Why Don't Suits Blog?

As I'm sure anyone reading this knows, the egregious Scamp recently posted on the weighty matter of just how over-paid creatives are in our glistening industry. I'm only teasing of course - he was in no way boasting, but in fact raising an interesting point about the disparity of pay between creatives at 'traditional' agencies and those at pure-play digital houses.

Sure enough, as is his wont, he provoked an interesting debate, and all was going swimmingly until someone dared to ask whether he had similar figures for Account Men or Planners - Scamp, somewhat sniffily, suggested the enquirer check an Account Man blog... Except, of course, that there aren't any.

And yet, it was difficult to take any actual offence at the tone, because... well, because there really aren't any. Why aren't there any, I asked myself? Are we all too busy lunching or carrying those damn bags (chaps, they're really not going to carry themselves) to have or share a view on things creative? It's fine for Jai and Wal to blog furiously, they've got nothing else to do. (That, I assure you, was an affectionate joke...) But that can't be the case - checking your average account man's in-box will quickly belie the idea that he or she has no time for anything but work.

Do we just not have a view? Is it possible that the mediocre creatives are right, and we really are good for nothing but saying "Yes, you're probably right - but why don't we discuss it over lunch" to Clients? God, it's a sad state of affairs if that's true. As Account Men we have the opportunity to get involved in every step of the process, from working with the client to develop the brief through to getting the final piece on air/on-line/on hoardings/wherever - if we can do that job without at any point engaging with our work, either on a micro level, or in the context of the wider industry, then perhaps we should be working for the FSA.

Do we maybe just not get blogging? The digital world is very scary. On the other hand, sod off.

Or perhaps it's because we've spent years, from the days of CDP and Frank Lowe onwards, being told that it's not our job to have a view - it's our job to represent the views of others effectively and efficiently. Hmm.

Well, perhaps it's time to change that. As belts tighten, the business-savvy views of the account handler who is not wed blindly to the research learnings, nor to the lure of Cannes, nor to the Client's dinner table become all the more important. Perhaps our time is now.

And, even if it's not, at least there's an account man blogging.