Averagely (s)peaking

The agency that best serves the needs of an advertiser might just be the agency with a slightly better average performance.

The other day I was listening to the “Taken for Granted” podcast which featured a clubhouse discussion between Adam Grant and Malcolm Gladwell. Part of the discussion was a hypothetical question: who do you think does a better job - a teacher or a comedian? Suddenly, a kind of epiphany emerged: a comedian thrives on peak performance while a teacher does so on average performance. I think that’s very true. To become a better comedian, you need to build a better act with the best delivery possible. To become a better teacher, you need to raise the average level of your pupil. If you’re perfect 1 day a week and suck at the other 4 days you’ll still be a lousy teacher. Every day counts.

Let’s think about running and two record holders: Usain Bolt and Eliud Kipchoge. Bolt ran 100m in 9,58 seconds. Kipchoge ran the marathon in 2h01m49s. Bolt’s average speed was 37,58 km/h while Kipchoge averaged at 21,18 km/h. Now, who’s the better athlete? If you look at pure speed, Bolt destroys Kipchoge. If you consider distance, Kipchoge does 100m distance about 421 times more than Bolt. Bolt is all about peak performance. Kipchoge is all about average duration. You really can’t compare the two, they are different disciplines. Yet they both run.

This made me think about advertising pitches. Advertisers are looking for agencies to run marathons with them, yet they measure performance and make selections based on 100m sprints. During a pitch, an agency is working at peak performance with very little constraints. No budgets. Unlimited review rounds. We gather the best people to create a bunch of pitch-winning creatives that will never work on that client again. Of course creatives love pitches, they can unleash their unbound creativity and work together with a whole team. For the same reason, agency-owners hate pitches. They cost a lot of money and it’s showing off in a way that’s not very representative. The agency that performs the best sprint, no matter the cost, is selected. Even if it’s a far cry from the agency that will be needed on a day to day basis.

The agency that best serves the needs of an advertiser might just be the agency with a slightly better average performance. An agency that’s better on a day-to-day basis, on all levels, going from account to creative to execution. An agency that knows how to organise itself around tight deadlines and budgets. The one that develops a working relationship based on trust and experience. An agency that’s averagely better but never mediocre. So before you pitch as a brand, you might ask yourself what you really need: a sprinter or a marathon runner, a comedian or a teacher?

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