Field Notes Inside an Integrated Communications Agency

I recently attended the Ad Club’s seminar on “The Reality of ‘Mad Men,’” AMC’s hit series about advertising in the ’60s.

The reality was that the panelists didn’t actually have that much to say about the show. Like any true advertising phenom would, they talked about themselves instead – which was way more interesting anyway.

Doug Alligood (Sr VP, BBDO) talked about the challenges he faced as the first African American hired at BBDO. Wally O’Brien (former President and COO of JWT) enlightened us with tales of triumph on the Ford account for JWT. And Charlotte Beers (former CEO of Ogilvy and ironically the most commanding of the group), spoke about fighting for respect in an industry dominated by men.

But a theme that recurred throughout the discussion, and that resonated with me most, was about standing our creative ground.

O’Brien told us the story of a pitch he once made to a potential client in NYC. During his presentation, the client began attacking the work. O’Brien became so frustrated, he sternly told the prospect that the work was the recommendation of his agency and that, damn it, the work was good. He said (in not so many words) that if they didn’t like it, they could bite him. And then he walked out.

When he got back to JWT, O’Brien found the creative director waiting for him in his office. Clearly, he assumed he’d be fired. Instead, his CD explained that the prospect had been so impressed with O’Brien’s passion, JWT had won the account.

Moral of the story: we are not a studio. We are not hired to execute our client’s ideas. Our job is to come up with strategic and creative ways to answer our client’s communication challenges – solutions which are typically not something the client would’ve come up with themselves. Or could’ve. So when our clients don’t see the big picture, and demand changes to work we truly believe in, maybe we need to do a little more pushing back. And a little less backing down.