Is a Mother type agency what DM needs? Mother was born out of an advertising industry that was burdgeoning with account planners, directors, managers and executives -- a whole army of Boss-suited gofers who were employed to keep the client happy and stretch out the relationship, joining up the dots between each ad campaign. Collectively they kept the gravy on the train.
The creatives were totally outnumbered, usually on a different floor, and always at war with the suits. So we can see what prompted Robert Saville to turn his back on traditional agency life in order to let the creatives speak direct to the client. The result was a much-talked-about agency and better ads.
Is life the same in DM? The plain answer is no -- we are probably worse. In a lot of agencies the planners don't speak to the pointy-headed data people and the creatives don't speak to either. So it's no surprise that individuals like Chris Barraclough want to strike out and do something different.
But before we are all seduced by the idea of creative mavericks setting the world alight with mind-blowing mailers and revolutionising DM overnight, let's stop to think what DM can't do without. Its heartbeat and lifeblood is data, and those who understand data. It gives us customer knowledge, improves targeting, which in turn saves clients money and builds stronger relationships with consumers. So the real revolution in DM will not come about by starting a creative boutique like Mother but is being created by agencies that realise data and first-class creative need to fuse together. But is it a revolution worth having?
I admit it doesn't have the "man the barricades" battle cry that other movements in the industry have managed, but maybe that's the point. Are we not in danger of overlooking things that are staring us in the face?
The proliferation of all forms of direct marketing put the onus on us in the industry, clients and agencies alike, to make sure we don't "abuse" the public, increasing the frustration that already exists that leads to people crying "junk mail" at every turn.
Surely the route to take is a clearer understanding of our relevant
markets, improved segmentation and targeting and appropriate creatives.
That means creatives in the loop. Planning, data and creative sat around the same table with the client. Oh yes, creative talking with the client! Now that is a revolutionary step.
In fact the appropriateness of the message I would take further. Data can certainly act as the ignition to great ideas but I have always been keen to further explore the real people behind the lines of numbers on a monitor. Data may be able to tell you many things but the figures don't always speak. People do. That's why we should to listen to them, whenever possible. Attitudes, emotions, likes and dislikes come over in conversation and for a creative that can really put flesh on the bones of data. Now of course many creatives, myself included, aren't always keen to put their ideas up for discussion but it can be both sobering and illuminating to do so. This hard test of ideas often happens in the forum of organised research groups but how many of those do we have a year?
Relaxed coffee mornings, visits to bingo halls or voxpops on the street can provide some real steers on content, tone of voice, concerns and worries that frankly hours of meetings in air-conditioned offices would never have discovered.
So maybe the revolution is a return to the true nature of DM --颅 right person, right time, right offer, right creative. While there is undoubtedly a place for the 'creative-only' agency is it really where the future of the industry lies greater fragmentation? Creative has to exist with its bedfellows and the big ideas need to be bred and nurtured for there too.
There are a lot of us around who believe in an environment where things can be done differently, with the data being the ignition to the creative process, not the end in itself. There is an inherent danger in focusing on only one of the three ingredients of data, planning and creative. You get a massive imbalance, a lack of strategic direction and a proliferation of inappropriate communications. The masses might like the pictures but they may just shout "JUNK MAIL!".
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