I never cease to be amazed at Advertising People and their chutzpah! Recently Interpublic CEO, Michael Roth, speaking at a AAAA Management Conference had something completely nonsensical to say about the current hot topic of accountability.

Among other things he praised Adlands currently fashionable mantra of 'Accountability'.

Which made me burst out laughing. Accountability and Advertising? - Ain't no such beast...never has been...never will be!

Among other things, he said "Learning which types of marketing work and why, has become more complicated in an era of proliferating media channels and rapid changes in consumer behaviour".

Notice anything strange about that statement? Well, consider this, there is no doubt that clutter is one of the prime reasons (here I hasten to say that there are many more), why there is an inability to be accountable. And who benefits from clutter?, why the advertising agencies themselves, so they are never going to address that little problem.

But there you go again, the Poacher has struck yet again, setting up the excuses they will be using to justify the total lack of accountability in Adland!

The only accountability we are aware of is "50% of my advertising is wasted but I don't know which 50%". - Except that we figure that it is more like 90% wasted!

But hey...would you really like to have a laugh? He had the great chutzpha to go on to say "Because without it, the Clients will be left in the dark, or someone else is going to do it. The ultimate test of a service model, which is what agencies are, is how do you prove your value in the marketplace?"

The fact of the matter is, is that Clients have been left in the dark ever since advertising started, it is only now that Agencies, seeing the future, and seeing that the future does not include them are now starting to feel very afraid.

Somebody else has done it before, someone has produced a model of Advertising Marketing Communication that is totally accountable, more effective, more accountable than anything available to-day, (Hey hold on Paul, Advertising has never been accountable).
However the Advertising Agencies did their utmost to condemn the concept and never ever supported the idea, and yet here is the Poacher now preaching the fact that they are a service industry...please don't make me laugh again!

One thing Poacher is good at is spending Clients money, but hey, don't get carried away, spending it not on the Client. Perhaps this is what he regards as servicing his Clients!
John Wannamaker the 19th - century haberdasher who uttered that famous "I know half of my advertising budget is wasted..." quote would see the cream of global creativity drowning the brain cells in booze before heading back to $500 a- night hotel rooms.

This happens annually at Cannes, however thanks to the client influx, he'd also see new hights of relationship building as agencies return some of their bounty to clients. It drives home the ROI analysis how much extra cash moves through this industry. And how out of touch advertising creatives can be with the folks who ultimately pay the bills.

A shockingly refreshing exception is Yasmin Ahmad, executive creative director of Publicis Groupe's Leo Burnett Co., Malaysia.
Last time, she told a room of Procter & Gamble Co. executives how she once walked out of a meeting about a campaign to make shampoo sachets appear to be a better value by putting less shampoo in them.

Now here's a little shard of accountability:
The advertising industry is crushing itself under the weight of its own messaging, squeezing the effectiveness out of its product as consumers get more and more inured to the commercialisation of their culture and surroundings.

"At the end of the day, the ability of the average consumer to even remember advertising 24 hours later is at the lowest level in the history of our business," said Bob Barocci, president-CEO of the Advertising Research Foundation.

Now that's accountability!