The ad business is a mess – here’s how to clean it up

Advertising today has become more about the audiences delivered, and the ways we measure those audiences, than about the messages we put in front of them.

This seems to us (remember we’re both media guys...) lopsided.

We think:

• Great advertising is a driver of success for business and causes

• It informs and engages its audiences

• It treats people with respect

• It is well-targeted and well-measured

• It encourages high standards in journalism and as a result helps fund great media content

• It is well-curated and signposted

• It is sustainable economically and environmentally

• It doesn’t fund crime

It is hard to disagree with any of these points.

But it is easy to forget them.

To deliver great advertising, we need an industry that:

• Provides employment with enjoyment for many thousands of people

• That values craft skills in all disciplines

• That attracts, retains and rewards people of all types

• Is built on well-balanced business models which include reward structures that incentivize effectiveness

We wondered if anyone else cared about these things.

We wrote a blog entitled ‘Advertising: Who Cares?’ as in: it’s only advertising. Who on Earth cares? Or, it’s advertising and we care about it.

Four months later, in mid-September, we launched the Advertising: Who Cares? movement with an event at London’s RSA.

We had attracted an exceptional speaker lineup who were given a free hand; we sold every seat; we paid no one and spent nothing. We took no sponsorship money. We raised money for NABS. People in our industry (over 420 of them, all over the world as I write this) do, it seems, care.

Why?

Because the ad business is in a mess and they feel that something has to be done.

Founder of Uncommon Creative Studio’s Lucy Jameson’s outstanding keynote included an ad for OVO Energy which featured Howard Beale’s speech in ‘Network’: “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!”

Who’s at fault is irrelevant. I have my views, but to quote again from Lucy (Arthur Miller’s Willy Loman in ‘Death of a Salesman’): “I’m not interested in stories about the past or any crap of that kind because the woods are burning, you understand? There’s a big blaze going on all around”.

The question is not who started the blaze but what to do about it.

In May, we had set up five workstreams, each headed by an authority on each topic. Any supporter could contribute to any workstream. In September, the workstream leaders presented their teams’ ideas:

• Business Models – Michael Farmer, author and consultant

• Trading, Transparency and Trust – Jenny Biggam, owner, the7stars

• Measurement and Accountability – Denise Turner, CEO, Route Research

• Recruitment and Well-Being – Crispin Reed, founder, Skyscraper Consulting

• Brands and Journalism – Ruben Schreurs, chief strategy officer, Ebiquity with Hardeep Matharu, funder/editor, Byline Times

We added contributions from Lucy Jameson; a Starling Bank case study (Rachel Kerrone, brand and marketing director at Starling, Pippa Glucklich, CEO of the media agency Electric Glue and Jess Lovell, chief strategy officer at the creative agency Wonderhood Studios).

We ended with David Wheldon, president emeritus at the World Federation of Advertisers, discussing the next creative revolution with Sir John Hegarty, creative founder of BBH.

We attracted a broad church. Those who didn’t come told us: we can’t afford to upset A, or B, or C.

But why not?

Isn’t questioning what could be done better healthy?

As Leonard Cohen had it: “There’s a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.”

Our launch event speakers were excellent, (you can see them all on YouTube, accessed (along with accompanying slides) via: www.advertisingwhocares.org.

A few quotes (the workstream leaders were representing the views of their team members):

Lucy Jameson (quoting Peter Field): “Dull advertising costs money. You can get away with being dull if you have very deep pockets… it costs 11-15% more to achieve the same result with a dull ad than an interesting one”.

Michael Farmer: “Agencies must provide true value, prove it and charge for it.”

Jenny Biggam: “No one is happy with the loss of trust across the industry.”

Team Starling Bank: “We believe in doing the right thing in our marketing.”

Denise Turner: “Never forget we market to people, not devices.”

Crispin Reed (quoting a Business Studies undergraduate): “Why would I want to join an industry that bombards me with rubbish?”

Ruben Schreurs: “News is brand safe and effective.”

Hardeep Matharu: “Social media posts are not the same thing as journalism.”

John Hegarty: “6% of ads are truly effective. If we were in the brakes business we would be finished.”

David Wheldon: “Hubris got us into this, humility will get us out of it.”

As to what comes next, we have ideas and are keen to discuss them with like-minded organizations and individuals before returning to our supporters.

Now would be a good time to join us (free, via www.advertisingwhocares.org) to have your say. Nick Manning and Brian Jacobs spoke on how they plan to address advertising’s systemic challenge at The Drum Live. Watch it here.