Whose Hero Am I Supposed To Be?

DJ Smith / Mar 30th / Comments

As I read the AdAge article written by Mike Hughes of The Martin Group, I honestly couldn’t believe what I was reading. Could someone be so misguided as to suggest that the ad industry prop up the faltering newspaper industry? “It’s time the advertising industry did something important,” Mr. Hughes writes in the article. “For our own self-interest — and for the common good — we need to start paying attention to newspapers again.” Really? This is the message that you want to send to your clients? Oh, wait, did I mention that one of Mr. Hughes clients’ is the Newspaper Association of America? It might also be interesting to note that he began his career as a newspaper reporter and then editor. Regardless, I don’t think it’s my responsibility, even in part, to become the hero of the newspaper industry.

A recent CBS Sunday Morning report by Jeff Greenfield titled “Stop The Presses!” pointed out that “Just since 2000, daily newspaper circulation has dropped from 55 million to 50 million in the last two years … print ad revenue for papers dropped 28%, more than $11 billion – and that was before the recession really kicked in.” Mr. Hughes would have the ad industry become the hero to a dying medium because of some altruistic sense of responsibility he may feel towards it. He might believe his firm should be the hero to the newspaper industry, but my responsibility is to be the hero for my clients.

Each strategy, large or small, that marketers execute for their clients should have the client’s interests and goals at heart. That’s why clients come to us in the first place. To take my client’s marketing budget and throw it at an advertising vehicle that may prove ineffective for them is simply unethical. It’s one thing to make a mistake in the creative used within a chosen medium, but to throw money at something to save it is simply asinine. Not to mention the economy being rough. My clients would simply throw me to the curb if I attempted such a tactic either openly or covertly.

I believe there is no room in a marketing strategy for blind heroism. What the ad industry needs to learn is to be the hero for the clients who seek us out for our expertise in reaching their targets and ultimately their organizations’ goals. While the rapid decline of newspapers is despairing for sure, marketers need to spend less time focusing on methods of communicating that are no longer effective and focus on those strategies that get results. Certainly, the ad industry should never engage in self-serving notions as Mr. Hughes suggests. Clients deserve a better hero than that.