From my perspective, agencies have only one meaningful thing that sets them apart.
Their standards.
By that I mean the ambitions they have for every project and the way they go about realising it.
Of course sometimes it doesn’t work out as everyone hoped, but I am still firmly of the opinion that if you are doing it for the right reasons and have approached it with the care and commitment it deserves, that is still more beneficial than dropping your price and chucking any old rubbish out.
Of course some agencies – and clients – prefer the quick and easy approach.
That’s fine.
But they will never have the influence high standards affords you.
Where you attract rather than continually chase.
Where you can influence culture rather than just continuously mirror it.
Where you can pioneer rather than be an almost ran.
Where you have the most interesting people in your building rather than the ‘good enough’.
Where you can charge more for your work than what the procurement department say you can charge.
The reason I say this is because I recently read an interesting article about the difference between Apple and other mainstream technology brands.
Yes, I know it’s been written about a million times, but this article captured something that I think lays the difference between the 2 brands bare.
It is not saying everyone else is a bad company.
It is not saying they are makers of bad products.
It’s simply saying that there is an emotional value, whether overtly realised or not, of handling a product that you feel – or know – has been sweated over.
Where little things you may never notice have been given the same love and attention as the big, obvious stuff.
Whether you agree that Apple have it and other brands don’t isn’t the point I am trying to convey.
What I’m trying – badly – to say is that a lot of people think ‘craft’ is justification for being a creative prima-dona.
Sometimes – in the hands of those who want to live up to an image rather than live up to a standard – it can.
But in the right hands, fighting for the craft isn’t about indulgence, it’s about caring. It’s about wanting to do the absolute best thing because you know that makes a difference … not just for the people who will eventually buy your product or service, but for the pride you have in your brand and yourself.
It’s something worth remembering, especially in these days where we are offered short-cuts at almost every junction.
Unfortunately for me, after that heartfelt plea, I am now going to look like a lazy bastard by announcing that by the time you read this, I will be on a plane because I am going away for a few days.
It’s not for work. It’s not because it’s a national holiday. It’s for me.
Yes, I know you all think I am permanently doing stuff ‘for me’, but this time it’s true and maybe at the end of it, there will be a bunch of new things for me to consider, talk about, rant over.
So in some ways, I’m kind-of making an investment in the continued content of this blog.
Yes, I really did type that.
And yes, I feel a bit sick too.
I – and this blog – will be back on Tuesday. That should just about give us enough time to recover from that ‘investment in content’ statement.
Maybe.