The advertising industry in Pakistan faces a strange dilemma. On one hand, the industry is growing. On the other, agencies are becoming increasingly prone to hyper competition, commoditisation and globalisation. I have touched upon these topics in previous articles as well.
In my view, the key purpose of an agency is to create differentiation. After all, how can an agency that cannot differentiate itself be able to create meaningful differentiation for the brands it handles? Agencies are subject to the Darwinian principle of the survival of the fittest.
Agencies have traditionally differentiated themselves on the basis of their creative product. The advertising practitioners of yore were specialists at creating beautiful jingles and catchphrases that captured the hearts of the consumer. Advertising was a craft, mastered by a select few artisans. Words were meticulously crafted and visuals were painstakingly composed. As a result, advertisements seemed quite original and unique.
Today, the process has become so much easier. One can easily google ideas, sift through massive advertising archives for inspiration and get excellent visuals from the likes of Shutterstock. We also have YouTube for TV commercial inspiration. What used to take weeks to craft, now takes hours. The sameness of the advertising output across different agencies in Pakistan is not surprising, as they all seek inspiration from the same pool.
For many agencies, the real differentiation is in their personal relations with the client. The reality is that a lot of agencies hang on to their clients simply on the basis of personal relationships.
The client-servicing model
The most prevalent agency model I have observed in Pakistan is something I call the ‘client-servicing model’. This is the advertising industry’s way of following a consumer-centric approach, which sounds great on paper.
This is how the approach works: Keep the client happy at work and outside work; avoid challenges and confrontations with the client; always stay within the client’s comfort zone and never make him/her feel insecure; be there to take the fall for the client every now and then, so that he or she can look good in front of their management; maintain a team of excellent showmen who can constantly wow with their presentations and passion for the client; predict what the client is going to like and approve, and don’t bother much with work that is not likely to get approved.
While the approach may sound sensible, it also leads the agency down a path of subservience. It kills the process of innovation within the agency. It creates a culture that rewards the average and good, while punishing the great.