Why Advertising?
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- fredddddd
I watched some of AMC's The Pitch and it got me wondering why companies choose these places over real graphic design studios and agencies? And why some of these places call themselves advertising when they don't have huge clients or even make TV commercials.
Is it because these clients don't know better, or because they're distracted by words like "strategy"?
Some of the agencies on the show are pretty bad and their work isn't very well designed.
Like yesterday's agency:
http://www.bandujo.com/#workJust looks like another mediocre design studio to me.
- jonnypompita0
The clients are stupid and don't know the difference, i do freelance interactive at ad agencies quite often and i'm astounded at how poor the entire process is and how badly executed the sites are. TV commercials are the only they understand.
- moldero0
large ad agency work sucks ass when it comes to design, their design depts (print, interactive) are usually pretty small, the majority at these agencies are copywriters, producers and account reps, any time anything good is produced by a large agency is because they subbed out the work to real studios like http://www.firstborn.com/
- <<< Thisjonnypompita
- was my experience anyway, our work (after it went through the large agency filter) sucked many dicksmoldero
- +1noob12345
- fredddddd0
Good, I'm not crazy. It seems like the agencies don't know the difference either.
Is there more money to be made by calling yourself an agency?
Should all design studios include "advertising" in their name?
- fredddddd0
But there's probably as many bad design studios as there are ad agencies.
- Peter0
Perhaps it's a legacy:
Ad agencies have frowned upon interactive ever since the internet turned commercial. It's the "lesser" of the "classier" "arts" of graphic.
- Creative Directors can't justify a trip to Hawaii to get that filmed or shot scene "just right", for a website oppose to a commercial.
- Now kids with a pirated version of Photoshop could (and did) put something together. What sort of 50+ year old kids-size clothes wearing hip creative could compete with that?
- There's coding involved. In other words parts of the grander work can (and sometimes does) get outsourced to, say, India. Or at the very least a tween. Not a fact that you want to come to realization with when trying to position yourself and your agency as a place of such high standard that warrants multimillion retainers.
- Also, if you're a 50+ lead/head/director that have spend your career in print and tv, and away from seemingly scary computer interaction (which once was solely dominated by the nerds you wanted to differentiate yourself from so badly), you don't want competition. Why let people with more knowledge than you into the very exclusive club of elitist agencies that believe their own dribble?
...just some thoughts.
For the smaller, newer agencies like in OP I've no idea. I think they're just talentless oblivious idiots. Then again that's what I think of everybody, including myself.
- Peter0
Oh, wait, that's not the question.
The reason people say "advertising" is because "webdesigner" (design as in both code and graphic) has a bad rep and often mean a steep slice in how much you can invoice.
- inteliboy0
I'm sure many design studios would be hopeless at putting together ad campaigns, just as agencies are often hopeless at putting together good design. No?
- there's a lot of talentless, oblivious idiots out there.Peter
- Define a campaign?fredddddd
- some big agencies do business marketing too, thats where the real $$ goes I thinkmoldero
- strategic store layouts, crap like that
I know Y&R did that for searsmoldero - < my theory with the $$ anyway because 1/4 mil for a crappy website? i dont think so.moldero
- MrT0
How many would-be clients really know good design? Not enough IMO, which is why a big steaming pile of brand engagement strategy bullshit can get mediocre design across the line. Ad agencies are good at this.
- attentionspan0
- HAHAHA THINK SMALL AND IT **IS** SMALL! SO CLEVERanimatedgif
- It was groundbreaking for the time. Let me know when your work is in a history book, kid.Frosty_spl
- instrmntl0
Agencies have people in accounts, new business etc. These are key roles for maintaining a healthy client partnership. They also have a media department, where most of the money goes. Trusting people to handle a large chunk of your money is also important.
- CyBrainX0
This really opened a can of worms. I haven't seen all the episodes yet, but I get the impression that they're just trying to get a wide spectrum of shops/studios/agencies to pitch. However, I was confused why they used the Ad Store twice. And even stranger it seemed like the second time they lost the owner moved to Italy to retire with his boyfriend.
- the Ad Store filed for bankruptcy or is just about to. That's why they went on the show to begin with. A hail mary for new business.randommail
- a hail mary for new business.randommail
- Serifa750
In my experience, it seems like most large "agencies" are rooted in print and broadcast (mostly broadcast) and frankly don't care to change. They farm out all the interactive their clients require to small shops outside their own and continue to live in la-la land. The clients are too stupid to know the difference. The times are slowly but surely catching up, however.
- This is what they refer as "Real Advertising"attentionspan
- "Overhead"Serifa75
- CyBrainX0
One of the major problems with this is that the traditionalists start the campaign and all interactive is sloppy seconds from a conceptual point of view.
- +1riskunlogic
- That's the main problem, the digital portion is always an afterthought.jonnypompita
- skwiotsmith0
- copywriter : "we're trying to kill this brief because we know we'll never win an award with it"vaxorcist
- doesnotexist0
the difference is relationships, especially if you're doing ad campaigns that rely on celebrities and all the production that goes with it.
big agencies have an easier time doing this imo & experience, than small freelance teams & individuals.
- I wouldn't necessarily say celebrities, but more so production in general.instrmntl
- not all celebrities, but some. relationships are important.doesnotexist
- fredddddd0
^ I get that. I understand agencies like W+K, Ogilvy, etc. And that major TV commercials require a huge staff.
This topic was started because I don't get how some of these smaller "agencies" differ from any shitty design group or why they actually call themselves "advertising." Or why they act like they work so hard on the show, when their results look so poor.
- doesnotexist0
^ when i notice a shit campaign it's usually because it's not really a campaign. it's something designed and it looks nice, and i feel like these come from smaller studios not agencies. there's a lot of work that goes into a campaign when the message is there and all the deliverables that go with it need to be produced.
i definitely think there's a disconnect in advertising between small studio work and agency work. not always so, but most of the time.
- randomname0
Some of those agencies on the show were in North Carolina and Vegas and those people lived in Cul de Sacs. Not a lot of design culture.
That NY agency, not sure.
- monNom0
For some clients 'graphic design' and 'advertising' are synonymous. Lots of places have no use for design unless it's implemented in some sort of advertising media. I mean, if you're a McDonalds, and you've got your logo, you've got your signage and packaging... everything else you do is promotions.
- vaxorcist0
not to rant forever... but in many cases, the powerpoint wizards / business case pitch people are non-creatives selling the concept and business case to people who are themselves non-creatives, and the end result is like people who don't know bicycles selling 2 wheeled devices to people who don't know bicycles... but with often rather big budgets....
Powerpoint uber-alles sometimes... and the result.. well, not always bad...
One thing VERY SMART agencies are good at... (and not always) is finding a central insight into the target market's mindset and buying motivations, then hitting that pretty hard, but that's not always the case... but sometimes they are good at this .... especially for TV and smart print ads, not so much interactive...
Interactive for some agencies is just a billing factory in a way, whereas previously they'd get 15% of the media buy, when they're making a huge website or flash monstrosity with mobile app tie-ins, they're getting "all" of whatever the client spends on that, minus whatever they pay the army of freelancers.. so hazy specs may be profitable sometimes in the short run....