If nothing else, the time we\u2019re saving on commuting, and unproductive meetings allows us to explore what smart people have to say that could be relevant to the current situation. Time to show-off by dusting down those pretentious quotes!<\/p>\n
One (a genuinely useful one) comes from the American politician Rahm Emanuel, during the 2008 financial crisis: \u201cYou never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n Eventually agencies will emerge from the current dreadful situation. As I said last week<\/a>, they\u2019ll be leaner, fitter and raring to go.<\/p>\n What will they look like?<\/p>\n The Cog Blog has been churning out weekly posts for almost 7 years. I say \u2018weekly\u2019 \u2013 even allowing for holidays (and laziness) I still average about 46 a year. Out of interest (almost certainly to no-one except me) this is post number 318.<\/p>\n For a large number of those I\u2019ve been boring on about the need for media agencies to refocus their resources and efforts away from buying cheap stuff to solving clients\u2019 business problems through a creative approach to communications planning.<\/p>\n Buying cheap stuff was at the start attractive as an offering. First, it\u2019s easy to explain. Secondly it\u2019s a compelling proposition. Thirdly, it\u2019s measurable via audits. Fourthly it affords the agencies the opportunity to make money for themselves via rebates, kickbacks and the rest.<\/p>\n But there was always a huge downside \u2013 and that was that one day, for whatever reason that particular train would hit the buffers. The reason could have been through the advent of technology, the growth in online media forms, the obsession with immediate measurement and, eventually automated buying. Or it could have been that someone eventually would whistle-blow \u2013 and of course we all know that such a person emerged in Jon Mandel.<\/p>\n So the agencies have had to regroup. Revenue and margins were bound to fall. The difficulty in charging for services, like planning and consultancy that had been given away in the era of plenty was always going to be an issue.<\/p>\n And then along came this crisis.<\/p>\n The agencies now have a chance to reinvent themselves, to \u2018do things you think you could not do before.\u2019<\/p>\n It is actually an even better opportunity than that. There is now a major client demand for assistance \u2013 assistance in helping them climb out of the hole so many of them find themselves in. How, or indeed should they communicate? Where? When? Using advertising, PR, sponsorships? What should they say? And so on.<\/p>\n