Ad agencies don't worship at their own temple

I just read Al Ries’ commentary in the Aug.8 Adweek, “Ad Agencies Should Take Their Own Advice”, where he points out that advertising agencies do very little advertising themselves. He then asks the rhetorical question, “Why is that?”

It seems that ad agencies like to convince their clients to spend great amounts in advertising but do not themselves practice what they preach.

Would we take our vehicles to an auto mechanic who doesn’t own a car or believe in them? Would we go to a doctor who thinks that prescribing medicine is a waste of time and money?

Most advertising either fails to deliver ROI or it cannot be measured so results are dubious, at best. From what I’ve seen, most advertising that comes from agencies is geared more toward pleasing the client and making sure the message cannot possibly be seen as controversial rather than writing strong headlines that select the right audience and then communicate benefits that motivate action. Most advertising seems to be for vanity’s sake so clients can say, “Did you see us in _____”? They then mistakenly believe that being visible is the same as building a strong brand or planting the seeds of strong customer relationships.

One of my favorite columnists is Tom Collins who contributes to Direct Magazine where he analyzes print advertisements critically from a direct marketing/copywriting perspective. Almost every one of his critiques highlights the colossal waste of advertising dollars that are spent to create ads that lack any compelling elements whatsoever. In fact, many of the print ads seen these days feature “big art” creative that just screams out “I’m an ad” and we instinctively and immediately turn the page.

Anyone who is familiar with me or my philosophy knows that I am a proponent of marketing communications that communicate core brand values while at that same time communicating compelling calls to action. Therefore, I believe that ads should both support the brand and contain a measurable direct response element.

What about you? I’d like to hear from you if you have invested in advertising through an ad agency and hear your story first-hand about how happy you were with the results. Let’s hear the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Is Al Ries right? Do advertising agencies not practice what they preach because they don’t believe their product produces satisfactory results?