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Some tough love for Publicis

Posted by Michael Walsh (Check me out!) on June 20th, 2008
Tagged as: Uncategorized

It’s not every day I choose to rat on a colleague. Nor is it a practice I’m particularly comfortable with, yet there’s something about the way this episode demonstrates how some agencies boast unrealistic claims of starting (or igniting) conversation with all its connotations of immediacy, transparency and honesty that just pisses me off.

Two days ago, I received a Google alert for the keywords “Acer Gemstone Blue”. There have been so many of these of late I’ll admit to no longer giving them more than a quick glance but this time rather than seeing a re-hash of my own writing, I saw the title “Ugly Aspirations“.

Click.

The site I’m now on is part of Publicis, a London-based agency which, by its own claims, is “Part of the 4th largest communication network, spanning 104 countries and all 5 continents” and whose mission is to …”Ignite Conversations with ideas so infectious that consumers adopt them as their own and pass them on“.

Even better, is this:
“Our Values: Lionhearted
We are fearless, proud and honest: we always do the right thing, for the greater good of our clients, brands and colleagues
We work with total openness and co-operation: we are all on the same side; we behave like friends.”

Wow! An agency I’d be proud to work with.

But back to the article.

Not a long one, but written to dismantle everything my colleagues and I put into the Acer Gemstone Blue launch campaign. That in itself is not a bad thing, I love constructive criticism and am always ready to learn.

But alas there’s nothing constructive about it. It’s just a low-handed attack on the work of a competitor (note their client list includes HP and their case study post proudly shows off their efforts.

OK. While I’m the first to welcome advice, I’m also not afraid of defending my work, which is what I did.

After two whole days, my comment is still “awaiting moderation”. So much for the immediacy and transparency of conversation.

You want to ignite a conversation? Then you’re starting a debate and you’d better invite the accused along or at least be prepared to hear him out.

You want to prove you know what Messrs. Chris Locke, Doc Searls, David Weinberger were getting at in their original masterpiece? Then you’d better be ready to stand by what you publish (which brings into question the very 1.0, command-and-control practice of moderation).

You want to sell your clients on Web 2.0 (conversations)? Then you’d better look it up before you attempt to score a few cheap points at someone else’s expense.

It’s not my business to police the web and name and shame those who breach my own self-appointed laws and standards but this is a blatant example of an agency that either a) doesn’t get it, or b) thinks it’s clever enough to get away with not honouring its own mission and values.

Either way that damages both their and my reputation.

Maybe I don’t want to work with them after all.

UPDATE: It’s now the end of July 2008 and my comment has yet to be approved. I think rather Ignite Conversations, Publicis does a pretty good job of dowsing them.

UPDATE 2: Two months have gone by and the comment is still unapproved. I wonder if Publicis has the balls to give a critique of the Aspire One…

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