Five things the regional marketing trade press should stop banging on about and five things it really ought to pay more attention to (part 1)

Reading The Drum’s website, as I occasionally do just to remind me that I’m best and to keep abreast of the latest skulduggery being perpetrated by my one-time employers, I was struck recently by just how cyclical the regional marcoms press is (and, frankly, always was). Just as certain major clients seem to forever return to the realm of regional agencies, despite occasional forays into London (Redrow, Iceland, Morrisons etc), certain issues similarly perpetually pop up as a source of mock indignation for the cerebrally-challenged individuals who currently edit these publications and their on-line equivalents.

A Drum reader recently

The latest topic to be recycled is that hoary old topic of free pitching. Even Gordon Young, recently recycled himself as the editor of The Drum, had to confess that he had to “stifle a yawn” when the age old issue once again shuffled to centre stage in his editorial  for the Feb 3rd issue.

Gordy’s editorial made me think two things:

1) The University of Life, from which Gordon proudly graduated, obviously doesn’t have a literacy module (witness: “Disquiet at public sector tendering – even the concept of free speculative creative pitching – is nothing knew” and “And the truly depressing things is…”).

2) The trade press, in both its print and digital incarnations, really ought to try harder on behalf of its readership. There are certain issues that are deader than the market for “I heart Mubarak” mugs in Tahrir Square, deader even than Niall Kennedy’s career prospects. With this in mind – and being a helpful sort of chap – I have come up with a list of five subjects that should be gathered up, bound together and posted to Iraq in a parcel marked : “Flammable: Amusing Danish cartoons About the Pophet Mohammed. May contain pork products.”

To replace this Infamous Five, I’ll also suggest a quintet of issues that really do merit a little more attention than they are currently receiving.

1. Pitching

There is more chance of Frankie Boyle hosting next year’s Children of Courage Awards than the marketing communications industry ever abiding by any guidelines relating to participating in pitches. The root of this is that, unlike many of the other sectors that offer professional services – lawyers, accountants, surveyors etc – there is simply no bar to entry in the worlds of PR, advertising or design. Any tosser can go into business into any of these sectors and be completely unchallenged as to providing credentials, demonstrating experience or proving their insight. The proof of my assertion is the number of tossers who already have.

The upshot of this is that any company high-minded enough to eschew free pitches is automatically excluding itself from the industry’s chosen route for allocating new business. If the IPA/IPR/Design Society – hardly truly representative bodies for their respective industries anyway – today agreed on binding guidelines for all of their members with regard to free pitching, the first item on the agenda of its following meeting would be just what sanctions to impose on the 70+ per cent of its members who had already broken the code. This doesn’t even take into consideration the massed ranks of agencies who would rather spend their money on Stetsons, spurs and renewing their annual membership of the Harrogate High Chaparral fan club than subsidising the cucumber sandwiches in Belgrave Square

Quite simply, this is not an issue that is pining for the fjords.

2. London

Award-winning work from the regions recently

Neither is issue number two. For all the UK regions that are home to any marketing communications community outside of London (particularly the North West, the Midlands, Yorkshire, the North East, Scotland and the South Coast), the capital has long been the subject of fist-waving fury. Management and creatives (in particular) are forever banging on about being every bit as good as “that London”.

The MD of one agency that I had the misfortune to work for, once told his assembled staff that, if Coca-Cola called the agency the following day, he had every confidence they could handle the whole account. This was despite the fact he only had a staff of 7 (some of them full-time) and his infirmity was such that I seriously doubted his ability to successfully open a can of the fizzy drink in question, let alone mastermind its international branding strategy.

There is a word for every creative or account director who tells you that they chose to make a career for themselves outside of London. That word is “dishonest”. Just as every housewife rehearsing her Blanche Dubois for a debut at the Firth Park Community Theatre dreams of getting that phone call from Andrew Llloyd Webber, so too does every creative completing his 20th Costcutter shelf-wobbler of the day dream of getting a call from any agency with “0207” on its headed paper.

"That London..." recently

As one of the world’s leading centres of advertising, PR and design excellence (though, admittedly, having lost some of its international cachet of late), London inevitably hoovers up the finest UK talent across all of the marketing communications disciplines (inevitably accidentally also taking on board more than its fair share of out-and-out wankers in the process). This pool of talents and resources, in terms of both perception and reality, is inevitably going to see all the really sexy clients gravitate towards London, especially if they have TV on their agenda.

A regional PR exec recently

The regions can – and do – thrive on other less thrilling work, the kind of stuff no-one really goes into the business to produce. Retail work, local implementation, and below-the-line activity pay the bills of every local advertising agency. PR firms fare a little better, tending to secure a number of truly national brands, perhaps because creativity is perceived as less at a premium among the PR community, perhaps because regional PR girls wear shorter skirts than their London counterparts and look more “up for it” or perhaps because the PR industry is better at retaining local talent. It’s probably a combination of all three to be honest.

On the design side, a number of companies have managed to attract serious clients, keen on capitalising (pun sort of intended) on the quirky regionality that once made places like Manchester (well just Manchester, actually) internationally renowned for its music and fashion. Companies such as The Chase, True North, Elmwood, Thompsons, Designers Republic, Attik and, once upon a time, Love have long attracted serious player to use their services, but then there is a lot less risk in trusting a one-off design project to a company in Manchester’s Northern Quarter, than in switching your entire TV spend for the year into an agency in Beeston, no matter what its MD may tell his staff on away-days.

In short, the London issue, particularly in the advertising sector, is one that is well past its tell-by date. Many individuals have made a good living out of working in advertising, PR or design without ever having to own an Oyster card. Enjoy the benefits of living outside the capital, but accept that the Man from Del Monte he never going to say “yes” when it comes to adding your agency to his roster.

Staff on the  regional trade press can also play a role in addressing this reality. After all they seem to have accepted that their own destinies lie in slightly re-writing press releases about the exaggerated spend some obscure Bath-based agency is claiming on behalf of a new client in the regional fried chicken sector, rather than in uncovering evidence of high-level political embezzlement.

As a post-script to this, I would like to pay tribute to possibly the only wholly honest regional creative I ever met, the almost-but-not-quite-legendary-except-in-his-own-mind-obviously Rick Kieswetter.

Rick (not so recently)

When I first met Rick, he was working at McCanns in Prestbury and was desperate to get out. At the time, we had brought Trevor Beattie down to the agency to chair the judging pair for the first ever Cream of Manchester awards. I swear, Rick hung around outside the doors of the agency’s boardroom for the whole day, clutching his book. As soon as Trev emerged, Rick thrust his portfolio into the bemused creative maestro’s hands, completely ignoring the fact that an incredulous Brian Child, then chief exec of McCann Manc, was a witness to it all.

Rick eventually managed to secure a creative role in London and, as part of his farewell celebrations, seriously discussed the possibility with me of taking out a full page ad in the following issue of The Marketeer. Ostensibly, this would be to “thank” all the people who had helped him achieve his dream, in reality, of course, the subtext would have been: “Farwewell suckers, I’ve made it! Now get back to your shelf-wobblers.”

Coming soon: Three other things the regional marcoms press really should stop banging on about.

You Get The Trade Press You Deserve

Distracted, as I have been, by watching two UK-based millionaires warn orphans, pensioners and nurses of the need to tighten their belts, this new instalment of my blog has been a little delayed – plus one of the articles proved to be something of a marathon undertaking (see "Who Gave Love a Bad Name?").

A number of people have emailed me and asked me why I have suddenly decided to write a blog, particularly one which covers some issues which are well over a decade old. The simple answer is that I felt the time was right. There have been a number of things I’ve been mulling over for some time that I felt ought to be expressed. This is not, as one correspondent suggested, a valedictory move on my part. Far from it.

One issue that has particularly prompted me to take to bloggery is how tame the regional marketing communications trade press has become. True the Drum has always been gutless and simply regurgitated press releases in the hope of wooing advertisers, whilst burying bad news – particularly in Scotland – for fear of the companies concerned retaliating by not supporting one of its 115 going-to-the-well-way-too-often credibility-free awards schemes. This is a problem that is writ large on its website.

On a side note, one thing that does amuse me nowadays is how the Drum has now taken to commenting on national and international issues, such as the BP oil leak, World Cup scandals and ipad sales. They really must learn to be more discerning about where they cut and paste from.

Whilst it’s almost quite endearing that the Carynx munchkins (pictured left) seriously seem to believe they have something of value to add on issues where they are transparently out of their depths, it is also kind of pathetic. It reminds me of left-at-home kids parading around in their parent’s outsized clothing, whilst haphazardly applying mascara and rouge to their pre-pubescent features – bizarre, inappropriate, wrong and more than faintly ludicrous. Best stick to exhaustive plugs for their struggling awards events and kowtowing to Propaganda, I suggest.

To return to my original theme, in an industry where smoke and mirrors are fitted as standard it is important to have a cynical and informed trade press, whether that be in a print format or online. Even how-do, much as I love it and continue to support it, is falling short in that direction.

A prime example of that is Love Creative (see again "Who Gave Love a Bad Name?") and its fortunes over the last 18 months. This is a story that has been bubbling under for a while, with the agency palpably cruising on its past glories and being sustained by a firmly fixed “emperor’s new clothes” mentality on the part of industry commentators – at least until now.

For proprietors concerned that printing adverse comments or not publishing every press release they receive will alienate potential advertisers or sponsors, I would say this – the ultimate prize in this sector is recruitment. To succeed in recruitment you have to be read not just by those desperately seeking jobs – usually the lowest priority for recruiters to access – but those that are wooed onto your pages by items of interest and then stumble across a job opportunity they can’t resist.

Ultimately, the publication or website that secures the most readers, the most word-of-mouth appreciation and the most off-diary/non-PR stories will triumph. Advertisers and sponsors will follow the readers, but the readers won’t follow anything that is awash with transparent PR guff and obviously skewed self-penned travesties of the truth – and yes, SASS, I am thinking about you metamorphosing into Mosquito.

The Drum and How-Do reported SASS’ MD, Jo Sass (above) in early March as saying she wanted to replace “"a traditional agency model that had started to feel outmoded and clunky with a more focused unit that was streamlined, nimble and responsive." Blimey that’s a relief – for a minute there I thought it was more to do with SASS’ insolvency hearing that took place two weeks later.

When your readership is as cynical as the marketing communications industry, you put your credibility on the line when you tacitly endorse stories that are transparently untrue by publishing them unchecked and unchallenged.

Every industry gets the trade press it deserves. The regional marcomms sector has obviously done something spectacularly bad to merit the services of the Drum. I just hope how-do rises to the challenge of providing an informed, irreverent and inspiring alternative. Go on, Mr J, you know you want to.