I just recently read Maureen Morrison’s special report on the 4A’s conference. In this article Andrew Benett, CEO of Arnold worldwide stated that “We say ‘Talent is our number one asset,’ but you look more into it and you look at how managers are, revenue is more important.” I believe that the industry in general may be losing the best and the brightest because of one word: Loyalty, or more to the point the lack there of. Having worked for a few different shops over the years maybe I had just excepted the “reality” of “agency life”. That reality being that staff come and go, just like accounts. A shop wins big and hires people on. Those hires— who more or less get tossed into the grinder of an agency mostly left to “figure it out” for themselves with little or no training or guidance—work day and night for the direct benefit of the agency. They forego vacations. They miss kids plays. They spend weekends at the office instead of with family. They forget anniversaries and birthday’s. They will even work through Christmas all for the benefit of the agency. Then one day they will walk into their office and get a call from HR to say that they are being let go. Now, some lay offs are inevitable, even unavoidable but more often than not agencies have developed a “Revolving door” mentality. It becomes standard operating procedure rather than a last resort. I recall one story of a young and extremely talented art director I knew many years ago. This guy was a “natural” he just got it. His work was always highly creative and conceptual, I was quite envious that this guy could do a year out of school what I have struggled to do for years. After about year in to his first job the shop he was at (also know for it’s revolving door) began a series of layoffs that took almost three painful, dread filled weeks to complete. After the dust cleared and the axe was put away, he found he was still on the payroll. He called me to let me know. “You OK?” I asked. “Yeah, but not really.” He said. My first thought was maybe the axe was merely being sharpened for the next round rather than being put away but he assured me that he had talked with the powers that be and was told he was going to stay on. “I think I’m going to quit.” was his next statement. “What? Why? You made it, you’re still there, they kept you on.” What he said next brought everything I thought I knew about how the business works into sharp focus. “Craig, I got into this business because I love to create ads, I love to design, I love to learn new things. I was never happier than when I got that call saying the shop wanted to hire me. However, I have spent the last year working with some great people who have been doing this longer than I, teaching me, inspiring me. These people have worked day and night, weekends and holidays, because they love what they do and the company they are doing it for. They have worked harder and longer than any other people I have ever worked with. And if this is how one gets rewarded for doing that, I rather do something else, anything else where I’m appreciated and valued and not seen as overhead at the first sign of trouble.”

He did quit. Left the business altogether. I was saddened. Not for me or him but for the business because this business needs talent like him. And it had him, and like a bad date drove him away.

Mr. Benett said “This is a major, major issue and it will take everyone in the room — times 10, times 100 — to fix the problem. We need a commitment from the industry and our agencies.”

If as agencies we claim to be “problem solvers” then let’s tackle this one before we drive all the talent away.

Nice job from Virgin Mobile! Very un-cell phone like advertising and stands out wonderfully. Gave me a chuckle and made me attentively watch the whole thing.

As the “Big Game” looms, I thought I would post one of my favorite SuperBowl spots. It is one of my favorites not only because it was well done and simply execute, but because it also spoke to me and countless others more so than just a spot for Apple but a rallying cry. No matter what business we were in it, it validated that challenging the expected, and questioning the status quo was not only ok, it was what defined the average from the exceptional. It still very much feels that way today.

Somewhere in your agency, sacred cows lurk in the hallways. They’re wandering through the HR department, or chewing cud in CEO suite. You might even have one curled up in your own office.

Sacred cows are the unquestioned rules, dogmatic systems, and ways of working that seem off-limits to change.

The problem is, sacred cows block potential. If you blindly accept a pattern, or worse, feel forbidden to challenge it, then you can’t improve it. You become stuck. And stuck is the antithesis of everything we stand for.

Only by testing the legitimacy of a sacred cow can you create the best solutions. Here’s an example. In our industry, the following statement is accepted fact:

Advertising agencies are creative.

We share a vested interested in maintaining this reality. We don’t even think to question it.

Yet this statement is only partially true. Yes, we are the most innovative group around– when it comes to our clients. However when it comes to our own companies, we’re remarkably unimaginative. Rarely do we stop, look around, and reinvent the way we work.

The reality is, certain agency practices are ineffective, obsolete, or even unfair. Yet they remain standard policy.

I say, we should turn our exquisite insight upon our own agencies, identify the sacred cows, and usher them out the door.

I say, we accept too much, and question too little. We buy full-fare plane tickets without hesitation, then eliminate microwave popcorn due to budgetary constraints.

We centralize agency ownership into a few holding companies, then wonder why the work feels homogenized.

We ask clients to approve ideas that make their palms sweat, but rarely have the nerve to present just one campaign.

We leave weeks to research a strategy, and three days to create the campaign.

We always have time for revisions, but never enough time to get it right the first time.

We water down ideas to avoid conflict, then end up with ideas that lack passion.

We compromise too much on our work, and compromise too little on the sick day policy.

We spend so much time putting out fires that we’ve become better firemen, and lesser architects.

We search for fresh options by scrolling down the Fonts menu.

We request “real people” from Central Casting.

We create TV spots for a living, then fast-forward through them on Tivo.

We recommend an honest “veritae” style of photography to clients whose ads might not necessarily tell the whole truth.

In new business, we try to seem bigger, unless we’re a big agency, in which case we try to seem smaller and more boutique-y.

We kill ourselves to build revenue, then miss the good ol’ days when it was all about the work.

Our job is to develop unique identities for brands, yet we ourselves have virtually indistinguishable mission statements.

We’re communication experts, yet often communicate quite poorly among each other.

Our work requires inspiration, but leaves little time to find it.

We entice new hires with a big jump in pay, but reward loyalty with a minimum annual raise.

Creatives who win awards on glamorous clients get a raise, but creatives who take one for the home team by producing mediocre work on difficult assignments end up with a lower market value.

We hire individualists who are just conformist enough to be presentable to the client.

We promote some of the most talented creatives into positions where they no longer create work.

We pour our hearts into nurturing young talent, but if we do our job well, they’ll leave the nest for another agency.

We squeeze people out of the business by age 50, then lose our way without mentors.

We have miles of spreadsheets analyzing precisely what people want, but often don’t realize how to make employees happier.

We treat color printers more carefully than employees. Computer viruses are an emergency, but diseased morale is status quo.

We spend $10,000 on recruiting an employee for whom we can’t afford a $1 birthday card.

We forget to tell clients, “Yes it’s now technologically possible to assemble and email a concept in less than an hour, but the human brain’s timeline for brilliant ideas hasn’t changed.”

Do you recognize any of these sacred cows roaming around your office?

Stand back, and take a big picture look at the way you do business. Challenge each practice to see whether it’s a smart way of doing business, or a sacred cow. Poke it. Test it. Make it uncomfortable. Make it prove itself.

If a practice still seems right after being challenged, then great. Keep going.If you find a cow, get right to the core of the problem. Usually it’s benign neglect, but sometimes it’s complacency, or myopic accounting, or ego, or something equally awkward to bring up.

At that point, start talking about it.

Over dinner.

While eating a bloody rare steak.