Getting Your Money’s Worth.

My new year was already ruined the other day when I read that LG Electronics is breaking a new ad campaign, conceived, developed and executed by Conde Nast. There are no external creative agencies involved, just the publisher using their connections to find a celebrity, create the ads and place them in their own publications.

Oh, and Conde Nast is doing it at cost. No creative fees.

My question is, who’s gonna watch the brand? Agencies are at their best when they prod and push their clients to make bold, memorable, profitable moves on behalf of their brands, based on unique insights and inspired creative execution. That’s why brands pay agencies a premium for their thinking.

So when I see someone giving away the thinking, it makes me wonder how much they’re paying the thinkers? Or if there’s any thinking going on at all.

LG is not alone in this cost-efficient approach. It’s been popular the past couple of years to get “added value” from vendors, especially web producers, by having them do the creative in exchange for the placement. It’s definitely cheaper. But what you get in return is execution, not insight. Ask your web vendor for an idea, you’ll get a digital answer. Ask a magazine publisher for an idea, and I guarantee print will be a big part of the campaign.

Smart brands lean on their agencies for objective, 360 thinking. Media neutrality. And smart agencies deliver unique insights about consumers, the marketplace, their products and competitors, then build breakthrough creative ideas that exploit that thinking. It’s the result of “free” thinking. Not free thinking.

Now agencies are going to have get even more nimble, by partnering with media companies, or even creating their own media, to complete the 360 cycle. The Mrs.O weblog, produced by Bartle Bogle Hegarty, is a prime example of an agency quietly creating their own brand to stay alive in this complicated marketplace.