“They are a Saatchi client, they are a Colenso client, they are a DDB client”. I hear this all the time from ad agencies and I hate to break it to you, but the deep romance you have with your peacock, trophy brands is often not reciprocated.
Just because I say Johnny Depp is my boyfriend and he will never give his heart to another doesn’t make it so. Do you get where I’m going with this? The Miami Vice days are over and, in the current market, you’re going to have to do a bit better then a couple of rugby tickets and a bottle of bubbles to woo the girl. You may have to take a long walk on the beach, listen to her talk about her feelings and even do some boring practical stuff like take her car in for a WOF. Imagine having to be honest and tell her that you aren’t the best guy to install the kitchen and you should call in a contractor. Frightening isn’t it.
Clients are more than happy to tell me that it’s their budget and they will spend it however, and with whoever, they want. The client patch protection mentality is out-dated and really doesn’t help your cause when you are competing for what can be slim pickings across New Zealand businesses that are at the big-end of town.
Stepping out of the jealous lover mindset and moving to the ‘she chooses to love me because we’re awesome together’ Dr Phil school of self-actualisation will result in a better client offer and a better client relationship. Instead of crazed stalking your clients with a shotgun, you can colloborate with other businesses and focus on what you’re good at rather than desperately trying to write poetry, assemble flat-pack furniture and get the top score on Guitar Hero.
It’s the sensitive new-age guys that are getting the girl at the moment, so it’s about time you dropped the macho routine and started rubbing some feet.
There’s plenty of fish in the sea.
- Courtney Lambert consults on marketing and communications in both the public and private sectors, and has a special interest in new media and interpretive dance choreography.
