Can Creative Outsourcing Innovate the Ad Industry?

I couldn't agree more with Bob Garfield of AdAge when he wrote in an article "...the industry is indeed in a sorry state for exactly the reason we articulated: its self-defeating fascination with style over substance." One is blind not to notice that most U.S. advertising has lost its strategic flair and the creative spark that it was once known for. Advertising outsourcing is a wake-up call for Madison Avenue.

In a desperate attempt to stand out from the ever-increasing media clutter, Madison Avenue has become overtly dependent on a crutch called 'style.' Strangely, most agencies are unable to see or accept this reality, and are continuing the war of style over substance, as if the rightful way of building a brand lies in its ability to distinguish its advertising from the competition by means of distinctive execution. It is like saying, "I'm better than you are, because I look better than you do." Whatever happened to the legendary American advertising that once used to rule the world with persuasive strategies and memorable ideas?

While style & execution help build brand personality, substance is what creates a place for the brand in the heart. It is distinct from the style of the execution. Recognizing this is vital for the success of any brand.

Or, as someone put it quite eloquently, "While it is true that the manner in which an argument is presented will affect whether people believe that its conclusion is true, nonetheless, the truth of the conclusion does not depend on the manner in which the argument is presented."

What is even more worrisome is the sheer thought of the future. Unless the tide turns quickly, one can well imagine the kind of work the next generation of advertising professionals will create. Young writers and art directors are growing up seeing their overpaid bosses sit in front of Power Macs, scanning Getty and Corbis images in search of ideas.

How many of us actually care to even recognize the difference between an advertising idea and an execution idea? Do account executives even go through the painstaking process of writing strategy documents that lead to rock-solid briefs? Or is it all about churning out some glossy layouts with smart headlines before hopping into a cab to sell the product?

If one looks at a volume to award ratio, one can't help but admit the advertising power of countries like Brazil, India, Thailand and Singapore, etc. The advertising industries in these countries don't have as much media clutter as in the U.S. For this reason, they have not yet gone through the devastating evolution of style gaining a stranglehold on substance.

At the same time, the advertising professionals in these countries have been positively affected by the style or the look and feel of American advertising. As a result, they are creating advertising that can be defined as 'substance with style' as opposed to most U.S. advertising that has begun to symbolize 'style over substance.' It's a pity that the countries that learned advertising from Madison Avenue are today creating work that is considerably more memorable.

This is the primary reason I believe outsourcing creative services is likely to breathe new life to the advertising of the nation that once taught the world the art of persuasive communication. Outsourcing, if done right, can help the industry evolve by stepping back in time, doing things the way they used to done: focused strategy, memorable idea, and clutter-breaking execution. By outsourcing, clients may also gain substantial savings in creative and production costs.

Overseas Talent

Globalization through the 1990s has created a vast pool of exceptionally talented advertising professionals around the world who have experience with multinational brands, who still strictly follow the advertising discipline, and who create extraordinary work in the English language.

These professionals collectively have not only been successful in winning a large percentage of the world's advertising awards, but more importantly, have given their brands a first-class ticket to leadership by moving products off the shelves and gaining a permanent place in consumers hearts. It's about time that U.S. brands take advantage of these talented professionals, whether they are in Singapore, India or Brazil.

A survey by the McKinsey Global Institute discloses that for every $1 of business process that is outsourced, $1.41 is generated. Of this, $1.14 comes back to the U.S., while the remainder goes to the country to which the work was outsourced. Outsourcing advertising services will help U.S. corporations cut costs and remain competitive against their competitors on other continents.

The advent of inexpensive global communication since the growth of the Internet (video-conferencing, VOIP etc.) has made it easier to create a business model where different departments of the company can be located in different parts of the world, yet work together on a minute-by-minute basis. Layouts are now shared by email and film production and editing can be done in numerous locations around the world. Commercials can be reviewed via online streaming. The convergence of these factors makes advertising outsourcing a very real and viable option.

For all the potential benefits, marketers must remain cautious and take care not to implement the traditional business process outsourcing (BPO) model. It is imperative for the agency to have a blended-outsourcing model where both the offshore teams and the onshore teams contribute equally to the final work.

It can be extremely frustrating to get good advertising for the U.S. market if one tries to follow the traditional outsourcing model. The agency has to have a very good handle on the local market in the U.S. No one wants culturally irrelevant advertising no matter how cheap it is. Value is what one should look for, and value is more than just lower costs. Outsourcing is worth it only when brands get the benefit of solid strategies, enduring ideas and strong execution that speaks the language of the target audience.

And all this at substantially lower costs.

Benefits to Smaller Brands

It will be interesting to watch how the smaller brands will react to this new agency model. They will now be able to afford better advertising than ever before. Their smaller media budgets will work harder in the market. Outsourcing will make every product category more competitive, at least in the advertising space. Powerful ideas from smaller brands will fight the mediocre advertising of the bigger brands. Outsourcing has the potential to build a new generation of strong and popular brands.

My personal prediction is that the overall quality of advertising will improve markedly once the outsourcing trend takes off. Clients will no longer need to migrate their accounts to agencies in Shanghai, London or Bonn, because the world's best professionals will be working remotely for U.S. agencies and their clients.

American advertising will move more products off the shelves, win more international awards, and once again assume its rightful place as the best in the world where it had been through most of the 20th century.