Advertising, regardless of its order of emergence in the list of ?oldest professions?, was one of the first business jobs in the world to be outsourced. The job was banished from within the walls of corporates, if not halfway around the globe, then to ad agencies located in other parts of town. The documented reason may have been cost savings that tend to arise from letting specialised units do tasks they can dedicate all their resources to, and attain economies of scale on, but what sustained the arrangement was its success. And this success was based on two explicit demands made by ad agencies: autonomy and patience. If both these start wearing thin, advertising will lose influence. This makes it important to raise the alarm on any early warning signal, even at the risk of angering the companies that use the services of ad agencies.
The trend of ad agencies in India setting up dedicated/special units for single clients or brand accounts needs to be viewed with scepticism. It is done, typically, on the basis of an account size?a sort of singling out for special treatment by virtue of spending clout and therefore customer importance. But why should this be something to boast of? It is true that corporates often complain of inadequate attention from ?high quality? creative and other resources in ad agencies the instant they exit the audio-visual room and commit themselves to picking up the ad bills. Special units may reassure these companies of round-the-clock service, and that their budget size has such facilities at their command may even give them a testosterone high.
But there are two inter-related problems. One, it could easily erode the agency?s autonomy, especially if companies have on-location ?minders? or informers in place. And two, this mono-minded dedication to the task could isolate the agency?s special unit from the rest of the agency, and thus deprive it of the vital infusion of ideas that have their origin in the osmotic processes of multiple creative solutions being worked on for myriad brands of random assortment. The company might as well start doing its advertising work inhouse again, and watch its campaign get suffocated right under its headquarters? stern nose. There?s a valid reason that advertising requires a fierce, almost cocky, spirit of autonomy. And results take time.