COMMENT: Either move up the food chain or risk losing relevance

How quickly things have gone pear-shaped for agencies in Hong Kong. The first half adspend figures are in, and they don't bode well for the rest of the year. Adspend is up a respectable nine per cent, but the figures still make grim reading. Dreary China property ads, media vendors plugging their wares and restaurants and clubs dominate the table. Hardly the categories to light an agency's fire. With the American economy barely showing a pulse, it was simply wishful thinking to expect another category to pop up and save the day as has been the case in the recent past. In the last five years, one category after another - telecoms, technology and the MPF last year - emerged and saved the day. Yet pinning Hong Kong's woes on the economic malaise is only telling part of the story. The problems facing ad agencies in this town cut a whole lot deeper than that. First off, there is the China factor. For years, China has been vacuuming up investment dollars at the expense of regional markets, not just Hong Kong. Its imminent membership in the WTO and its Olympic coup may cast an even bigger shadow on this town for years to come. Again, China is only part of the story. With a market of seven million fairly affluent consumers, Hong Kong should still offer compelling reasons for marketers not to neglect this market. From the look of things, this isn't happening. If it was, would we have had the circus of agencies chasing after Cafe de Coral's US$4 million account? Probably not. Agencies need to take a long hard look at themselves. Are they embracing and adapting to changes in the market? Are their service offerings in sync with client demands? Or are they simply waiting for a new category to emerge and save their skins? As much as the economy is to blame, the reluctance of clients to spend could just as easily be pinned on a poverty of agency ideas. Seen the latest ads on TV? Isn't there a certain forlorn sameness about them? Why don't the ads make you smile, much less chuckle? Where's the dialogue, where's the persuasion? Instead, they leave you indifferent. Agencies are mired in a rut. The only way out is up - they have to move up the food chain, offer clients the ideas, the accountability and the returns they crave. Or they run the risk of finding themselves stuck at the other end, competing against vendors, including production houses. As it is, vendors have wasted no time in upgrading their creative offering - Another Factory hired former M&C Saatchi creative Spencer Wong, and Stanley Wong, ex-TBWA creative, is now at Centro Digital. At the risk of making enemies in the creative camp, there is a strong case for agencies to bring the account planners, the suits, the thinkers - whatever such talent are called these days - to the centre of their operations again. This will help agencies to focus on the issues at hand - the effect of communications on the market and how they can be more accountable. Isn't this what clients facing an uncertain market expect of them?

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