I don´t know if some of you´ve registered the message that went on air last week - the message about the Czech top creative advertising agency KASPEN having dumbed its biggest client so far - Vodafone. Exactly said, they cancelled the service contract between them and Vodafone, the 3rd large mobile operator in the Czech republic.
For me, this decision not only demonstrates the high degree of self confidence built upon the internal strength of the ad agency.It has also created a precedent by which KASPEN is to be remembered as "the agency that fired Vodafone". Ain´t that a self-promoting line? Ain´t that a positioning that speaks for itself? You bet it is. Consider this - it´s really huge - how people or other businesses perceive you depends often on what you do. Not merely who you are. Isn´t that relevant in our personal lifes too? Can a child that was born in a happy, rich family grow up and become rich and happy automatically? What about the others then? I know it´s rather a cliche, but life is full of choices. Some of them you do with joy, some of them you do without. Yet making them in our personal lifes - that´s a necessity. Making them in business, well, that´s a matter of future growth and longterm prosperity. To illustrate this on the KASPEN example, let me say the following: somebody enough smart at this company, obviously somebody with a clear vision and some real guts had seen what had made KASPEN the most admired agency in the czech market. Somebody had recognized the type of businesses they had been working for before the cooperation with Vodafone started. Somebody there had asked the right question and found out the big thing about what does it mean to be a fox, or a hedgehot (see one of my previous posts). Somebody had understood the positioning golden rule number one: you´ve got to stand for something, dear. If you try to be everything to everyone, you may end up with being nothing to no one.
Kaspen has always been known for their innovative approach. They´ve been known as the small big agency - small in number of people, but big in terms of the branding and marketing know-how. They´re calling themselves experts in the marketing warfare. They´ve got their own DNA (transparently described on their web page). "Focus on challenger brands" is a part of the DNA stuff of the agency. Good, pretty clear, so now what? What should we do with a company that´s probably gonna allow us to chop quite a lot of green grass in the jungle which will feed our more of our people and surely bring us finantial stability over a certain period of time. F..k mate, but what if we find out we´ve choped in the wrong f....g jungle?!
Vodafone is everything, but a challenger brand. It´s a goddamed Goliath in the telcom industry, a global player, a juggernaut with centralized decision making. Was that compatible with KASPEN? You already know the answer.
Good night, and good luck.
TG
kaspen´s web pages:
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