So this issue I’m going to talk about parties.
You can tell a lot about an agency from the type of party it throws. For a start, in the branding and the theme you can tell how it wants to be perceived by the outside world. Then in the actual execution of the party you can tell how smoothly it is able deliver on that proposition.
You can tell a lot about an agency from the type of party it throws. For a start, in the branding and the theme you can tell how it wants to be perceived by the outside world. Then in the actual execution of the party you can tell how smoothly it is able deliver on that proposition.
Six agencies hosted parties in the Networking After Dark event. Five creative shops and one media agency took part, and there were some marked differences in approach.
The past few years have seen all sorts of talk about boundaries blurring and toes being stepped on. Media agencies are claiming they can come up with ‘big ideas’, while creative agencies are becoming increasingly excited about digital media. Some have even talked about the return of the ‘full-service’ agency. On the entirely unreliable evidence of Networking After Dark, this is still a long way off.
The ad agencies turned to what can only be described as ‘traditional’ party-throwing - relying on partygoers to come to them with the promise of being bigger and better than all the rest. They flexed their creative muscles to showcase their ability to out-think the competition.
So Ogilvy had decked out its office in its signature red and cornered some of the Festival’s most senior creatives. Unfortunately, the crowd quickly thinned when the alcohol ran out (the ultimate case of the brand proposition being let down by consumer experience).
TBWA went for a surfer theme, though in an interesting twist the agency had been putting about rumours that there was a lesbian theme (viral marketing at work, I suppose). The absence of any obvious lesbians undermined the proposition.
Euro RSCG seemed determined to show that it could compete with the big boys : its party featured tattoo artists and charity stunts. Meanwhile, JWT was so confident in the quality of its rooftop party (theme: pilots and air stewardesses) that it was held in a building most taxi drivers had never heard of, leaving groups of inebriated delegates wandering up and down a dual carriageway in a state of confusion.
The one media agency that took part, Starcom, took a very different approach. Creativity was notably absent - the only attempt at ‘branding’ the bar was a screen inside displaying a Powerpoint presentation about the agency. But what it had in its favour was location: a bar right outside the conference venue. And of all the parties, it certainly seemed busiest.
In a world of fragmented media, on-demand content, contextual advertising and fickle consumers, the future of marketing probably looks more like the Starcom party. Though I can’t help thinking it would be a shame to lose the lesbians and tattoo artists altogether.
Got a view?
Email david.tiltman@media.asia
This article was originally published in 24 September 2009 issue of Media.