"Advertise, or go under"

"Rent-seeking": an interesting new term

In his blog, The Baseline Scenario, Simon Johnson uses the term "rent-seeking" to describe a sector of the economy that extracts a "tax" from another sector of the economy. 

As an example, he says:

Finance is rent-seeking.  The sector has devoted great resources to tilting all playing fields in its direction.  Consumers are taken advantage of; consumer protection is vehemently opposed.  And great risks are taken, with the downside handed off to the government (and the consumers again, as taxpayers).  This downside protection allows an overexpansion of debt-financed finance – reaching the preposterous levels seen in mid-2008 and now re-emerging.

Hmmm. Makes me wonder if advertising is rent-seeking, as well. Maybe a subject for another post. 

What I do find interesting, however, is that the term is a useful one for understanding how a company or an industry sector creates value. Rent-seeking sectors don't "make" things, they circulate an exchange that is necessary to keep the economy moving in other ways. 

When you're figuring out a brand strategy, it might be useful to think about whether the brand you're working for is of this ilk. If it is, the benefits it spreads may be harder to define and to quantify. I suspect this is the reason why so often in financial services we see such weak branding efforts. The strategists don't bother to take the time to dig underneath "rent-seeking" veneer of the brands they are working on. 

There is no model for planning

The baseball season is underway and, since I strongly believe in Jacques Barzun's mandate that anyone who 'wants to understand America had better understand baseball,' I thought it appropriate to reflect on how the Summer Game might help us understand the art of planning. 

I find a lot of similarities between baseball and advertising, and, by extension, between the strategies of baseball and the strategies of planning.  One of the pleasures of going to a baseball game is that you never know what you are going to see. Same with an ad campaign:  you put it out there, and while certain things may be predictable, the truth is that you never know exactly what is going to happen. 

Great advertising is like fine cooking

I'm married to a great cook, so I won't even pretend that I'm a mediocre one. But my wife has taught me the essence of great cooking, and it's similar to the essence of great advertising. 

Great cooking combines simplicity with distinct layers of flavor. Great advertising does much the same thing. 

Let me explain. One of the reasons I'm not even a mediocre cook is because I have no idea how to control the flavor in the simplest of sauces. But when I watch my wife cook, I see someone who carefully--but with remarkable tacit fluency--injects wonderful flavorings into a dish with just a few well controlled ingredients. Whether it's veal ragu, pasta with fish, chicken roasted with lemon, the result is always the same:  a cascade of flavors seduces the diner with subtle, but simple taste. 

It's all about fresh ingredients, not too many of them, and careful executional control. The image at left, for example, is an exquisite recipe by the queen of Italian cooking, Marcella Hazan. The ingredients: chicken, lemon, salt, and pepper. That's it!

Think of any lousy restaurant you have been to where the food is just blase.  What's the the underlying flaw?  I'll bet nine times out of ten it's a lack of layering in the flavor and an over indulgence in the ingredients. 

In the fine art of creating great advertising, one of the secrets is to combine simplicity, originality (i.e. "freshness), and layers of meaning. Look at virtually any great ad you can think of, and that's what you'll find. 

The task of creating this sort of advertising is in large part the responsibility of writers and art directors who understand how to manipulate words and images with subtlety and power. But the underlying planning to inspire this kind of work is important, as well. 

Planning's job is to isolate the simple message, the one that will not only stand out as unique but that will also have the depth and texture to allow "layers of meaning" to reach the audience. The planner is not the creator of the work, but the planner needs to understand the aesthetics of persuasive communications.  

Another way to look at is like this:  the planner needs to cultivate good taste. Take every opportunity you can to learn the difference between quality and junk. Sometimes, you can start right in the kitchen.