I just wanted to extend a sincere thank you note to agency.com for their willingness to take a risk. I stand by my criticism of the video itself, which I feel is an example of terrible execution and what not to do to impress a marketing audience, but I applaud their energy and enthusiasm.
The reason why I am personally thanking them is because I have benefited from their effort in the following ways:
- This has inspired me to think deeply about the role of the interactive agency.
- I have had engaging conversations with many fascinating people and have made new friends over this.
- The effort has gotten me to seriously consider the differences between good and bad buzz.
- I am re-thinking how I present myself to clients and how I work with my teams.
- The video has proven the immense power of the social media network and how it influences and compliments the mainstream media.
I could go on. But I genuinely want to extend a thanks to agency.com for being the ones in the arena. In this whole escapade, it was us—the spectators who benefited the most. The very least we can do is acknowledge that they put on a show, stuck out their necks and actually DID something. And agency.com, I hope you come out of this with some lessons learned that will make your future efforts all that much better. Personally, I'm rooting for you. Thank you for having guts. I’ll end this with one of my favorite quotes from Teddy Roosevelt.
"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."
