The LOW COST Model works and has worked for many years in many business categories. But why not in advertising? Being on the CLIENT side of the advertising business for a period of my career, I was frustrated working with HIGH-COST AGENCIES that would not change their processes to support my need to execute faster and cheaper (and we were a well paying client so you would think there would be a little desire to change). What I did not realize was it was not that these “Madison Avenue” would not change the way they did business, it was that they COULD not. Just as the airline and retail industry has seen, a organization can not change their spots. For example, TED Airlines never had a chance. Not because it was not a good idea or it did not fill a niche that has a need. Rather UNITED in not a low-cost airline and their processes, procedures, cost structure and overhead make them a traditional airline. And while TED can speak in a hipper language and have a more modern style, they still are who they are and you can change that. So United can not and will not ever be Southwest or JetBlue. just as TATA Motors can build a car for about $2500, but it is not realistic to think that GM could do the same. It is the same with an ad agency.
An agency is about ideas, it is driven by people and personalities -sometimes very strong personalities. This makes it even more difficult to change who you are, what you stands for and how you go about it. That is why for those that want to get the most from their marketing dollars, they must consider TVLowCost USA as the system and processes have been established from the beginning and these processes have been honed and improved over time. It is similar to the airline model that the basics and the end quality of the experience is the same, but the process is just a bit different. And the VALUE is 100% more than a traditional agency provides. The other element is that similar to other LOW COST MODELS, TVLowCost USA is not for everyone. It is for leaders who want to get the most from their budgets (and are willing to change the process in order to do that), those who are driven by real world results and by those that are in a position to make decisions. This leads us back to the HIGH COST AGENCY MODEL. These agencies do very well by generating a large degree of consensusover time and bringing everyone along for the ride. This is great because it adds lots of time to the process and with that it adds lots of revenue for the agency, but does not really add anything beneficial to the end product except maybe a bit of sameness. HIGH COST AGENCIES focus on a well defined, drawn out process to develop creative, TVLowCost USA focuses on GREAT CREATIVE that drives results efficiently.
The great thing is that there are a lot of new beleivers – and now the model is in the US, so the model that has been so successful globally will develop converts in the US.
If you want to find out a little more about TVLowCost in the US, call me at 646-839-6239. Read the rest of this entry »
