Lightning Recap. Advertising: Who Cares? Summit

Like many, I responded immediately to Nick Manning & Brian Jacobs 'article back in May because I know that there are some big issues in the industry and it bothers me. I care. I care that there are wasteful and sometimes unfair systems. I care about the existential challenges the industry that has treated me so well, now faces. And finally, as Lucy Jameson , Uncommon Creative Studio founder said at the start of the day, I care that in good conscience, I probably couldn't recommend a career in advertising to my kids.

I wanted to share yesterday's wide ranging and packed agenda, to help gather my thoughts as much as sharing with you. So here it is, real quick.

Questions, not an answer

Chatting to old friends on arrival, it was clear that many here cared and had come with specific issues in mind. The event was couched as a start point to reflect this. A place to share the thoughts of the working groups and canvas wider opinion, sharpening the issues to address and offering initial thoughts on how to address them.

Stevie Spring CBE compered us through the afternoon which was opened by Lucy Jameson . It was a day of quotable soundbites but her comparison of the ad industry to the fast food industry in the age of 'Supersize Me', felt resonant. It's time to give brands what they need, instead of what they want. Lucy likewise, covered recurrent issues of the day from the creative side of the industry: saying 'no' to clients more & stop selling capability instead of creativity.

Also, an issue close to my heart is the 'age of average' which came up repeatedly. No wonder that's the case. The sage Michael Farmer , author of Madison Avenue Manslaughter took to the stage and gave a sobering look at the economics of the industry. Wonder why stuff is average? In his figures he pointed to in 2010 an FTE from an agency producing 11 pieces of work - and fast forward to 2019 and that's 311 per FTE PY. Go figure.

Jenny Biggam capably brought the thorny media workstream into the room. The simply wild amount of fraudulent media in play highlighted issues for publishers and set off a recurrent theme of 'Trust' for the day. Also raising the issue of a wider charter required for the industry. Difficult, as there are already initiatives in play but it's clear they're not fixing the problems.

But it was fantastic to see an uplifting case study from Jessica Lovell of Wonderhood Studios , Pippa Glucklich of Electric Glue and their client Rachel Kerrone of Starling Bank demonstrating how a team who clearly trust each other brought good work to life: from the intention of the client to neat creative to mindful deployment in media.

Denise Turner led the measurement workstream. My business DAIVID ?? exists specifically to reduce waste and allow brands to prove what advertising is working. So although it pains me, Denise and team ably highlighted the challenge of making measurement and effectiveness information easy to get, digest and use for the busy marketer.

Crispin Reed , featured in the image dropped some great qualitative research from teenagers and undergraduates. Crispin was fastidious in methodology but I certainly felt this underlined my gut feel. Advertising just doesn't stack up financially as a desirable option and that bad press? Well, the kids are on to us and we've got work to do to draw in those who can revitalise us.

Ruben Schreurs & Hardeep Matharu left us with a 21 point proven message: News is brand safe and effective. Noted.

Sir John Hegarty @ David Walden closed us out with a short, punchy session. Sir John brought some of his Cannes rhetoric to stage: very low percentages of advertising are deemed to actually work and if we were selling brakes we'd be out of business. Again, without trust we're not going to be able to get people to listen and change some of the issues besetting us. The platforms had got away lightly until this point, but we were reminded about the GARM shutdown. Not to mention platform behaviours that drive their profits rather than effectiveness or a healthy industry.

So what?

Well, I've slept on it and feel more positive than yesterday, leaving a little punch drunk. Recognising the demon is a good first step and hells bells, there was plenty of clout in the room to move this forward, from a UK POV at least. The way forward will be not one big thing, but many small things: better recruiting, saying no to toxic agreements, calling out bullshit when it's there, buying cleaner media, proving effectiveness more clearly and much more. As David Walden said, hubris has got us here and it's humility which will get us out.

Looking forward to carrying on the journey Nick Manning & Brian Jacobs