ever since the ad started multiple millions of people have quit drinking milk because they've realized that the dubious white cocktail of chemicals labeled "milk" can only send them to an early grave.
But the ad agency that has created GOT Milk is blazingly successful due to the awards.
So, if this is the case how most ad agencies get successful, it's obvious that they are not exactly on their clients' sides. That there is a clear conflict of interest between what you and they want to get out of your project.
You hope for improved business. They hope for the next creative award.
And you the client are the play ground to achieve it. So, essentially you're funding the next award they're working towards, usually at your expense.
If you can stomach that, that's fine.
But...
Does that mean that I believe agency writers can't write? No. They can write all right.
But the question is this: Can they sell?
It's one thing to be creative in print and another to sell in print.
After all, copywriting is selling, isn't it?
In the early 20th century, in the age of Jack Kennedy, Claude Hopkins and John Caples, and later David Ogilvy, copywriting was about helping clients to make money. That is, to make sales.
Well, hell, selling. Then this notion has got distorted over the years to award collection.
As we know from Jack E Kennedy...
Firstly, copywriting is salesmanship in print. That is, every sales letter or web page is a disembodied salesperson.
Secondly, copywriting is salesmanship multiplied. That is, every sales letter can be reproduced thousands of times and sent to thousands of prospects.
I'm a writer and I work on my clients' side of the table.
I walked in their shoes for 16 years, so I can understand what they're going though when they make decisions to buy something expensive and very important to their companies.
That's why my work with clients is very collaborative.
Well, it's selfish too because I enjoy the quality of the interactions.
But this interaction produces better results than working in isolation on a "tell me what you want and get out of my way" basis.
I've heard at a project management course that, up to a limit, every hour of planning shaves three days off of the implementation time of the project.
I know how to write copy, but my clients understand their markets, their businesses and their industries much better than I do.
Yes, I spent 16 years in the high-tech industry, therefore I understand the ins and outs of its operation, especially from the perspective of purchasing, better than the average B2B copywriter, but I've been out of it long enough to have lost a big chunk of this highly perishable skill.
Although even the residual understanding is quite significant, which I always use in my work evry day.
My clients have never wanted to see flashy, glitzy and glamorous concepts that would help me to win awards.
They've always wanted to see copy and marketing strategies that added to the bottom line and enabled them to grow their businesses.
That's why I don't have a flashy portfolio either.
We focus on cash over cachet; money over medals; profit over portfolios; rewards over awards; fortune over fame.
But that's really just a question of vanity. I'm pretty short in that department. So are my clients.
So, my focus with my projects is to achieve maximum results within the set budgets.
So, as the saying goes, "Money talks."
Actually it screams. But different people hear it differently.
So, just think about what you're seeking in a copywriter: cash or cachet? Money or medals?
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