This post is quite telling. It’s quite sad I find for the advertising industry of today, that in your blog post(s), you recall great agencies of the past - CDP, Saatchi (all from their hey days). I feel there are no real stand out agencies at the moment, not sure if you agree but that’s not really the point, which is, do you think you’re references are based on a time when account handlers were more confident, clients more willingly naive and times just generally more geared to experimentation? (What I mean by experimentation is that there have been so many campaigns since those days that all have very similar strategies and as a result clients prefer a strategy they’re familiar with. Could this mean or could it be, we’re now at a point where clients sell us work?

Whereas selling great work was the best thing for the agency, now its too often about selling any work and keeping the client onside.

If you buy a cake from a baker for yourself and you don’t like it, at the most you’ve wasted say $15. But let’s say you bought this cake for a very special occasion - your parents’ golden anniversary or something, your emotional investment at least is far higher - and I’m betting that you will be a LOT more demanding and anxious to ensure that this cake is the best. You won’t just take their word for it.

With an advertising campaign a lot more is at stake. (Not least the client’s job!) So you can hardly blame them for wanting everything to be ‘perfect’ and avoiding perceived ‘risks’. So they will question everything and call upon research to show them the best direction to take. And, if they have to choose between a brave new direction and a tried and tested one, guess which one they will most likely choose?

Personally I think many creatives are too cavalier about screwing things up - because at least they were trying to do ’something different’. After all, it’s only advertising and you can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs, right? This is great when it’s other people’s money they are spending. I just wonder how daring they would be if it were their own?

You are quite right in stating that trust is paramount - and that’s why Frank Lowe is deservedly an account service legend. Dave’s story illustrated this perfectly. And trust is something that takes years to earn but can be lost in a split second.

Trust between client and agency is sorely lacking these days. And agencies only have themselves to blame.

That’s exactly the problem. People can’t trust products anymore. (This is what Umair Haque calls Zombieconomie — innovation vs. unnovation:
http://vimeo.com/3204792 ) That’s why ad people tend to focus on brand instead of product = emotions instead of facts. Of course it’s more difficult to sell emotions. That’s why advertising needs creative account men these days.
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http://ex-blank-page.blogspot.com/2009/07/in-reply-to-daves-great-posts-56.html

Mind, a friend of mine said they kept going to Mother and being told they had the perfect concept for their client, and being given the same idea they’d turned down for someone else a month before.

I’d just like to point out that the word verification thing that you need to put in to make a post right now is ‘one fascist’