I am sure that you will agree with me that, with the economic crisis on the one hand and the digital revolution on the other, every advertising professional has the right to feel like a HERO. Therefore I will use the greatest hero of the past as an example for the future.

1. THE LABORS
OF HERACLES
What the Advertisng industry
has to do in order to change.
tris Klonos
Direction by Dimi
Illustration &Art os.blogspot.com
dimitrisklon

2. With the economic
crisis on the one hand
and the digital revolution
on the other, every
advertising professional
has the right to feel like a
HERO

3. CROSSROADS PRODUCT
Like Heracles, advertising has been caught at a crossroads: One path
leads to being a craft that offers a communication product that is SERVICE
charged based on the value that it creates. The other leads to being a
professional service that offers consultation to clients and its charged
VALUE
based on a cost plus basis.
Like Heracles, our industry has to choose not the path that seems
easier, but the path that will ensure a greater share of the future. But COST+
even more important than choosing right, is choosing. Our industry
has been trapped on the same crossroads for a long time and this
paralysis stops us from moving forward.

4. DIGITAL HYDRA
The first monster that comes in our way is the multi-headed Digital TWITTER
Hydra. Each head is a different monster fully equipped with tech- GOOGLE+
nological jaws ready to devour the trust our clients have on our ca- OK
FACEBO
pabilities. And as soon as we understand how to cut one head, two
new heads spring from the monster’s neck. The Media proliferation
BLOGING
caused by the digitalization of our world is reversing the communi-
cation order and now everybody is both a sender and a receiver. So- SEO
cial networking sites are convening communities of consumer advo-
cates and replacing traditional information sources. Consumers now
know more, communicate more and can be persuaded less. Now that
everybody has become a sender and a receiver, we need to under-
stand audience behavior, earn their attention and draw them into our
brand story. Commercial communication has become a conversation
and brands, rather than orators, have become moderators.
Heracles burned the monster’s neck in order to stop the heads from
multiplying. Our flame should be fuelled not by the understanding of N
LINKEDI
the emerging technologies but by the understanding of the emerging
cultural practices that those technologies create.

5. aUgean stables
Cleaning the Augean Stables. A labor that was indeed, labor inten-
sive. Brings to my mind our everyday reality. So many new delivery
systems, formats, screens and experiences available to us to deliver
the brand story. The consequence is that creative output is increas-
ing exponentially in quantity. Where we used to produce 30-second
formats, we now have to think in terms of websites, blogs, e-webs,
digital radio, and SMS conversations, social media on the web, street
events, PR, and a whole array of new communications opportunities.
The amount of work that is asked from an agency has rose exponen-
tially. More content produced in more different ways should result in
more fees to conceive it all. However, with the unbundling of services
and the commoditization of our work, the trend is rather the oppo-
site. Clients want more but they are willing to pay less.
Heracles was aided by two rivers in order to clean the stables, we
should stand united and stop dumbing our prices united in order to
clean this mess.

6. mares of diomedes
In this Labor beasts of burden were turned into carnivores and our
hero had to tame them in order to stop them. Sometimes what is
there to serve us turns against us. The notion of the “Big Idea” which
was nurtured in the era of Media scarcity can become a burden in the
era of Media abundance. When a bunch of “Small Ideas” can create a
“Long Tail” of effective communication.
Our business model is adherent to the past and hinders our efforts
to adapt to the new reality. The latest innovation to our way of work-
ing is dates back to 1968 when Steven King and Stanley Pollitt intro-
duced Account Planning. Hercules had to feed the mares of Diome-
des with the flesh of their owner in order to tame them. We should
feed the structure of our industry with our egos in order to satisfy the
strategic priorities of our era.

7. SHAREHOLDERS
Cerberus
Cerberus was the 3-headed guard dog of the underworld. It reminds
me of the 3 masters that every professional in our industry has to
serve: Shareholders, Clients and Employees. Each head has a will of
its own and bites you for a different reason. Shareholders for revenue,
in an industry that revenue is at the very least unpredictable. Cli-
ents for results, when results are hindered by their own interventions
and employees for empowerment, in an industry that power is not EMPLOYES
always accompanied by responsibility. Heracles managed to control
Cerberus by dragging him into the light. Light should be shed in our
industry too.
CLIENTS

8. τhe hero’s journey
Not every Labor had the same importance in our Hero’s journey; In my experience 70% of our time and effort goes to operation.
likewise, every labor doesn’t have the same importance for the future The majority of our time and effort goes into what we have to do and
of our industry. not in what we must do in order to gain a greater share of the future.
We are operation centric instead of innovation centric. And it is the
We can classify the labors in two axes: on the vertical axis we have definition of insanity to expect different results by doing the same
labors of a Tactical nature and labors of Strategic nature and on the thing over and over again. Like Heracles we have to clean the Augean
horizontal axis we have labors of internal nature whose completion Stables but we are not going to be remembered for that.
affects the agency and labors of external nature whose completion
affects the agency’s clients. The two axes define 4 quadrants, and
each quadrant plays a role in our industry’s evolution much like the
way the labors played a role in our hero’s journey towards
apotheosis. CULTURE, INNOVATION, OPERATION
and CONTROL.

11. WHY?
I challenge you, as I challenge myself everyday
to devote a bigger portion of your time and effort in labors
other than cleaning stables, a hero has to slay monsters
in order to remain a hero.

12. CHILD MURDERER
Heracles, blinded by hubris and drunk from wine murdered his chil-
dren and Zeus ordered him to accomplish the labors in order to re-
deem himself. Let’s face it our industry doesn’t attract the best minds
anymore. Technologists, consultants, and in some occasions, even
our own clients have beat us in the race for talent. We don’t attract,
but more importantly we don’t develop our talent pool with the pace
that the era demands. We don’t train our people and we have failed to
create the intellectual barriers that will keep our offering from being
commoditized.

13. (HEra)cles
The Queen of the Gods, Hera
haunted Heracles. Like him we
have to understand that
what haunts us is what makes
us who we are. Change is our
lifeblood, stagnation our death
knell. The only goal of our pro-
fession was, is, and always will be
to turn “what if ” into “what is.”