What I want for Christmas (apart from a Range Rover Evoque and a horse with legs that work) is for the last wave of agencies to finally grow up.
They need to wake up to the fact that it isn’t 1995 anymore. That having a full time staff of 40 while claiming to be experts in TV, radio, press, DM, PR, SP, research and all things digital is at best optimistic and at worst a flat out lie.
That it’s OK to have a small but perfectly formed family core of full time staff surrounded by a loyal but constantly fluctuating team of freelance and supplier friends. And that it’s actually OK to be upfront to clients about this way of working.
That yes, you can employ someone over the age of 40 and find they have a surprising amount to contribute. And no, bullying and 70 hour weeks aren’t the fast track to financial or creative success.
I said I wanted them to grown up, not grow old. To ditch last minute pitch panics and creative takes on the truth but retain the love of what got us all started in the first place – changing behaviour through great creative in great places.
screen grabs from the rather fab Advertising With Bells On by fold7