The Ad Industry Is Not Like Crack

David Ibsen is talking about the “Dell Summit” at his blog, 5 Blogs Before Lunch and we’re going to chime in. Just in case you missed it – Dell asked a bunch of the best and brightest digital thinkers from advertising agencies to come speak with their team about word of mouth marketing. Those who paid their own airfare and hotel room bills include Bob Greenberg of Interpublic Group’s R/GA, Jack Klues of Publicis Groupe and Sean Finnegan of Omnicom Group. Their uncompensated thoughts and ideas were video taped for the entire Dell community to enjoy. When asked whether he was paid for his intellectual property, one speaker told AdAge that “No, I support charities like Dell.” Yeah, that’s cute and all, but you just let a multi-million dollar company take advantage of you. Stop smiling.

Yes, Dell is in review, which we’re sure made these guys want to go out and shine for their agencies. In the old school crack game circa 1989, dealers would give junkies a free bag, let them get hooked on the product thus creating “life time” customers. That logic, while great for drugs, junk food and in some cases sex, does not work for advertising. No brand is going to become a junkie unless you make them hard earned cash with those great ideas that you – oops! Just gave away for free.

The whole concept of IP is still being defined. Agencies need to collectively decide that ideas (the beginnings, middles and ends) have inherent value. Anomaly has managed to work this out. The entire industry needs to follow suit. Think of it this way – lets say that one of these presenters gave one of his throw-away ideas to Dell at the Buzz Summit. Their marketing team writes it down. They then go into their own meeting. They add a little bit to this idea and implement it three months later. This concept then goes on to fuel a 2% bump in quarterly profits and untold value through consumer perception. It could happen. The industry should be a pay-to-play one and that’s final.