Selling the Invisible: a field Guide to Modern Marketing \(Biz Books to Go\) pdfdrive com

Stand by Your Brand
It is the tale of the wild world of advertising, perhaps—but the moral often is
missed.
A hot ad agency emerges. It wins dozens of awards and the adoration of a
hungry trade press looking for the newest thing. Eventually, the hot agency wins
a big account. If it is good and lucky, the agency keeps that account and wins
even more. It becomes a brand.
Almost everyone is happy. Everyone except George, Ed, Mary, and Nancy—
the team who did all the work for which their agency is taking credit. Flush with
confidence, the foursome meet secretly and make a decision. They will haul their
Clios, their clippings, and their prodigious talent to a neat loft downtown and

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build their own hot agency.
Remember that George, Ed, Mary, and Nancy comprise the entire team—the
account person, media planner, writer, and art director—who created those
fabulous commercials that made the hot agency hot. They are the people that
Coca-Cola trusted with $60 million.
Does this tale end with our four heroes living happily ever after? Sadly, no.
Their new agency gets a nice assignment here and there, but for years, they
struggle with tight budgets, fewer clippings, and a growing sense that something
is missing.
What has happened? George, Ed, Mary, and Nancy still have the talent and
experience—but they no longer have the brand.
All they have lost is their brand. But the loss is enormous.
The four struggle on, thinking that prospective clients will see through the
sheer folly of this brand thing and recognize that GEM&N are really their old
brand agency under a new roof—and with much lower overhead to boot.
And then one Friday, George locks GEM&N’s doors behind him for the last
time.
GEM&N were not beaten by bad planning, the sudden disappearance of their
muses, or a U-turn in the economy. They were beaten by a brand—the one they
lost and never regained.