Should Digital Agencies Be Blogging?

This Just In:
Publicis Digital has a blog. And apparently digital bootcamps too.
Update:
Tim McAlpine offers an interesting POV:

"I think many of the very large digital agencies are stuck in guarding the dynasties that they created in Web 1.0. Unless you are immersed in and actively participating in social media how can you really advise clients? You have the bias of the 'pet rock' comment above clouding your vision.

It's all about control. Blogging is about giving up control to conversation. Look at the popularity of Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, et al - the social web is taking over and this is hard to handle for the mega consultancies and, especially, the multi-national advertising agencies.

We are a small specialized credit union marketing agency that has a blog (http://www.currencymarketing.ca/blog). Blogging forces you to refine what you believe in and gives clients and peers a peek into the heart and soul of your firm.

I would take conversation and community over Flash and glitz anyday".

Take the poll
On the heels of Forrester's consumer Forum, Karl Long penned an excellent blog post on the state of the digital agency blogs.  He included a few interesting insights including what came up in his blog searches on Google.

"Searching for Agency.com and blog produces a slideshow suggesting agency.com should start a blog But no sign of the Agency.com blog yet (any agency.com’ers blogging let me know)."

"A search for Sapient blogs produces an unfortunate quote from their CTO in 2005 which characterizes blogs as the equivalent of the Pet Rock:

Ben Gaucherin, the CTO in question, says blogs “are a fad fueled by pop culture’s desperate search for the next big thing.” When I spoke with Gaucherin he was even more emphatic than he was in his news alert. He told me that blogs are the digital equivalent of the pet rock"

" RGA, AKQA, Whitman Hart, Blast Radius are all big interactive agencies that seem to be MIA in the blogosphere."

Now Critical Mass, has only recently started a blog and I can tell you first had that it's hard work.  We have a small editorial board and growing list of contributors who are committed to providing valuable content as well as finding our collective voice.  We know we have a long way to go.  But the question is—should digital agencies be blogging at all?  RGA doesn't have a blog—neither does AKQA, and they're doing just fine.  Well, sort of—if you Google "R/GA blog", one of the first results takes you to Vincent Thome's blog (an employee of rival digital agency Tribal DDB).  But Google search results aside—what do you think?  If you have a moment, fill out the poll, or leave a comment.  Would love to hear from you on this one.

Comments

[Gavin Heaton]

Working now!

[Daniel]

Sounds like a big question. Perhaps we should also ask what they would blog about? How often? Would their blog be public / internal or private (for the clients only?)

[Kaleem]

Looks like the poll / PollDaddy is broken.

It's reporting only 9 votes at the moment though there have clearly been 13 votes. (Yes: 9 votes = 100% / Other: 4 votes = 44%).

Or is this the new math? :)

[Tim Brunelle]

Of course they should be blogging. But don't think that not having a public blog hasn't stopped R/GA, AKQA et al from consulting on the subject with their clients.

[DA]

Tim,

That's an interesting point you bring up. How credible is consulting on blogs or other social media when you haven't done one for yourself? I guess you can do it, but it might make you better at it if you've got a few case studies under your belt.

Daniel, those are all good questions and no doubt ones that agencies would have to ask themselves before doing a blog for themselves. But it shouldn't deter them. If I were a client looking for advice on a blog, I'd ask for personal experience—not theory.

[Rage Creative]

We are a digital agency. And we have been blogging about our creative meetings since April 2006. I'm the administrator and I thought I had no readers until a potential client actually told me he read our blog and even quoted off it.

ragecreative.blogspot.com

[Mark McGuinness]

How about 'should bloggers be digital agencies?' for next week's poll.

[Tamir Berkman]

For me it comes up to this: Will you take advice of an accountant or a lawyer that only read some articles but never done any work themselves? So why take advice from a marketer that never blogged before. (You all know about Coke Zero and Sony psp flogs). I believe you have to practice what you preach. The first thing I've done in FRANk was to start a company blog. It's not much and we didn't "find our voice" yet but I think all this will come. The critical thing is to be part of the conversation as soon as you can. Because if you're not, well, you're talking to yourself.

[Armando Alves]

There are a few agencies out there blogging. Perhaps not globally, or doing it through individual blogs, but they're definetelly listening.

Some examples:
Avenue A / Razorfish: http://www.digitaldesignblog.com/
IPG: http://blog.ipglab.com
2advanced: http://www.plat4m.com/
Big Spacechip: http://labs.bigspaceship.com/blog

[Michele]

I work in an big agency in London and we have a blog: http://stream.lbigroup.com/

Search LBi and blog and you get it as well.

I think agencies and businesses in general should blog to provide valuable insight and give their opinion. Cause it's all about giving your opinion, isn't it?

[margaret]

I say yes as long as an agency dedicates a team and supports the effort (with time and resources). If there's no acknowledgement of the blogging team and time is scarce for the blogging team to find time to think, blog and discuss, then blogging will be just a waste of resources.

[David]

David,

Don't forget about Organic's Threeminds blog!

At Organic we've been blogging for the past two or three years - check it out at http://threeminds.organic.com

Best,
David

[Nicola]

What about traditional agencies? I don't see why it should be any different...

[DA]

David, Organic's blog has been a frontrunner. Karl mentioned it in is article and the blog was one of my inspirations for blogging.

Nicola, actually, I think I've seen a lot of blogging come from traditional agencies and most definitely PR agencies. Part of the reason I kept the poll to digital shops is because you would think there would be more...

[Kelly Shaw]

Blogging for the sake of blogging will produce no value.

If an organization has ideas, points of view or expertise they wish to share and explore they should consider blogging.

I think it is risky for an agency to initiate blogging to prove credibility in social media. When Ogilvy authored books he was motivated by his message not the form it took.

[DA]

"Blogging for the sake of blogging will produce no value."

Kelly, I want to challenge you on this. I started this blog without a strategy. I "just did it". Yes, I had a vision, but it was very open ended and I just tried stuff. Sometimes you have to try things, and in my experience a vision is more important than a strategy.

I do agree that your goal should never be to "prove credibility"—but sometimes that ends up being a side effect, especially if you leverage the medium well.

Of course, to the point of fake blogs and over the top "viral videos", the opposite is true. In the end, it comes down to a desire to produce something of value—combined with a willingness to "improvise"—and yes, experiment.

[Kelly Shaw]

David, I agree with bold open experimentation and I applaud you and many others for creating a rich and engaging blogisphere.
I simply include blogs with other forms of publishing such as books, magazines, podcasts, broadcasting, radio, dvds, etc.
I propose an alternate question:
Should Digital Agencies share their POV and expertise while engaging in open dialogue?
To which I answer a bold YES.

[DA]

"Should Digital Agencies share their POV and expertise while engaging in open dialogue?
To which I answer a bold YES"

Amen.

Agencies have bright and talented people working for them. Simple question is—are we bold enough to share, or do we hoard what we know? And can we deliver an experience in the process? This has been my mission—or "vision". Thanks for taking the time to talk to me here Kelly.

[Tim McAlpine]

I think many of the very large digital agencies are stuck in guarding the dynasties that they created in Web 1.0. Unless you are immersed in and actively participating in social media how can you really advise clients? You have the bias of the 'pet rock' comment above clouding your vision.

It's all about control. Blogging is about giving up control to conversation. Look at the popularity of Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, et al - the social web is taking over and this is hard to handle for the mega consultancies and, especially, the multi-national advertising agencies.

We are a small specialized credit union marketing agency that has a blog (http://www.currencymarketing.ca/blog). Blogging forces you to refine what you believe in and gives clients and peers a peek into the heart and soul of your firm.

I would take conversation and community over Flash and glitz anyday.

[Herb]

To echo many of the points here - you are what you practice.

How can you understand the conversation that people are having (note, stop calling people consumers) if you don't actively participating. How can you say, yes, this will be link-viral-awesomeness if you have never know what it feels like to get linked somewhere else (Mrs Sawyer getting linked around was a real eye opener - no, it was not about the ego, but how the info was shared, cared for).

How can a PR agency say the understand blogger relationships if they don't have a blog out in the open?

[Mark Goren]

For every agency that has a blog – traditional or digital or whatever – how many don't have a blog but list blog development/social media coaching in their offer, as if they fully understand what it's all about? That's what I think is wrong/dangerous.

I was just thinking about this the other day, while reading an agency's site. I know they have no experience there, but "social web" is there in the offer. (Site's not up yet, but I read the copy for it.) To me, this is not only misleading, but exactly the opposite of what this whole area is about – being real and honest.

On another note, I think your statement about vision vs. strategy from above is worth a post of its own.

Thanks, David.

[Eric Reagan]

Hey David,

I was just discussing this with a coworker the other day. It's my opinion that yes, agencies should blog. However, I think the best executions are when they happen in reverse. In your case how you came into blogging with a specific view, style, and personality. I think then if an agency gets involved and "sponsors" the blog—interesting things happen.
When I think things go wrong is when an agency has a blog that's a bit too branded. Or one where there are too many people posting....One where the blog loses the style and personality, due to the fact that its more a blog by committee. The best blogs in my opinion are those either run by one person or a small specific core group. "Don't lose the unique style & personality."

[Cynthia Thomas]

Yes. The digital agency needs an understanding of what it means to blog to understand what needs to be advised on when dealing with clients. But, I'm not sold on the fact that the agency itself needs to put their name on a blog in order to be valid. I think if the agency's team members blog in any capacity, and that experience can be leveraged, that is as powerful, if not more so, as writing their own.

If the agency blog has a purpose, then more power to them. But if they blog for the mere sake of saying they do to clients, that rings more insincere than not doing it at all.

[[ paul ]]

Seems like some of the comments here are assuming that if the agency doesn't have a blog, then the agency can't possibly understand the medium and therefore, they have no right to advise their clients on it.

This is a weak argument. Just because there is not an agency blog, doesn't mean that they can't understand and advise their clients in this realm.

You might as well be saying that if an agency doesn't have their own magazine, how can they advise their clients on print advertising? Or if they don't have their own TV station, how can they advise their clients on producing a TV commercial?

Yes, it certainly helps, and maybe even validates you more, if you do. But it doesn't mean you can't possibly understand it or advise clients on how to do best approach it.

We can't forget that agencies are made up of several individuals. How do we know that some of the employees there aren't blogging or actively participating in other social media and in turn, the agency is turning to these people to lead their thinking and strategic recommendations in this area?

Additionally, is writing a blog the only way to participate in the conversation? Or can you also engage in conversations by actively reading and commenting across a number of blogs/social media?

Anyway, to your question, should digital agencies have a blog? Maybe. If they have the time, resources, and a reason other than self-promotion for doing it, then yes. But is it a requirement to being smart about the medium? Not necessarily.

As long as they have employees actively engaged in the medium and those employees are leading the thinking and advising of it, then they have every right to smartly talk about blogging to their clients.

And as a side note, just because an agency has a blog, doesn't mean they get it. There are more than a handful of PR agencies out there who have blogs and yet treat bloggers like traditional print media when they reach out to them on behalf of their clients.

[DA]

Paul,

I think you make some very solid points. I do believe however that if an agency demonstrates an understanding of the medium through experience it's a huge plus. Obviously having individuals who get it and work there is key. I've talked about this before under the label of offering a cure for BSOS (Bright and Shiny Object Syndrome)

http://www.slideshare.net/darmano/a-prescription-for-marketers

Fact is that many agencies still don't get it because they aren't doing it themselves or are not proactive enough to encourage their people to have a deeper knowledge in these areas.

So, can an agency screw up their own blog? Absolutely—but then you would probably be less likely to seek advice from them. Well, I would if I were a client—and I've spoken to clients who are feel they are much farther ahead of agencies in these areas.

Eric says:
"In your case how you came into blogging with a specific view, style, and personality. "

Actually Eric, that's not totally accurate. Aside from the name of the blog—my first posts were fairly generic until I "found my voice" using the visuals etc. So there is an interesting challenge for any brand. Can your blog be a successful extension of your brand. Southwest, GM, and Dell have all worked hard at it and had success. The question is, do agencies themselves have brands?

A blog is an opportunity to own that brand—or it can exploit the lack of it. Either way—not easy to launch one that stands out. But there are a lot of benefits from trying and learning.

[André Galhardo]

Had to choose "Other".

OBVIOUSLY would be the right word.

Should agencies have reels, portfolios, case studies? :)

When I was a junior at JWT/Rio de Janeiro "Total Branding" was their "theorical product".

I remember asking about the authors during a training seminar. "Oh, that thing was written by top guys in London..." wow.
But ok, it did the job pretty well at the time.

But now that trends appear and die simultaneously, we're stuck in live a reality show - and blogs are the channels better fit for this new job. The conversation is the destination.

[mjmantey]

When clients are supposedly paying for informed counsel (debatable with some of the firms mentioned) vs. execution bodies you'd think a collective agency blog (or other tool) such as this one would show the depth of knowledge walking the halls. Evidently not so obvious.

[-challis]

An agency should have a blog (like its clients) only if there is a strong business case for it. I love blogs and blogging But I don't see any arguments here that convince me any given agency should have a blog. Having the expertise in-house does not necessarily equate to having an agency blog.

[Becky Minervino]

The poll results that I just received had a resounding DEFINITELY to agencies having a blog. (I myself said maybe. As others have written above, it depends on whether the agency identifies blogging as a means to further their objectives, and the staffing and resource to implement it well.)

I wonder if the sample for this research calls undermines the validity of the poll. Wouldn't people who read blogs inherently think that blogging is a necessity? If we were to pull back the lens and answer the question for a specific agency, based on their goals and situation, wouldn't we reach more varied conclusions?

[DA]

"I wonder if the sample for this research calls undermines the validity of the poll. Wouldn't people who read blogs inherently think that blogging is a necessity?"

Becky, couple of thing to keep in mind. This isn't a Forrester or Jupiter research poll—it's an informal effort published on a personal blog. However, much of the audience who reads L+E work for digital agencies from a variety of disciplines.

I think the discussion here has been nothing short of fascinating. I had a short conversation with Jeremiah Owyang who was puzzled in a regards to why I even bothered to ask the question (implying that it's an obvious "duh".)

But the comments and results suggest otherwise. Despite that this poll was conducted on a blog, The "maybe" vote is having a pretty strong showing.

[[ paul ]]

We're on the same page, David.

I wasn't saying that digital agencies shouldn't have a blog. By all means, they should, provided it's for the right reasons.

Just saying that having an agency blog isn't a prerequisite to advising clients on the subject, so long as the agency has people who are actively engaged in the medium.

Like you, I believe that if the agency has an exemplary blog of their own, it makes them more credible and gives them more authority over the subject than one who does not.

Your BSOS is dead-on.

[Sean Scott]

My gut feelings tells me yes, digital agencies should have a blog.

The reasons are many, but my shortlist includes:
* proof that this agency is passionate about the medium and not just the $$$ to be made
* proof they considered new biz tool that fall outside the box. Something other than a jazzy reel
* proof they are willing to take their own medicine before prescribing it.
* proof that this agency is okay with/promotes transparency

Not having a blog is not the end of the world for digital agencies as was noted by the exceptions. Some circumstances like having active practitioners within your organization dilute the importance of an official blog.

In the end if your bread and butter is social media, then you will most likely have an official blog and probably an official second life presence. If campaign and micro sites are more your deal, then the fancy reel is more to your calling.

[Tom]

Hey, your friends at POKE have a blog. http://blog.pokenewyork.com :)

[Simon Morgan]

Hey David, great discussion.

If I may, there were a few main reasons why we started the Publicis Digital blog in Australia (and forgive me if these are a tad obvious).

1. Google loves blogs and blogging drives rankings. We’re a relatively new agency and wanted to establish a quick and authentic presence.

2. Blogs are quick to deploy (and spread between a group maintenence isn’t too onerous). It suits us while we fashion our company web site – why do agency sites take so long?

I take the point that with a group you can lose the point – I also think a few of our more avid bloggers will cut their own path in the future. And good luck to them when they do.

3. We were, and remain intrigued. I can honestly say that the blog has helped a lot of our team and our clients ‘get it’. We accept that it’s OK to be always in Beta – so if it’s a bit rough around the edges, sobeit. We firmly believe that it’s impossible to be an expert in something that is changing so unbelievably quickly without getting stuck in - although admittedly there are also many other outlets for experimentation.

4. This one you all missed. It's bloody good fun. It has galvanised people within the agency (both creators and readers) and provides a collective focus.
We like that.

[DA]

Simon,

You've provided some insightful points in your comment. I would add a #5...

5. Comments/discussions that are likely to occur on a successful agency blog provide insights that you might have not had otherwise.

Challis, Simon's response may not be a "business case" but it's pretty darn compelling if you ask me. :-)

[beth]

I honestly think the reason more companies aren't doing this is time. No one has it. And they have no idea who to designate to maintain and write for their blogs.

[zeroinfluencer]

It's not the 'agency blog' but the person behind the post that makes the reading/participating worthwhile. People blog, agencies profit, sometimes.

An agency blog should just consist of P&L. Hands up who is willing to do that.

[Tarky7]

It is a gutsy thing to do, and many I have dealt with in the business world are very intimidated by the idea of putting a message out there into the ether without being firmly vetted by the legal team. *lol*

I take heart from the fact alone, that the Internet will continue to have great opportunity for those who are willing to overcome there FUD and take a risk.

Found your thingy on twitter by the way, have been following you for a couple of months now.

[See-ming Lee]

It's funny that you wrote this post because I wrote a blog post about specifically this topic on 2007-06-03:

SML Pro Blog: From closed to open
http://blog.seeminglee.com/2007/06/being-open-and-culture-of-corporate.html

(originally titled: Being open and the culture of corporate blogging)

Key points:

1. Web 1.0 = information authoring, @3b 2.0 = information sharing

2. Open source development, such as IBM Eclipse, reaps the resources available from the entire world to develop and improve their VisualAge family of products.

3. Wikipedia is statistically as accurate as Encyclopedia Brittanica in the world of knwoledge.

4. Corporations like Google, Adobe and Microsoft created two-way communcation channels with users.

5. Interactive agencies see blogging as a free PR device to influence the industry:

Three minds from Organic, Frog Blog from Frog Design

6. Free PR is huge: most people took note of Razorfish in the early days (~1997) through RSub. While RSub is not a blog, its social marketing strategy is similar to blogs seen today.

7. From blog post comments, Kam-hon Lee, a marketing professor in Hong Kong, suggested that being open "affrims the significance of academic enterprise. Knowledge (discipline) is possible only when there is conversation among scholars. The same principles are critical for any attempt in knowledge pursuit."

On agency blogging:

1. I think that the best way to demonstrate to others that you can do something well is to show, not tell (http://blog.seeminglee.com/2007/10/show-not-tell.html)

2. I also agree with many that people blog anyway. Since this comment does not represent the company that I work for, I shall not be too specific here, but you can easily figure that out on http://seeminglee.com.

3. I see being open as being beneficial both for the company and the users. You can only gain PR from blogging about your expertise and demonstrate why you have the know-how of everything.

4. What's your twitter?

Cheers,
See-ming

[See-ming Lee]

[Why can't I edit or delete my post?]

(updated with spelling mistakes)

It's funny that you wrote this post because I wrote a blog post about specifically this topic on 2007-06-03:

SML Pro Blog: From closed to open
http://blog.seeminglee.com/2007/06/being-open-and-culture-of-corporate.html

(originally titled: Being open and the culture of corporate blogging)

Key points:

1. Web 1.0 = information authoring,
Web 2.0 = information sharing

2. Open source development, such as IBM Eclipse, reaps the resources available from the entire world to develop and improve their Visual Age family of products.

3. Wikipedia is statistically as accurate as Encyclopedia Brittanica in the world of knowledge.

4. Corporations like Google, Adobe and Microsoft created two-way communication channels with users.

5. Interactive agencies see blogging as a free PR device to influence the industry:

Three minds from Organic, Frog Blog from Frog Design

6. Free PR is huge: most people took note of Razorfish in the early days (~1997) through RSub. While RSub is not a blog, its social marketing strategy is similar to blogs seen today.

7. From blog post comments, Kam-hon Lee, a marketing professor in Hong Kong, suggested that being open "affirms the significance of academic enterprise. Knowledge (discipline) is possible only when there is conversation among scholars. The same principles are critical for any attempt in knowledge pursuit."

On agency blogging:

1. I think that the best way to demonstrate to others that you can do something well is to show, not tell (http://blog.seeminglee.com/2007/10/show-not-tell.html)

2. I also agree with many that people blog anyway. Since this comment does not represent the company that I work for, I shall not be too specific here, but you can easily figure that out on http://seeminglee.com

3. I see being open as being beneficial both for the company and the users. You can only gain PR from blogging about your expertise and demonstrate why you have the know-how of everything.

4. What's your twitter?

Cheers,
See-ming

[Uwe Hook]

If you're a digital agency claiming to participate in social media and conversational marketing, you should have a blog before you have a site. How can you claim to be a marathon runner if you never ran in your life?

[eaon pritchard]

theres been a spate of digital agency blogs in London in the last few months but a lot of them are a bit 'me too'- by agencies who dont actually get it. No, I'm not going to name and shame.
A blog isn't an advertising vehicle its a conversation thing.
thats where some of them fall over, its just one way messaging (and unlikely to get much of a readership)
Ive seen them with twitter too, and they follow none! What is that all about?
Too many agencies follow an old school heirarchy structure that means every thing that goes out needs to be approved by some CD or other so rather than genuine open conversation it turns into spin.

[Adam]

Just in case it's been missed, the greatest agency blog in the universe:

http://wklondon.typepad.com/