Mastering all trades.
Daniel Wildman was born in 1760.
He was a proficient horse rider and a serious bee man.
But above all, he was a show off.
He devised an act where he would ride, standing one legged on the neck of a horse.
Nothing particularly impressive there, especially in an age when the main means of transport was equestrian.
However, add into this that he performed his showpiece while wearing a beard of bees.
And firing a gun which would make the bees move from one location to another.
He realised that being great at just one thing wasn’t going to get him very much attention.
In our industry, this is all you hear – be good at just one discipline and stick to it.
But the world has changed and those in marketing departments have less and less time to deal with a multitude of ‘specialists’.
Clients need agency partners that can at least deliver (with expertise) 90% of their communications requirements. In old money, we call this full-service.
Having one agency take care of the advertising, while speaking to another about social and then briefing digital updates via a conference call is such a drag.
It’s always been the case that great ideas can come from anywhere and if you have a seat at the table, it’s your duty to submit pearls as often as you can.
This is not to say that there isn’t room for specialists when necessary but more and more, they are the implementers of sound strategic thinking that comes from a lead agency who have a couple of holes in their capabilities.
We operate in a greedy industry and every agency always wants more.
And we unashamedly want to offer you a full-service of strategy, advertising, PR, design, social and digital.
But you only get more by offering more.