Today we\u2019re going to consider what would appear, at least within our industry to be something of an outmoded topic. Today\u2019s Cog Blog is all about courtesy.<\/p>\n
Now, this could easily turn into an extended moan (fully illustrated with examples) about how people don\u2019t return calls; aren\u2019t prepared to take a second to reply to a mail; how meetings are cancelled at ridiculously short notice; how the young people of today\u2026..After all, I call this the Cog (Cynical Old Git) Blog for a reason.<\/p>\n
But there are a couple of serious points behind this. We\u2019re in a service business after all, and it\u2019s easy for the bad manners extended to people like me who, let\u2019s face it aren\u2019t really that essential to all those self-important agency and media owner executives\u2019 everyday lives, it\u2019s easy for these bad habits to creep over into dealings with their clients. Bad habits are often hard to break.<\/p>\n
Perhaps more to the point, it\u2019s also the case that good ideas can (and frequently do) come from the most unlikely places. In my agency days I\u2019m told I enjoyed a reputation as someone who would always try to find the time to see anyone. The reason for this was not only that I enjoyed people\u2019s company, or that I thought there might be a lunch, dinner, Test Match or golf game invitation in the offing (all true enough) but that I was also on the lookout for new ideas that might benefit my clients in some way. And which, let\u2019s be honest would reflect well on me and my agency too.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why we ran a competition for media owners to propose new and innovative ways for our client Perrier to use their particular vehicles; it\u2019s why we invited a leading independent production company in to preview their upcoming show and to answer questions from our clients; it\u2019s how Kellogg\u2019s came to be involved in the first ever UK advertiser supported TV series, subsequently bought by and aired on ITV; and it\u2019s how a series of short films made for adidas came to be featured every week on the BBC\u2019s then flagship Saturday afternoon sports show \u2018Grandstand\u2019 (until an over-boastful creative agency account guy wrote about the coup in a national newspaper, whereupon our slot disappeared rather rapidly).<\/p>\n
All of these (and more) initiatives came from outside organisations, often from small, independent companies with great ideas and no easy access to the money needed to make them happen. Certainly many of these companies went on to great things (in one case, Anne Wood\u2019s Ragdoll Productions went on to invent The Teletubbies, and you can\u2019t get much better than that), but that came later.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m well aware that there are examples of similar things happening today, but I fear that they are comparatively few and far between. The carapace of busy-ness under which many agencies (and clients) hide from the world outside discourages entrepreneurial approaches. A dog chasing its own tail is busy; those un-answered calls, or emails might just be from someone with a brilliant idea.<\/p>\n
Discourtesy is in itself unpleasant and inexcusable, but when it leads to opportunities being lost, well that\u2019s a whole other thing. When, as an \u2018agency veteran\u2019 I\u2019m asked for my advice (from my bath chair, with a chocolate Oliver and a mug of sweet tea to hand) I tend to whisper: \u2018You\u2019ve got to kiss a lot of frogs. And don\u2019t forget to do it with a smile and a polite word for the frog too.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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