“And they blame our ad campaign for that?” Terese blurted out. “That’s absurd. They only made a twenty-five-point buy with our sixty-second commercial. That was not adequate. No way.”
“That may be your opinion,” Helen said evenly. “But I know it is not National Health’s.”
“I know you are fond of your ‘Health care for the modern era’ campaign, and it is a good tag line,” Robert said, “but the fact of the matter is that National Health has been losing market share from the campaign’s inception. These latest figures are just consistent with the previous trend.”
“The sixty-second spot has been nominated for a Clio,” Terese countered. “It’s a damn good commercial. It’s wonderfully creative. I’m proud of my team for having put it together.”
“And indeed you should be,” Brian interjected. “But it is Robert’s feeling that the client is not interested in our winning a Clio. And remember, as the Benton and Bowles agency held, ‘If it doesn’t sell, it isn’t creative.
“That’s equally absurd,” Terese snapped. “The campaign is solid. It’s just that the account people couldn’t get the client to buy adequate exposure. There should have been ‘flights’ on multiple local stations at a bare minimum.”
“With all due respect, they would have bought more time if they’d liked the commercial,” Robert said. “I don’t think they were ever sold on this idea of ‘them versus us,’ ancient medicine versus modern medicine. I mean it was humorous, but I don’t know if they were convinced the viewer truly associated the ancient methods with National Health Care’s competitors, particularly AmeriCare. My personal opinion is that it went over people’s heads.”
“Your real point is that National Health Care has a very specific type of advertising it wants,” Brian said. “Tell Terese what you told me just before she came in here.”
“It’s simple,” Robert said, making an open gesture with his hands. “They want either ‘talking heads’ discussing actual patient experiences, or a celebrity spokesperson. They couldn’t care less whether their ad wins a Clio or any of the other awards. They want results. They want market share, and I want to give it to them.”
“Am I hearing that Willow and Heath wants to turn its back on its successes and become a mere vendor shop?” Terese asked. “We’re on the edge of becoming one of the big-league firms. And how did we get here? We got here by doing quality advertising. We’ve carried on in the Doyle-Dane-Bernback tradition. If we start letting clients dictate that we turn out slop, we’re doomed.”
“What I’m hearing is the usual conflict between the account executive and the creative,” Taylor said, interrupting the increasingly heated discussion. “Robert, you think Terese is this self-indulgent child who is bent on alienating the client. Terese, you think Robert is this shortsighted pragmatist who wants to throw out the baby with the bathwater. The trouble is you are both right and both wrong at the same time. You have to use each other as a team. Stop arguing and deal with the problem at hand.”
For a moment everyone was quiet. Zeus had spoken and everyone knew he was on target as usual.
“All right,” Brian said finally. “Here’s our reality. National Health is a vital client to our long-term stability. Thirty-odd days ago it asked for an internal review, which we expected in a couple of months. They now have told us they want it next week.”
“Next week!” Terese all but shouted. “My God.” It took months to put together a new campaign and pitch it.
“I know that will put the creatives under a lot of pressure,” Brian said. “But the reality is National Health is the boss. The problem is that after our pitch, if they are not satisfied, they’ll set up an outside review. The account will then be up for grabs, and I don’t have to remind you that these health-care giants are going to be the advertising cash cows of the next decade. All the agencies are interested.”
“As chief financial officer I think I should make it clear what the loss of the National Health account would do to our bottom line,” Phil Atkins said. “We’ll have to put off the restructuring because we won’t have the funds to buy back our junk bonds.”