Gad Romann

It is easy to criticize big agencies for our own failings.

I’ve been traveling on the road to the future for quite a while now. I’ve always had a tendency to place the blame for the slowness of clients to adapt at the doorstep of the big agencies.

Sure, big agencies have economic practices to protect. But so do clients.

They both share in the blame (there’s enough to go around) for not moving into the future with clarity and alacrity.

But the real problem lies with us. Those of us who connect to new thinking are better connected to the consumer than most.

It was only a few years ago at a 4A’s conference that I discussed my notion that consumers have moved way ahead of the industry. I went on to say that we were still using old insights and old techniques for the new consumer who, for all intents and purposes, was leaving us behind. That our industry was the major loser in the fight for the survival of the fittest. And the consumer was the clear winner.

Evolutionary Psychology teaches us that there is much more to consumer “Trait Displays” than we realized. And it seems to be taking us forever to crack the code. All we hear is noise without understanding it.

Those of us who are intimately connected to consumers and hear the noise have an obligation not to blame but to teach. I suggest a simple solution: We should form an association, or even use ones we already have, to make impartial presentations to agencies and clients alike.

These presentations would be made by people from various disciplines from UX types to Social Media Theorists. This kind of approach would benefit everyone. Even those we don’t like. Think of it as the collective overcoming the tragedy of the commons.

To anyone who is interested, I suggest they read Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action (Political Economy of Institutions and Decisions) by Elinor Ostrom.

Let me know if you’re interested.

Thanks.