ARE AD AGENCIES NOW COMMODITIES?

A new Adweek article says clients are treating agencies like commodities. Well sure: at this point most advertising is a commodity market.

There are lots of agencies offering lots of the same things, and tons of clients buying work that works enough to help the brand tread water.

That’s what most work does: tread water. It communicates the brand name and maybe something about the product benefits. 

Do no marketing and your brand will likely lose share. 

Do actual “breakthrough” work and your brand can get a 10x or 50x response (like IHOP changing its name to IHOB). 

Sometimes there’s talk of “big ideas” and “breakthrough creative.” But most clients are risk-minimizers.

This isn’t dumb: this is a huge part of their job.