Just Around the Corner

Technology has brought significant change to the advertising industry. The Internet enables us to do something dramatically different and tremendously important that we otherwise wouldn’t have been able to do: to have a two-way conversation with consumers. A television commercial is a one-way conversation; it’s the brand talking to the consumer. The Internet allows us to engage in a dialogue with people who are interested in having that conversation. We can ask if you’re interested in more information on product A, and by telling us you are, you’re inviting a conversation. That’s a tremendously important and valuable tool that wasn’t available a few years ago. But it needs to be understood as just a part of the marketing plan. It doesn’t replace traditional media, but it is a powerful tool that smart marketers are using more and more.

The role technology plays will continue to drive changes in our industry, because it’s going to continue to drive changes in people’s lives. What will be developed in terms of mobility and technology will bring to life a way of living and working that, until now, we’ve only heard and read about. Intel, for example, is introducing a new generation of wireless technology that will allow us to do virtually anything, anywhere: in effect, to unwire our lives. It’s not science fiction. This will happen. It will affect all industries. As a result, the way we communicate with people and what we communicate about has to change as well.

In addition to the technology-related changes, the advertising industry has changed its focus. It has become more about the business of advertising than the advertising business. As more agencies have been consolidated into publicly held companies, too much of the discussion has been about a holding company’s forecasts, earnings, and profits. It is understandable but has changed the focus from the quality of the work we do to the quality of the earnings we report. It’s a significant shift that began a few years ago. The impact has been that people within the industry – certainly creative people – have lost a little of the magic and also their passion for what advertising can be. It’s now about the bottom-line profit more than the craft of what we create. It hasn’t affected clients as much: They work for businesses and are accustomed to having to report earnings. Within agencies, it’s a more recent phenomenon. Most of the consolidation has happened, so chances are that trend won’t accelerate any more than it has in the last few years. Hopefully in the next few years we will find a happier balance between the quality of the product that agencies deliver to clients and the ability to deliver what shareholders need.

Even with this focus on the bottom line, I think we are living in a tremendously exciting time where, more than ever, clients need what great advertising people have always delivered: big powerful business ideas that can drive businesses in dramatic, profitable ways.

Ron Berger has been in the advertising business since age 18 when he took the summer job of mail boy and center fielder for the old Carl Ally agency.

In the 13 years Berger worked there, he won hundreds of awards. His most widely acclaimed work, the "Time To Make The Donuts" campaign for Dunkin' Donuts, was honored by the Television Bureau of Advertising as one of the five best commercials of the 1980s.

In 1986, Berger co-founded the agency that became Messner Vetere Berger McNamee Schmetterer Euro RSCG. The agency was the fastest growing major agency in the advertising industry, boasting a client roster of the world’s most forward-thinking companies. As founding partner and chief creative officer, Berger was involved in some of the most memorable campaigns of the past decade. His commercial for Volvo, entitled "Survivors" was selected "Best Commercial of 1993" by Advertising Age.

In recognition of his work, Berger was featured in the Wall Street Journal’s Creative Leader campaign.

Named chief executive officer of MVBMS Euro RSCG in 1999, Berger continued to lead the agency’s innovative approach to advertising. Overseeing a $1.3 billion dollar agency, he also was named chair of the Creative Committee for the American Association of Advertising Agencies. He sits on the advisory board of the Children's Health Fund and the Creative Review Committee for the Partnership for a Drug Free America.

Berger recently completed co-directing and co-producing a feature-length documentary entitled “The Boys of 2nd Street Park,” shown at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival and slated to air on Showtime.

With the creation of Euro RSCG MVBMS Partners in 2002, Berger began the next evolution of his leadership, leading a dynamic new Agency that offers Creative Business Ideas™ across all marketing disciplines to a wide array of top brands.