THE LABORSOF HERACLES

What the Advertisng industryhas to do in order to change.Illustration &Art Direction by Dimitris Klonos

dimitrisklonos.blogspot.com

With the economic crisis on the one handand the digital revolution on the other, everyadvertising professional has the right to feel like a

HERO

CROSSROADS PRODUCT

SERVICE

VALUE

COST+

Like Heracles, advertising has been caught at a crossroads: One path

leads to being a craft that offers a communication product that is

charged based on the value that it creates. The other leads to being a

professional service that offers consultation to clients and its charged

based on a cost plus basis.

Like Heracles, our industry has to choose not the path that seems

easier, but the path that will ensure a greater share of the future. But

even more important than choosing right, is choosing. Our industry

has been trapped on the same crossroads for a long time and this

paralysis stops us from moving forward.

DIGITAL HYDRA

LINKEDIN

GOOGLE+

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

SEO

BLOGING

The first monster that comes in our way is the multi-headed Digital

Hydra. Each head is a different monster fully equipped with tech-

nological jaws ready to devour the trust our clients have on our ca-

pabilities. And as soon as we understand how to cut one head, two

new heads spring from the monster’s neck. The Media proliferation

caused by the digitalization of our world is reversing the communi-

cation order and now everybody is both a sender and a receiver. So-

cial networking sites are convening communities of consumer advo-

cates and replacing traditional information sources. Consumers now

know more, communicate more and can be persuaded less. Now that

everybody has become a sender and a receiver, we need to under-

stand audience behavior, earn their attention and draw them into our

brand story. Commercial communication has become a conversation

and brands, rather than orators, have become moderators.

Heracles burned the monster’s neck in order to stop the heads from

multiplying. Our flame should be fuelled not by the understanding of

the emerging technologies but by the understanding of the emerging

cultural practices that those technologies create.

aUgean stablesCleaning the Augean Stables. A labor that was indeed, labor inten-

sive. Brings to my mind our everyday reality. So many new delivery

systems, formats, screens and experiences available to us to deliver

the brand story. The consequence is that creative output is increas-

ing exponentially in quantity. Where we used to produce 30-second

formats, we now have to think in terms of websites, blogs, e-webs,

digital radio, and SMS conversations, social media on the web, street

events, PR, and a whole array of new communications opportunities.

The amount of work that is asked from an agency has rose exponen-

tially. More content produced in more different ways should result in

more fees to conceive it all. However, with the unbundling of services

and the commoditization of our work, the trend is rather the oppo-

site. Clients want more but they are willing to pay less.

Heracles was aided by two rivers in order to clean the stables, we

should stand united and stop dumbing our prices united in order to

clean this mess.

mares of diomedesIn this Labor beasts of burden were turned into carnivores and our

hero had to tame them in order to stop them. Sometimes what is

there to serve us turns against us. The notion of the “Big Idea” which

was nurtured in the era of Media scarcity can become a burden in the

era of Media abundance. When a bunch of “Small Ideas” can create a

“Long Tail” of effective communication.

Our business model is adherent to the past and hinders our efforts

to adapt to the new reality. The latest innovation to our way of work-

ing is dates back to 1968 when Steven King and Stanley Pollitt intro-

duced Account Planning. Hercules had to feed the mares of Diome-

des with the flesh of their owner in order to tame them. We should

feed the structure of our industry with our egos in order to satisfy the

strategic priorities of our era.

Cerberus

SHAREHOLDERS

EMPLOYES

CLIENTS

Cerberus was the 3-headed guard dog of the underworld. It reminds

me of the 3 masters that every professional in our industry has to

serve: Shareholders, Clients and Employees. Each head has a will of

its own and bites you for a different reason. Shareholders for revenue,

in an industry that revenue is at the very least unpredictable. Cli-

ents for results, when results are hindered by their own interventions

and employees for empowerment, in an industry that power is not

always accompanied by responsibility. Heracles managed to control

Cerberus by dragging him into the light. Light should be shed in our

industry too.

τhe hero’s journeyNot every Labor had the same importance in our Hero’s journey;

likewise, every labor doesn’t have the same importance for the future

of our industry.

We can classify the labors in two axes: on the vertical axis we have

labors of a Tactical nature and labors of Strategic nature and on the

horizontal axis we have labors of internal nature whose completion

affects the agency and labors of external nature whose completion

affects the agency’s clients. The two axes define 4 quadrants, and

each quadrant plays a role in our industry’s evolution much like the

way the labors played a role in our hero’s journey towards

apotheosis. CULTURE, INNOVATION, OPERATION and CONTROL.

In my experience 70% of our time and effort goes to operation.

The majority of our time and effort goes into what we have to do and

not in what we must do in order to gain a greater share of the future.

We are operation centric instead of innovation centric. And it is the

definition of insanity to expect different results by doing the same

thing over and over again. Like Heracles we have to clean the Augean

Stables but we are not going to be remembered for that.

I challenge you, as I challenge myself everyday to devote a bigger portion of your time and effort in labors other than cleaning stables, a hero has to slay monsters in order to remain a hero.

WHY?

CHILD MURDERERHeracles, blinded by hubris and drunk from wine murdered his chil-

dren and Zeus ordered him to accomplish the labors in order to re-

deem himself. Let’s face it our industry doesn’t attract the best minds

anymore. Technologists, consultants, and in some occasions, even

our own clients have beat us in the race for talent. We don’t attract,

but more importantly we don’t develop our talent pool with the pace

that the era demands. We don’t train our people and we have failed to

create the intellectual barriers that will keep our offering from being

commoditized.

(HEra)clesThe Queen of the Gods, Hera haunted Heracles. Like him we have to understand thatwhat haunts us is what makes us who we are. Change is our lifeblood, stagnation our death knell. The only goal of our pro-fession was, is, and always will be to turn “what if ” into “what is.”