December 22, 2004
hughtrain deliverables
Earlier I wrote about how to make The Hughtrain commercially viable.
There's a reason. Last week I was in London talking to a company about the very same subject. Things are moving ahead.
Here's the thing: It's all about deliverables.
Hughtrain is a good, robust philosophy, but it also needs to offer tangible stuff the client can use.
Certainly, you can hire me as some sort of "creative consultant" or whatever, but I think the final list of deliverables should be a bit more interesting than just having some crazy half-Scot turn up at your office and start yappin'.
In 5 years' time a big chunk of the current advertising industry is going to be unemployed. What's going to keep the remaining chunk employed?
Well, as The Hughtrain states, the future of advertising is internal. How your company talks to each other (internally) will become ever more important than how the company talks to other people (externally).
Right now advertising agencies are good at the external stuff. That's what they mostly do.
I'm looking into building tools that allow ad agencies to better help their clients control the internal conversation. It also has other possible applications, like making large technology implementations less culturally disruptive, which is a base the agencies don't even cover yet.
Believe me, it has NOTHING to do with the usual advertising detritus: funky ad campaigns, awards, Flash animation etc etc.
With the help of my partners, I can build this stuff and sell it directly to the client, or I can license it to a large agency network e.g Ogilvy, Euro, Publicis etc.
Obviously, the margins are higher without the agencies. But the agencies already have the relationships with large companies well-established, which makes large-scale implementation a lot easier. Both angles have their trade-offs.
So that is what I'm currently working on.
If you're a high-up at a large, international ad agency, I would like to talk to you. Or if you know anyone who fits that decription, please pass this link along. Thanks.
Email: hugh at gapingvoid etc.
[SEE ALSO:] My 10 Best Ideas: The best ideas I've had working in the advertising business.
Posted by hugh macleod at December 22, 2004 9:09 PM | TrackBackHugh,
I think you have the Hughtrain on the right track... the real need is to change the way companies think on the INSIDE... but it seems to me that you should go straight to the companies and avoid the advertising agencies.
I've only been reading your blog for a while (so forgive me if I'm off base), but it seems that your views and the views of "mainstream advertising agencies" have parted company long ago.
Why not create a sort of "Hughtrain Experience" (multi-day workshop/exercises/lectures from Hugh) that would help companies re-align their thinking and change course? If you want to try out ideas, I would be happy to help put something like that together!
Posted by: Dave Wheeler at December 22, 2004 11:29 PMPoint taken, Dave. I mostly agree.
There are a few niches out there, though. Wee pockets, skunk work opportunities etc.
Time will tell. The biz model works both with and without an agency's help. It's good to not be beholden to any one option.
Hugh
Posted by: hugh macleod at December 23, 2004 12:15 AM1. powerpoint case studies for internal use for agencies, powerpoint is the natural language of agencies.
2. newsletter / email / rss, something comes out each month that talks about the sinking ship, agencies pay for useless versions of of this now to lots of sydicated places.
3. monthly audio (mp3) of conversations, interviews, etc..could be from your speaking gigs or wherever.
4. monthly web only sessions, most agencies use some type of groupware, i had to do tons of these.
5. hugh-matcher, a client sells a product, you match them up with the top bloggers that talk about that product or products like it.
just some ideas.
cheers,
pt
Re: more ideas
some shots in the dark, etc.
#2 & #4. I have some experience with sending out "useless newsletters" to agencies, it was hard keeping them onboard for good amounts of time let's just say.
#3 podcasts/montly audio might be cool. don't know much about this, but I'd listen to it at least once a month, esp. if it had some gapingvoid style humor to it and were sent to my email i.e. adrants &/or easily downloadable.
#6 You might've already considered this, but ever thought about what youth i.e. advertising interns/students may be able to offer? Blogs are definitely resume/internship/credit worthy these days. Plus, the more students/youth turn towards blogging the more valuable/notable blogs'll become.
Posted by: Nick at December 23, 2004 11:53 AM
That's more like it Hugh,
You are a visionary & need to think bigger than £250/day consulting gigs (even if you are broke right now). I think reinventing advertising to help companies communicte memes within the organisation is a big idea. I imagine it will be both rewarding and profitable.
Posted by: simon tzu at December 23, 2004 3:16 PMWhat's youth got to do with IT?
Posted by: Nancy at December 23, 2004 5:10 PMI love to see the "deliverable" coming together before our eyes...
One thought/warning as you work on the Internal angle: companies are not used to spending money on initiatives that do not directly deliver sales. Internal marketing IS growing, but at the end of the day if there is no ROI or link to "moving cases" it's going to be hard to rationalize the investment.
For example, I have a hard time getting clients to invest in pretty basic internal communications tools (e.g. Wiki). While a brand manager can authorize spending on the brand or external advertising, they typically wait for IT or "corporate marketing" with their limited budgets to do the inside stuff.
When you build the Internal Deliverable with ROI you'll have the Holy Grail! Good luck!
bob
Posted by: Bob G at December 26, 2004 3:00 PM