Seems that the snubbing of Big Spaceship by BBDO in regard to the gold Cyber Lion for the HBO Voyeur site is causing a bit of a stir. After reading the above two quotes by Mr. Rosenshine (from earlier this year) it starts to make a little sense. When you read the response of BBDO's current chairman and CCO, David Lubars, it becomes even more clear:
"Ideas are timeless. Ideas are what inspire
people. Ideas are the root of all execution. On 'Voyeur,' BBDO thought
of the idea, shot the idea, then brought in Big Spaceship to do what
they do. They did a great job (and we've made every effort to
acknowledge them). What's the issue? Maybe Cannes should consider the
idea of a Palme d'Or for digital production."
While on the surface this appears to be an argument about who should have received credit for an award, I think it's really a bit more than that. In fact, it just might not be about the award at all. It's not even just about BBDO and Big Spaceship. Instead, what it's really about is money and control and a big network agency not wanting to lose any bit of either with any of their clients.
BBDO wants to retain control over as much of their client relationships and budgets as they can. By painting Big Spaceship as just a vendor/production house who
executed BBDO's idea, BBDO positions themselves as the power-player
with the ideas and strategic leadership. They're essentially saying, "Without our idea, Big Spaceship never would have pulled this off."
It also works to present Big Spaceship as the equivalent of a talented
photographer or director that BBDO might use on a print or TV ad campaign. Yes they bring value to the overall work, but the clients wouldn't ever just go to the (TV) director or (print) photographer directly. They need BBDO to come up with the strategy and ideas first. Then the director or photographer get involved.
In saying Big Spaceship was just the digital producer, they're saying
that the clients still very much need BBDO first and foremost.
The bigger behind the scenes issue here is that BBDO and the other major agency networks are often sitting on significant contracts from big clients to be their lead brand agencies. The BBDOs of the world want to keep things as they are. Meanwhile, smaller agencies working on small- to medium-sized projects here and there for bigger clients are wanting a bigger piece of the pie and can't get to it because of these contracts.
If it becomes clear to the clients that other agencies can and are pitching-in great ideas on the work being done for them, it doesn't bode well for the enormous retainers the network agencies have grown to love. So, if BBDO admits that Big Spaceship played a larger role in this, it begs the question of why wouldn't HBO just start to work with Big Spaceship directly on some future projects.
Not only that, but it could additionally raise eyebrows around the globe as to whether or not the traditionally air-tight contracts between large agencies and their clients need some re-tooling to allow for more flexibility in the modern age of marketing. (The answer is yes, they could and should.)
All of this is symptomatic of the biggest issue facing the ad industry right now - massive change. Any time you're dealing with large-scale change, there are bound to be conflicts, frustrations and turf wars. Both BBDO and Big Spaceship are doing what's best for their respective companies here and you really can't fault either of them.
What's tough for BBDO is that by pushing down Big Spaceship and fighting to claim they deserve all the credit, they're making themselves look like the big bully who doesn't get today's culture of openness and collaboration and instead showing that they're stuck in the era of control and possessiveness. As Clay Shirky points out, that might not work out so well...
And if that doesn't say it clearly enough, I don't know what will.
