I hate it when our clients get sold a bill of goods by a "vendor" (though I usually prefer the term "partner," in this context these companies don't deserve the "partner" label).
When a slick sales person swoops in and promises them the world ... to the tune of millions of dollars.
When the shiny object shines so bright and pulls so hard that it can't be resisted ... even if its off-strategy.
Unfortunately I see a lot of that in pharma. It irritates me not because that budget could have been ours. (We have plenty of work to keep us busy - hence my recent hiatus from blogging and tweeting) But more because I hate to see the client's good money go to waste on ideas that don't have business impact. And this behavior tends to give agencies a bad name.
I would like to see the day where we all find middle ground - where shiny object meets results. Where innovation meets tangible outcomes. Where results-driven programs - programs that meet objectives and achieve business success - win awards not because they are pretty, but because they did what they were supposed to do.
That - I'd like to see. Wouldn't you?
4 comments:
We must have been thinking along the same lines during the last few days...check out this post from this morning...http://www.communitypharm.com/?p=609
Hi, Mike! Thanks for the link to your post. Indeed a very similar theme and you did a nice job articulating what many of us see as what is "wrong" with the way many agencies sell their wares. Here's to continually rising above.
My background is in media and I feel this way about a lot of media buys. It still amazes me how many dollars brands will throw at untargeted journals or ill-executed display advertising campaigns.
Arly you are exactly right. Agencies are not the only ones guilty of this bad behavior. The sales teams for some of the big media are the worst! I'll refrain from naming names but I bet a lot of us could name the worst offenders off the tops of our heads.
I think some brand managers may default to spending their budgets on media because that's their background or comfort zone, and often that's from the traditional side. Still - it's up to us to help educate them all on how to better spend their marketing dollars. Keep fighting the good fight!
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