JAN Kelley Marketing

Creativity , JKM News Jul 08, 2010

Agency Angst: Beethoven or Bird?

Every year in June there's one day where the business of the day is our business: JAN Kelley Marketing. Not that we just think about our business only on this day but rather that on this day we have a collective focus on where we are, where we want to be and what we need to do to get there.

This year, fresh from the ICA eCEO Conference, our Chantel Broten presented some provocative thinking by Tim Williams, founder of Ignition Consulting Group. In his presentation, Agency 2.5 How Agencies are Transforming for the Future, he suggests that agencies should be organized more like a jazz ensemble than a classical orchestra.

Now too many writers will twist a metaphor to fit their premise (particularly those of the business and self-help variety) but an analogy can be a useful device to help explain ideas and, as a jazz fan, this one struck the right chord with me.

Williams advocates that small groups who can improvise are better suited to the speed, and speed of change inherent in today's world – more agile than the command-and-control structure of a symphony orchestra and its precisely practised repertoire.

Invited to comment at our meeting about this concept, I related an experience from a recent trip to Chicago, specifically to the Green Mill where every Monday evening (when not on tour) Patricia Barber plays with her quartet. On this evening she was not playing with her regular bassist. As she called out a song from the set list he began to fan through the sheet music.

"Oh there's no music for this," said Patricia. "It starts as a bluesy thing in G and then goes crazy in the middle."

For the group to play as well and as interestingly as they did required more than the ability to improvise. Each player had to be confident in their talent and trust in the talent of their fellow musicians. Each one had to know when to give someone else space to shine and when to take the lead. They had to be willing to take risks and know how to reach a collective finish. Above all they had to listen to each other and talk to each other, musically speaking.

As metaphors go, the jazz ensemble is a pretty good model for modern advertising agencies and, I suspect, many other organizations. But I think there's more to the analogy.

The best jazz artists can take any song and reinterpret it with their own unique personality. In her set, Patricia Barber played original compositions, jazz standards and songs by Laura Nyro, Smokey Robinson, Bill Withers, Canned Heat and Stevie Wonder. Once during a Thanksgiving dinner I played music by various artists without anyone noticing the only song on the playlist was Autumn Leaves. 

The move from mass messaging to mass customization means people aren't simply consumers of content but creators of it. However your brand story is written, your audience will write their own tunes.

In this new jazz age, agility and improvisation are essential to be able to write songs they want to sing. Not a substitute for original talent or the fundamentals though. The pioneers of jazz were influenced by classical composers and Charlie "Yardbird" Parker once played with an orchestra arranged and conducted by (sing along with) Mitch Miller, proving that structure and improvisation can coexist. 

Just Friends

Lyle TurnerWriter/Producer

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