"Anonymity is Death"

From AdAge:

"A client's hire is a difficult choice these days, but I'm willing to bet the most unique agency almost always gets the win. Without notable differences, clients tend to go with the safest bet: a preexisting relationship within the agency or, quite frankly, the largest agency. But with a true identity, small agencies can trump these factors. Anonymity is death, and the lives of your accounts are on the line."

- Bart Cleveland

Comparing a small agency to an entry-level art designer or account planner doesn't seem too far-fetched. Be unique, win the job. Easy enough, right? But I'm starting to think that having a smart book simply isn't unique. There needs to be more than the perfection of content, as defined by the current standards of what people recognize and what they understand from their own experiences.

"If I'd asked my customers what they would have wanted, they would have said a faster horse."
- Henry Ford

The same think big paradigm applies to agencies; to clients; to business and the world at large; to yourself. Here, try to finish the following:

Horse-drawn carriages are to ad agencies
as motor cars are to  _________

Answer that, then go ahead and tell me how to put it in a portfolio. I'll split the earnings with you.

Serious.

Comments

[business alarms]

It will pass. And you will learn it in the future.