The Straw That Stirs The Drink

Every now and again I wander out on the
Internet to see what other advertising agencies
are doing. This morning I spent about two
hours looking at websites that I had heard about
or was referred to.

The astonishing thing was that not a one
of them was worth a second look, and I'm
talking about some very large agencies.

First, the ice cold designs are immediate turn offs.

Second, most of them read like a bad corporate report.

Third, you have to think that if they can't
design a website well for themselves, how
are they going to do it for you.

By the look and feel of these websites you
would think that none of the people involved
here have ever sold anything. In fact, I'd be
willing to lay a pretty large wager that none of
the people involved in these agencies have
any belly to belly sales experience at all.

And my second wager would be that the
"creative" people have way too much influence
over how business is done. Creative people are
a nice thing to have, and I employ numbers of
them for various projects at The James R Whelan
Agency. But they never have the last word.

Ever.

I always make all the final determinations about
what is good and what isn't.

There is only one determining factor about an ad
that is important. It is an extremely simple exercise,
and today it is forgotten while the industry pats itself
on the back for a job well done.

If an ad makes money it's a good ad. If it doesn't
make money it's a failure, and I don't give two hoots
in hell about how many awards it wins for this or that.

Make money...good.

Fail to make money...get fired.

Ads don't have to be pretty, they don't have to have
beautiful models in them, they don't have to have
the best photographer on the planet, and I could go
on and on.

What they have to be is effective, and you know an ad
is effective when consumers take out their wallet and
hand over their cash or credit card. That means that
all the right triggers were pulled and that the consumer
wants what you have to sell. And hopefully, they'll need
your product over and over and over again.

Don't get sucked in to the dog and pony shows these
mega agencies put on. They could care less if your
product sells.

Here at The James R Whelan Agency we care about
whether or not you make money. We're a profit
driven business, and we want you in the win column.

One website I looked at today has floating colored dots.

Floating colored dots!

That would never have passed muster here.

Spend your hard earned money with an agency that
knows what it's doing.

We are the straw that stirs the drink.

From the big saddle,

Jim Whelan
The Chairman of the Board

P.S. Have a happy and safe Indepence Day.

thejamesrwhelanagency.com
206 407 3124