Happy Holidays!

The entire Ad Contrarian global staff is off for the holidays. Have a wonderful week and we'll see you after the New Year.

Remarkable Rudeness

Recently my agency was asked to pitch an account.

We were given little time and no money to do so. Our assignment was to develop full-blown plans -- including creative and media -- for three different markets.

We spent tens of thousands of dollars on the pitch. We had people working nights and weekends -- including Thanksgiving weekend.

When we gave the presentation the head marketing person from the client organization sat with her laptop open reading and answering emails for half the presentation.

While many clients are wonderful and appreciative, sometimes the rudeness and disrespect agencies have to put up with is intolerable.

One of the most difficult tightropes an agency principle has to walk is this: The desire to react honestly to insufferable, self-important jerks, and the knowledge that doing so may cost jobs to people in the agency.

Just once I'd like to be able to tell someone like her to put her laptop on vibrate and stick it where the sun don't shine.

There, I just did.

How To Select An Ad Agency

The process by which companies select ad agencies continues to get more arcane and bewildering.

It is fed by search committees who don't know what they're searching for and consultants who need to justify their fees by creating monumental RFPs filled with grotesque irrelevancies.

As someone who has participated in a thousand agency searches, here's how I would do it.

Dear XYZ Agency,

We are looking for an ad agency. We would like to consider yours. If you're interested, please read the information we've attached, then answer two questions:

1. In your opinion, what are the key marketing issues we're facing?
2. If you were our agency, what would you do about it?

You may take as much or as little time as you need. Please call me and let me know when you'd like to come in to answer these questions.

Thank you,
Bob

If the answers to these two questions don't tell you everything you need to know about the agency, there's nothing wrong with the agency. There's something wrong with you.