In the arena

It bears repeating: the ad industry can be very conservative. Even though it is filled with creative people, those that try new things are inevitably smacked down under a storm of knee-jerk criticism, whether it’s what Droga5 and Smuggler tried with Honeyshed or the Agency.com's radical Skittles Web site. Add Agency Nil to the mix.

Hank Leber is a 28-year-old VCU Brandcenter grad who has the same frustrating problem of many of his peers: he can’t get work. Instead of groveling for yet another internship, Leber is taking the initiative. He started Agency Nil by taking a page out of Chris Anderson’s book. He’ll let clients set the price for the work. As someone without a long track record, Leber needs to do this to take on risk.

The reaction has been mixed. Over on my Adfreak post, there are 19 comments, nearly split down the middle of positive and negative. The positive ones praise Leber for trying to forge a new model, while critics carp he’s devaluing the work. What struck me, though, is that Leber is giving it a try on his own, rather than sit around and wait for agencies to cut the management fat to hire hungry, young, digital-savvy people like himself. More, not less, of this is needed in advertising and other industries, including media. It will be interesting to see if the downturn causes people to retreat to the safe or take bolder action. In a way, Chris Kahle did this with his successful Twitter campaign to get a coveted job at Crispin Porter + Bogusky. He’s taking a risk. In the words of Alex Bogusky, he’s showing “hustle.” Even Lawson Clarke is showing hustle by bearing his fursuit in his quest for a job. It's easy to dismiss these things as "desperate" or "uncool," but they're gutsy. They're in the arena. It reminded me of my favorite TR speech.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Comments

[Lola]

I personally do't see anything brave or smart with either the AgencyNil nor the Kahle approach. To the contrary, you had two naive and rather thoughtless tactics that have caused too much attention. I'd never trust AgencyNil with anything serious other than production work and an intership at best for Kahle. I guess when there is no interesting news to tell, one talks about the trivial.

[Bob Minihan]

Is there any other business that shits on its own like ours does? We wonder why clients and the public devalue us. Maybe it's because we're so busy doing it to ourselves. So you would have done it differently. So you would have said it a different way. And better, too, instead of that suckass way those suckasses did. Good for you. But why not take all that wasted static energy and use it to create something that sells something? A lot of companies are looking for someone, anyone, who can that can do that right now. Jesus.

[Alan Wolk]

What was most amazing to me about the comments on your Adfreak post (now that I've read them) is that what that kid is doing with Nil is neither "a breakthrough attempt to forge a new model" nor a "stain upon our industry and another nail in its coffin" (to paraphrase liberally and for effect, but that's admittedly the net takeaway.)

All he's done is find a clever way to deal with the hand he's been dealt by a bad economy. In ad terminology, it's a "one-off"

Back in the Paleolithic Age (aka the 1990s), when Kirshenbaum Bond was the hot shop everyone wanted to be at, there was a guy who left his resume or a message or something on a roll of toilet paper in the K&B men's room. It got written up in Adweek and it got him a job. No one accused him of inventing a new paradigm or devaluing the business by placing the job search in the men's room. Mostly people were impressed by his gumption (we still used words like that back in the 90s) and realized that trick wasn't going to work again.

Which is all a long-winded way of saying "much ado about nothing" and congrats to two smart kids who figured out a press-worthy way of landing themselves their first jobs.

[Steve Averill]

I have had that quote posted on my office wall for years. It is awesome. great post.

[Maikel van de Mortel]

Thanks for another great post Brian.

Agreed, the ad industry can be very conservative. It is also driven by massive ego (i.e. award shows), the eternal battle between account and creatives, the love hate relationships between the agency and their clients, and the way they seem to make money, regardless if it's the best solution for their client, and yes, their hiring procedures, though for any creative, BOTH young and old.

It might not be easy for "young, digital savvy people" to find a job, but I don't think it's any easier for a creative that has a wealth of experience, embraces change and understands what is needed to create successful marketing campaigns. In fact, I would challenge you back to take a closer look at the average age of creatives in any agency, or design studio. I'm pretty sure you would have a hard time finding people above the age of 40. I don't believe that someone above the age of 40 can't be a great art director, copywriter or designer. But yet agencies like their young dogs. I understand the perception that comes along with young vs. old creatives, fresh ideas vs. burnout. Clients like to see young creatives at the table during presentations. After all, only they bring fresh and cool ideas to the table, so they think. And agency management loves their young dogs as they are easy to train and don't, typically, have the insight to agree or disagree with the account team, making it much easier to come to easy solutions, effective, some times, many times not. Please don't get me wrong, I think any agency worth their salt needs to strike a good balance of both young and old, only then you get great creative.

None the less, there are many things wrong with our industry, but I don't believe the agency is only at fault here. I do believe that clients have molded the modern agency to the beast it is today. Agencies, unfortunately, are not as quick to adapt to new needs and deliverables. Not because they don't want to, but because their model doesn't allow for this, after all, they do need to make money to stay in business. Many agencies, young and old, have tried different models over the course of years, my agency is no stranger to this. Unfortunately many clients have a hard time accepting this. Do you charge for the idea or only the execution? Or do you give away the idea to get the execution. Do you add any strategic value, or has the client develop a solid strategy so they can shop agencies for tactical executions, regardless if their strategy is sound or not.

I digress, in the end, agencies and their creatives (young and old) need their clients, and vise versa. Unfortunately, the two parties are not talking to one another to help each other figure out where they need to go. Until this happens, and this can be a while, our industry will remain on shaky footing, making it hard for all creatives, young and old, to find a job. I admire anyones eagerness to wanting to be in the ring, but only if it adds value and not starts to break down what we all have build even further. As an industry it's time we start talking and working together to show the value we bring to the table.