THE AGENCY STRUCTURE I used to lie awake at night wondering how independent agencies could compete against big agency networks and the trend toward sole provider status. Watching people accept the transformation of a magical, idea driven advertising business into something that more closely resembles managed care than marketing had me worried. Independent Thinkers On one of these sleepless nights in an outoftown hotel, I picked up my copy of the NewYork Times Sunday supplement, Year in Ideas — 2003.The authors sought to answer the age old question of “Where do ideas come from?” It’s an interest ing question — one that the great minds have pondered for centuries. From the article, one intriguing insight glowed like a beacon in the semidarkness of the hotel room. How ideas are created will always be a subject for analysis, but where original ideas come from is absolutely clear.They come from indepen dent thinkers. Or as the article put it: “Ideas come from lone wolf thinkers of one stripe or another Basement tinkerers, armchair philosophers, mad scientists.” It dawned on me that something so obvious had to be true. And there it was.The way independent agencies will sur vive, and thrive, in this new paradigm is to offer what all the agency conglomerates in the world cannot an endless supply of independent thinkers and ideas. Independent thinkers loathe bureaucracy. They seek to dis tance themselves from it as much as possible. Bureaucracy sti fles creativity and frustrates the independent thinker’s desire to carve a new, unexplored path. I believe this is just as true in the agency business as it is in the biotech industry. It is just as real in the life of a creative director as it is for a cancer research sci entist, an architect, or an astronomer. No one who works in the realm of ideas wants to work in the bureaucratic confines of a conglomerate, at least not for very long. Don’t get me wrong.There are a lot of smart people in the agency business working within the environment of large hold ing companies — people who work hard, who are focused on the clients’ needs, and who bring value to the table. And, in my estimation, you’re equally likely to find these smart people in one successful agency as another. But more and more, these smart people are being required to subjugate their abilities (and ideas) to the needs of the network rather than serving the needs of the client or brand. This subjugation to networks speaks volumes about why the true ideagenerators seek out a more independent and autonomous environment for themselves. Consequently, that explains why ideas, truly innovative agency ideas, are most likely to come from these kinds of places. Creating a productive environment for the generation of ideas has been a challenge for businesses and an area of active experimentation for at least the past 50 years. One of the most successful and revered examples of this was Lockheed’s Skunk Works, started during World War II. Lockheed literally created a small autonomous company within the larger firm, and gave them the latitude they needed to create ideas.This small group of freethinkers went on to produce most of the firm’s greatest successes over the next 50 years.We think there is a real and meaningful analogy between this example and the brave, new world that we face as pharmaceutical marketers. The New Role of the Independent Agency Are independent agencies the optimal choice for the man agement of megabrands for optimal financial performance by risk averse marketers? Perhaps not.But how many of those are around these days, anyway? submit that independent agencies can better meet the needs of client organizations that are looking for new ideas and new ways to overcome challenges than big networks at serving brands that, by choice or by force, need to shake things up. Independent agencies are the right choice for marketers who are launching into a crowded and competitive space and need an innovative approach. Independent agencies also are a better choice for those charged with breathing new life into a product that is mired in mediocre performance or absence of identity. Finally, inde pendent agencies may well be the only choice for clients who are tired of seeing smart people laboring under the negative influence of bureaucracy and long to see some lonewolf thinkers, mad sci entists, and “skunk workers” show them what ideas can do. Our mission is clear ; our path is set. And now I’m sleeping like a baby. Defending the Last Bastion of Freethinking and Pure Ideas Bureaucracy stifles creativity and frustrates the independent thinker’s desire to carve a new, unexplored path. DUDNYK HEALTHCARE GROUP,Horsham,Pa., is a fullservice independent healthcare advertising agency. For more information, call 2154439406, or visit dudnykhealth.com. Dudnyk Healthcare Group Allen Stegall President OR HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE AGE OF CONGLOMERATES
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Defending the Last Bastion of Freethinking and Pure Ideas
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