• by Lisa Seward , November 29, 2007

A realization hit me as I started on the road home. Hours and even days after leaving the first-ever connection-planning conference, hosted by New Orleans agency Trumpet, I still could feel all the fresh, provocative thinking reverberating in my brain. (Kudos to Michael Karnjanaprakorn for making his idea for this conference a reality.)

Something was really different about this conference compared to many others I've attended in recent years - no one was whining! Unlike practically every media-related conference I've ever attended, I don't think I heard a single person at this gathering complain or dodge hard questions. Instead, a distinct sense permeated the New Orleans event: one of genuine, cooperative collaboration and a let's-get-to-it attitude. People gladly offered helpful, actionable suggestions rather than just blustery case studies. And I left feeling that I could call any one of the attendees to work through a problem or just bounce my thoughts off them, even after spending only one day together. Maybe it was a halo effect of being surrounded by the palpable hope amid New Orleans's rebirth, but I can't remember a time when people of such different backgrounds, parent companies and competitive business models came together and made their mutual goals a more important priority than individual agency needs or bragging rights.

Or maybe the reason this group showed a refreshing willingness to put differences aside and talk to each other openly is that we shared one core belief: that marketing communications fundamentally succeed or fail based on the caliber of the ideas behind them. And because of that galvanizing belief, we all got down to the business of figuring out together how we could make our ideas better, no matter who we need to partner with. When you see great ideas as your ultimate deliverable, it's amazing how quickly you come around to collaboration. You learn fast that no one has a lock on creativity, and he who partners well is stronger in the long run.

Most media players haven't figured this out yet, from what I can see. They still think we're playing yesterday's game, in which AOR designations and buying clout determined who's calling the shots. At one conference or award show after another, we see them reveling in the power they've built up since unbundling took hold.

There they are, cackling among themselves (and even in some cases bragging from the speaker's podium) about how they've pushed the creative agencies to the fringes and taken over control of their accounts. It's like a really sad remake of Revenge of the Nerds, and if we're honest with ourselves it's more than a little shameful. No one who calls himself a modern-minded media person can really believe that success and power are about pushing others out of the way. Not today, when all we talk about in the consumer world is community, conversations and social networking. Success in this world requires the cumulative imagination and talents of many different people, and to believe that your single organization can do everything required today is not only hubris, it's irresponsible.

How amazing would it be if the larger media community - especially the big agency leaders who can set the stage for others - turned their formidable collective energy and intellect toward tomorrow's mission of collaborating to get to better ideas for their clients, rather than toward the old goals of outgunning each other, building fiefdoms and pushing creatives out of their way? Think what could be accomplished. Powerful partnerships we can't even imagine now could be forged, leading to brilliant ideas even more brilliantly executed.

Of course, a few prominent media shops are doing exactly this, and they are seeing huge success from being idea-centric. We can only hope their competitors take note of this growth and learn from it, shedding their old turf-protecting ways in favor of egoless, client-focused partnerships.

The problem, of course, is that true collaboration requires a common goal. And from my perspective, we're still not there on an industry-wide basis. Too many players still think the game is Monopoly, when in fact it's Collaborate or Die.

Lisa Seward is the founder of Mod Communications, a strategic media consultancy. (lisa.seward@modideas.com)