This video is so compelling that I thought it might be interesting to transcribe what I feel to be the high points in a blog post.
The video features two of my favorite people in social, Gary Vaynerchuk and Bonin Bough.
The video starts off with a winner. When Bonin asks Gary what the biggest challenge in corporate boardrooms is, he quickly responds, “Everyone is full of shit“.
It just gets better from there.
:34 “people make decisions in boardrooms predicated on their bonus”
Word! I see that all of the time. A lot of ad execs earn their commission on placement, not on performance. So when you tell them to move money from a television ad to say social television it affects their bottom line.
Even though doing so may be better for the client, that’s not the main driver motivating them.
1:33 “I have a very tough time with what’s going on between agencies and brands…I don’t think their agendas are in line”
Agreed! Some agencies do treat their relationships with their clients as partnerships, but others are merely retainer based.
The brand client wants to move product. The agency wants to increase billings. That business model in turbulent times, like we’re in right now, doesn’t work.
Many agencies can’t perform well in an increasingly digital and social marketplace. They simply aren’t equipped to evolve.
So what do you think happens? They steer clients to do what they do best, not necessarily what’s best for the client.
The client also has some culpability here, as they need to up their game as well and realize the ramifications for not understanding the changes in the landscape and adapting accordingly.
1;47 “I didn’t know the rules, I didn’t know that you should charge for every hour that you sneeze”
The naiveté that Gary points out is the personification of the proven marketing cliché of under-promising and over-delivering.
Doing the best work and doing what’s needed to keep a client happy often gets lost in the endless pursuit of billable hours. Which may be why so many accounts end up in review.
This one’s from Bonin…
2:46: “out of the top 100 business schools, all of the descriptions of classes, only 1% of those classes used the word digital in them
Any wonder why we’re seeing a problem in marketing? Every year more and more agencies are falling further and further behind and they’re hiring people who know even less about digital and social because they aren’t being taught it in schools.
What ends up happening is that brands are hiring agencies who have staff members who haven’t a real clue about social and are gaining on-the-job experimental training on their account.
I believe this is why we’re going to be seeing more and more brands pulling their content development, and their digital and social marketing in house.
3:43 “abysmal! They’re talking about shit that isn’t relative 3 years ago let alone now”
The digital/social landscape is changing so fast that unless you have your sleeves rolled up and you’re in the trenches, you’re going to be lost.
The kids in school who are going to be tomorrow’s advertising agency staffers are so far behind because they’re being taught by people who themselves don’t have the foundation to be teaching them.
I love this next one when Bonin acknowledges the fear that so many brand marketers have when they are given digital and social advice.
They get this deer in the head lights look and simply freeze-up afraid to actually do something special.
I love Gary’s response. It’s classic and it’s so true.
4:00 “Nobody gets fired for doing television or banner ads”
How sad is that? And Bonin jumps on it by recognizing that not only do they not get fired, they actually become “DinoMen“!
He’s frustrated because these laggard ad execs and marketers refuse to grow and actually do things differently.
I couldn’t agree more Bonin!
4:55: “The fact that these organizations haven’t created ninja units to go out and make shit happen, is crazy to me”.
I have been screaming this from the rooftops to every client I speak to. The model where digital and social are considered spokes on a bigger hub is complete bullshit.
If I had a dime for every time the charade of integrated marketing has been said to me I’d have bigger bank than Warren Buffett.
Television is changing before our eyes. In the next few years we won’t be using the term social television. It will be how television is watched.
Banner ads? I won’t waste my time talking about them anymore. It may change in the future, but what you need as a brand right now is exactly what Gary is saying and what I’ve been saying.
You need to build an elite social swat team, allocate dollars and resources for them to work, create, and activate, and get the hell out of their way.
In closing the video, Bonin poses a loaded question to Gary. He asks him:
“If you could tell them one thing to help them (advertising agency and brand marketers) to open up their perspective, what would it be?”
6:50 “go tell their bosses what they actually feel”
I know that sounds to simplistic. But it’s the truth. Too many people are afraid of stating their opinion and having to work their asses off to prove that they’re right.
I love a great challenge. I will go toe-to-toe with anyone that challenges my convictions. This entire blog is a vocalization of what I feel to be right in today’s marketplace.
I don’t care if you disagree. I want you to prove me wrong. I don’t know everything. However I seek out and consume knowledge daily.
If you want to challenge me, please do. It’s how I grow as a marketer. But you’d better bring it. Because I’m going to tell you how I feel.
I believe that more people should feel that way and not be afraid to say what they think and accept being challenged.
How else do you grow?
If you’ve watched the whole video and made it all the way down to this point in my missive, you finally get the payoff.
8:08 “You’re too slow. Everything is predicated on speed. Speed is the game. If you can’t execute fast, you can’t win. Because by the time you execute on your promise, the world fucking moved on you.”
Amen Brother…Amen… There’s a reason I’m pumping out so much content. There’s a reason why I’m consuming great stuff like this video and commenting and sharing this. There’s a reason why I do a podcast and produce videos.
That reason is I can move quickly. I can own keywords in Google. I can make an audience react with a few taps on my keyboard. I can see a trend and react quickly to it to my benefit.
Yes, I can do all of those things. But the bigger benefit is that I can do it for my clients.
When clients want to take advantage and be early adopters I can help them do that. When a client wants to position themselves to influence their audience to move on an initiative, I can help them do that.
Can the agency you work with do that? Do they even know how?
You may want to start asking the hard questions to find out.
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