There was a time when direct response marketers managed all their advertising by themselves. They bought their media direct. They spent countless hours producing ads and coordinating everything. Big stuff like TV, radio, press and magazines. Details like letterbox drops, search engine marketing, digital marketing, websites and direct mail to name but a few.
Countless hours went into planning, budgeting and post analysis. All this expense in the name of trying to make their advertising more accountable. And all because direct response marketers perhaps believed that that big fat Ad Agencies, Media Buyers and Design Houses are all care with no responsibility, or even understood or cared about their R.O.I.. Marketers might wonder if there would ever be a more effective alternative to 'D.I.Y. advertising management.
While traditional thinkers in advertising didn't have their heads around accountable advertising, D.I.Y. marketers were left to suffer the expense and stress of taking care of everything themselves. Then the solution appeared in the shape of an 'agency' that wasn't one. The Virtual Ad Agency doesn't look anything like a traditional agency. In fact it doesn't look like anything at all. Which is fitting, because many of our advantages lie in what we're not, rather than what we are.
While traditional thinkers in advertising didn't have their heads around accountable advertising, D.I.Y. marketers were left to suffer the expense and stress of taking care of everything themselves. Then the solution appeared in the shape of an 'agency' that wasn't one. The Virtual Ad Agency doesn't look anything like a traditional agency. In fact it doesn't look like anything at all. Which is fitting, because many of our advantages lie in what we're not, rather than what we are.
Imagine an Ad Agency that has no problems being tracked against results in real time. An Agency that not only understands how to develop response from advertising, but has no problem being measured against the results. The Virtual Ad Agency has a simple philosophy; to build brands in the long term, drive response today, and do so with an approach that keeps R.O.I. in the cross hairs.
We drive brand intention. We drive next day enquiry. Our success lies in our ability to balance both with no compromise to either, and in understanding what creates advertising success.
In advertising, change is inevitable, because we are all consumers, and consumers are remarkably fickle. One day we only want brands we can trust. Next day we want something new. Setting inflexible rules about communicating with consumers is just asking for trouble.
So at "The Virtual Ad Agency", there are no set limits, formulas or rules. The vehicle that drives results changes all the time, so it always starts with a pencil, a blank page, and a big group of people with the skills to go wherever we need to go, as fast as we need to get there.
The Virtual Ad Agency is a place where economic science and advertising craft join together to create a response. It's where economics and creativity meet to generate return. It's where initiative, intelligence, intuition and innovation are our daily bread. We don't have walls or desks or time clocks. We don't have any of the standard stuff that could lead us to working in the same old ways. Change is the only constant where we live.
So we've established that The Virtual Ad Agency doesn't look anything like a traditional advertising model. But where do we fit? This is always dictated by the need, the opportunity and the reality.
We live in fast-paced times; and our need is to respond quickly. We are fortunate to live in a nation of freelancers and outsourced talent. That's a great opportunity. And today, intelligent advertising has never been more important to business success – that's the reality.
The Virtual Ad Agency lets us design the type of agency you need, when you need it, for only as long as you need it, priced well below traditional agencies. The result is a solution that fits whatever slot you might have, even if that slot changes constantly.
So where do we fit? Wherever you need us to.
We may not have an office tower, shareholders or a boardroom full of committee members, but at The Virtual Ad Agency we still need to make a buck. Because of our low overheads, it's just a more modest buck than most. We're being perfectly honest when we say that to us, it's not all about the money. There's a heap of other stuff that we like to focus on as we work.
Some of the above goals are centred around ethics and simply doing the right thing by our clients. So perhaps there's a place for traditional values at The Virtual Ad Agency after all...
