Walk a mile in my underpants

As the ad market’s getting tougher, the world’s best agencies are knocking
down the walls and redefining the business. Advertising is quickly becoming
less and less about advertising and more and more about business, ideas,
experiences and entertainment.

Here’s an article on the trend from last week’s NYT

Agencies are finding new ways to build business by developing innovative
self-promotions, products, brands, media outlets and content.

Today, Wieden + Kennedy/Portland launched a new radio station. W+K Radio
gives listeners a mix of music (an employee playlist), talk shows and a look
inside one of history’s greatest advertising agencies.

In November, Red Tettemer launched a brand of Agency-made Gin.

Brooklyn Brothers are making a brand of chocolate

Anomaly created a food television show with chef Eric Ripert.

Crispin Porter + Bogusky published a diet book.

And created a website where agency folks give you guitar lessons (They sent
out 900 guitars for the holidays with a link to the site).

By embracing new ventures and proving successful in them, these agencies are
padding their capabilities and expanding the kinds of work they can get from
clients. Here are just a few examples of the new kinds of work that top agencies are bringing in:

Modernista got into the magazine business by redesigning Businessweek.

Crispin Porter and Bogusky created and sold video games and meat-scented
cologne for Burger King:

And BBDO created a short film for HBO, the “Voyeur” viral program, which went
on to win the grand prize at just about every award show in the world:

It’s easy to dismiss this as creatives gone wild.

But the fact is, good creative sells products.

Take Burger King.

Whether or not you liked Subservient Chicken, The King, the Whopper Freakout
and the and the other image-based campaigns that Crispin has rolled out
since they took over the account in 2003, you can’t argue with the numbers.

Since Crispin won the business, BK’s total revenue has grown 109%.

And the agency won an EFFIE for them in 2005.