Often the enemy is in ourselves. And indeed, agencies that have decided to pull out or quit are sending a message: deterioration, lack of leadership, lack of direction, fear of losing, that they have nothing to compete with, lack of creative, internal crisis, decline, some of them, all of the above, or well, yes, maybe none of them.
And what can you think of an agency that resigns from ASCAP after not bringing a single new idea in 4 years? Or of one that resigns because it never joined or made any contribution? What can you think of one that wins abroad and then decides not to participate in its country? What about those that simply ignore the world and fight with awards and festivals? Or what can you think of those that in their own country do not even dedicate a decision or a dollar to stimulate young local talent?
We are reaching the days when we will have to celebrate and recognize the agencies that ignite the creative essence of our companies, to place them in the first division. Then, in the second league would go all those that have opted for obsolete models, stagnation, huge comfort zones, retirement or abandonment, irrelevance, not competing or the worst of all models, the cheapest. Although I recognize that if you have no ideas or proposals, lowering the price or returning commission is possibly the perfect sign of your resignation and recognition that you have no added value to deliver.
The advertising world in Costa Rica and Central America is rapidly readjusting, and although there are many attempts to disguise it in some, there are a few winning Costa Rican agencies in an integral way, among which I see Ogilvy, jotabeqú, Publimark, Leo Burnett and the new alloy in our intense Tribu DDB. It is also worth mentioning the creative search we see in La Tres, Father, Aguacate, Química and a few others.
In recent days, wonderful, important and inspiring companies have joined ASCAP, attracted by its focus on stimulating creativity, such as Eureka, Comunicación Corporativa, Camedia, Interamericana, Arte y Lógica, Initiative, among others. This is consolidating an association that every day will be more strongly focused on creativity, as it is the meeting point for all in commercial communication in the country.
Meanwhile, those who withdraw from Ascap or leave the competition in the Volcano deserve a separate paragraph that I will not include in this note today. The truth is that the pressure will come from within their own creative groups, as they will be able to recognize that they are missing out on the key exposure that is the local competition, for being part of a company that has chosen to ignore the importance of stimulating national talent in their own country.
When I started running I was told years ago that there is a difference between joggers and runners. And after asking what that difference was, I got a blunt and simple answer: those who run compete.
Your agency: run or jog?