Here’s a sneak peek at the Jan. 16 issue of Marketing.
David Droga says he doesn’t pitch for work unless he’s paid to. Yet his agency, Droga5, is now more than 200-strong with offices in New York, Sydney and Auckland. He says his secret is having a point of view and sticking to it. He’ll make the case for Canada’s industry to adopt a similar outlook during a keynote address at Advertising Week (Jan. 23 – 27), hoping to inspire companies to become more than just executors of marketer whims.
What’s the theme of your Advertising Week presentation?
I want to say that we’re better than we think. As an industry, we put parameters on what we can achieve and do. I want to point out how fantastic the industry is, but one of our biggest barriers is not giving ourselves enough credit. I feel like we’re in a position right now where all the [business] decisions are already made and we just have to produce materials to communicate them. We’re much more than the backend of something. There isn’t an industry or a part of society that creativity and strategic thinking can’t impact. I’m not saying the onus is on the ad industry to save the world, but I’m saying we can contribute something to everything—from growing and launching client brands to dipping into social issues, educating people and getting involved in business.
What areas do you personally want to see the industry get more involved in?
We should be contributing more at a social level. I’m not talking about making little films for award shows; I mean creating programs, actually pushing back at clients. We focus on three things at Droga5: public education, children and the environment. We put our time, energy and money into things that have genuine outcomes.
What kind of work do you think the industry should create?
Our industry can create initiatives and programs, like Earth Hour or Live Strong by Nike. We can create things that are less disposable and make a fundamental difference. They’ll come from the same brains that are cracking funny TV commercials.
There are lots of obstacles to that kind of change.
Agencies undercut each other, and that devalues us as an industry. How do we expect to be valued by clients when we undercut each other? You don’t gain a competitive edge by compromising who you are. You get an edge by having a point of view, standing your ground and producing work and thinking that justifies your value. We charge a premium because we think we deliver a premium.
The shaky economy isn’t helping either. Won’t it push companies towards status quo or what they “know” will work?
No one likes shrinking budgets or layoffs, but doesn’t that put the onus more on the quality of what we produce? We’re an industry that goes through the motions a lot: you spend this much money and get this much attention; it worked before so it will work again. My god, we might have to rethink how we do things! We may have to look at the quality of our thinking and rethink client relationships.
Great work costs less, ultimately, than crap work. But I want to talk to clients, too. I’d love to be as excited about selling sneakers as I am about other issues. Imagine if we, as an industry, were charged to help get America back to work. What would our creative outlook be on that? You might be able to convince a client that the best thing for their brand is to show that they’re connected to America. Instead of advertising themselves, maybe they invest in communities and hiring.
Many Canadian agencies would argue they already have a strong corporate philosophy.
Every agency says the exact same thing: they all believe in “creativity and the power of strategy.” But their body language isn’t in sync with that. There are agencies that have programs that try to give back to society, create training programs, that donate their time to social issues. Again, I’m not talking about creating ads for award shows, but agencies that fundamentally do what they talk about.
So where should we look for inspiration?
Wieden + Kennedy creates training programs and is deeply connected to Portland. We work heavily with UNICEF and make sure we’re connected to societal issues. We just launched [an initiative] from our Sydney office encouraging every creative business in Australia to hire one person with Down Syndrome. Maybe that’s the privilege of being an independent company, that we get to do what we believe in.
Local offices of multinationals are a bit more hampered in how they shape their outlook.
Well, it’s about the individuals running [these businesses] and what they want to stand for. Fundamentally, our responsibility is to our clients and solving their problems. It doesn’t have to always manifest as traditional advertising. Maybe we partner—actually partner—with clients to contribute more to society.
