You read the headline correctly; at one point in the recent past, Dell Computers employed as many as 800 separate marketing agencies.
And here I wondered why their marketing had gone so bland.
Imagine the turf battles. Imagine the complexity. Imagine the egos.
Now imagine the difficulty you’d have pushing even a brilliant idea through that mess.
Valleywag offers a typically snarky look at the situation — where Dell cast off its multitudes, signed a $4.5 billion contract with ad giant WPP, and asked them to essentially create a single-client ad agency:
Why is Dell taking a beating from HP? One reason may be that it didn’t apply its vaunted supply-chain techniques to its marketing. Before asking WPP to create a single-client ad agency just for Dell, the PC maker worked with 800 advertising agencies around the world. [News.com]
Never underestimate the power of a small team of individuals working together. It’s typically how great work gets done.
And never, ever underestimate the power of a mob (or a series of self-interested mobs) to blunt even the best work, which is precisely what Dell was experiencing.
While Dell’s situation was largely its own making, their situation reflects the fragmentation of an industry where we used to deal with only a small handful of media channels (TV, radio, print).
Organizations now face the need for specialists in everything from SEO to viral to rich media to engagement to “traditional” copywriting.
In fact, Dell needs all that just to power their own Web site:
Ad agencies are scrambling to integrate a lot of new technologies and disciplines, all while maintaining the aura of invincibility that agencies wear like armor. They’re taking a few lumps, and having worked at a few, would guess they’re in for a few more.
I’ve only been at this for two decades, but I can’t imagine a more interesting time to be in marketing.
Keep writing, Tom Chandler.
Technorati Tags: dell,advertising agency,marketing
Comments 9
800 is a pretty sizable number, but I have to confess, I steer away from “one size fits all” PR firms. When I recognize that my promotions need a boost in a specific area,I cherrypick that segment from a firm that specializes in it. I’m just a little guy promoting a book with a budget that fits into Dell’s tiniest thimble. But my approach seems to work.
Quote
Posted 21 May 2008 at 6:47 am ¶I find it incredible that Dell stuck with up to 800 different agencies until now.
How can you possibly maintain your brand voice with 800 agencies all vying for their own brief second of recognition??
Quote
Posted 22 May 2008 at 3:11 am ¶Wow, after their 33rd round of cuts, they now have marketers than personnel in their customer service centres…
~Graham
Quote
Posted 22 May 2008 at 4:58 am ¶Charles: I agree with you. When you’re buying into a PR agency, more often than not what you’re really getting is contacts, so getting the right agency makes sense.
Sarah: I’d say they pretty much failed on that front. The silver lining is they’re currently practically giving away PCs, so their failure is our gain…
Graham: Naughty.
Quote
Posted 22 May 2008 at 6:40 am ¶Tom,
The pendulum swings, as Poe once wrote. I deal with Dell’s supply chain regularly, and that’s over 3500 firms. Talk about fragmentation! But that’s at least manageable. Over 800 ad firms, that’s not. Customers don’t see the supply side, but they clearly want a single voice and vision from the company they make large-ticket purchases from.
That said, I think it’s also a mistake to go to 1 agency, and drop 5% of revenue a year into it. I don’t know what the proper balance is, but I think this will lead to yet another round of “Dude” (or was it dud?) commercials.
Dell has other challenges as well, so streamlining on marketing is important. This economy may challenge all the computer companies to develop viable visions. Or we’ll all be buying ASUS or Lenovo soon…
QD
Quote
Posted 31 May 2008 at 12:16 am ¶It’s likely the “single client agency” created for Dell will manage many of the existing agencies for them; an improvement in appearance, if not reality.
Still, I think a simple solution to Dell’s PR problems lies right here with this blog; they simply send a couple of us their latest, coolest laptops, and in return, we promise to rave endlessly about the Dell Dude.
Quote
Posted 02 Jun 2008 at 10:02 am ¶Dear fellow copywriter,
As a junior in this profession, I read your blog to be always posted. It’s very interesting, thank you. Typo (?) in the post above:
“While Dell’s situation was largerly it’s own making (…)”, just so you know.
Keep it up!
Quote
Posted 02 Jun 2008 at 10:21 pm ¶Give me a day, and I’ll find a way to blame that on Wordpress.
Quote
Posted 03 Jun 2008 at 6:20 am ¶I have been looking through graphic design portfolios all day and Dell is coming up alot.
One of the main reasons big companies (e.g. Dell, KPMG etc.) hire lots of digital agencies is to capitalise on their business relationships – there is a good write up on this sort of thing here -
http://www.demonzmedia.com/DemonzBlog/?p=11
Quote
Posted 18 Jun 2008 at 9:31 pm ¶Post a Comment