Wisdom Gleaned From Mad Men

After listening to a couple of Envoyers rave about “Mad Men,” I decided to see what all the fuss was about, so I watched the third season while I was on vacation last week. I know; I’m a late bloomer. But I’d caught a few minutes of the show during the first season that made me want to never watch it again: Draper was up to his usual antics of philandering, chain-smoking and heavy-drinking. Not exactly the warm, feel-good show I usually choose. [Note: sexism is also not something I choose to watch, and that’s the way it was in the ’60s.]

But watching the show last week, I was hooked when Draper actually told a client what was best for the client’s business. Let me repeat that: an ad exec told a client what was best for their business. Brilliant! For all his faults, you have to admire Draper’s insight and moxie.

This scene demonstrated an actual partnership between agency and client, where the client trusted the agency. Granted, not all of Draper’s client meetings turn out so well, but the fact that he was willing to go out on a limb and suggest that he knew what was best for the client’s business won him points with me. But, there is a lesson here as well.

If you aren’t having lively debates with your agency on occasion, then something is probably missing from your relationship. It is our job as marketing professionals to know our client’s business and its customers well enough—not as deeply as they know it obviously, but well enough— to lay a course for the future, point out missed opportunities, and continually refocus efforts on the wants and needs of the customer.

In his MediaPost blog Online Spin,”Cory Treffiletti recently contemplated what it means to serve as a client’s partner rather than merely a vendor. Treffiletti describes a partner as “a valued relationship” and a vendor as “an order-taker.” Back in the days of “Mad Men,” ad agencies more often functioned as true partners with their clients.

While we certainly have agencies willing to stand by and fight for their ideas there are also a fair amount of agencies who have become vendors. They take any idea the client has and turn it into reality. But if the client were so savvy in advertising and marketing, then they wouldn’t be coming to an agency, would they? Agencies that act merely as vendors to their clients do them a great disservice by depriving them of the expertise they are paying for.

What’s your relationship with your agency? Is your agency your partner or a vendor?