Middle of the Road

After an executive lunch with the CEO, I have learned a great deal about how the agency has branded itself, and how I can relay these techniques into my own identity as a young professional.

Many semi-large advertising agencies find themselves “in the middle of the road,” in terms of what their brand identity is, and how it relates to the services that they offer to potential clients. Which can also be confusing for the client who is buying the agency’s services.

In the advertising world, every agency wants every client’s business, no matter what that client is looking for, whether it is print advertising, TV and radio broadcasting, interactive support, or public relations – the agency will try to sell them the whole goat, when all the client needs is a fresh squeeze. But that’s where the buyer is confronted with a problem – the agency is selling them any and every service that they have to offer, which in the buyer’s perspective dilutes the quality of the services they will get. So in turn, the client will go find a small interactive or pr shop that seems to do a better job at a specific task, because they specialize in it.

Picking a ‘side of the road’ can be an agency’s way of convincing these clients that they are on call for all of that client’s needs. Even if an agency doesn’t want to specialize in one line of advertising, maybe they can specialize in one line of clients, for example, in Liggett Stashower’s case: mostly building products. This technique helps the agency to distinguish itself from all others when all a client is looking for is a little clarity.

Similarly to this, a person trying to market himself or herself may come across this problem as well. For example, celebrities have to carry an identity every day, because they are constantly making an impression on people. Consequentially, so do young professionals. Upon graduation, many students will be entering the job market, and as all markets go, they will be selling something. There are so many students all over the world that have nearly the same credentials, so they will be trying to differentiate themselves from all others and create a unique persona that a prospective employer will remember.
So as a young professional, no matter what field you’re in, or what field you’re trying to get into, branding yourself with an identity can be a great strategy to elevate yourself from the mass of other students, who are stuck in the middle of the road.



Pat B.
Creative Intern