4 ms·

I get the feeling advertising is a very "pure" industry, by which I mean its business model is pretty well set, and widely understood: take "creative" people, p

I get the feeling advertising is a very "pure" industry, by which I mean its business model is pretty well set, and widely understood: take "creative" people, put them in offices, sell their services. Compare that to the software industry: Who is the software for? Will we charge for it, and if so, how much? What is possible and what is impossible? How long will it take? What's the most important part? In software, the answers to these questions either change quickly or are opaque to the layman. In advertising, it's easy: The account execs sell to companies, the "creatives" to consumers. We've done something similar a million times, so it will cost $x. Richard's strategy could probably work with a large development shop that made (not technically ground-breaking) "the official" apps for companies.

dhx 15y ago
Marketing: who is the client? what image are they trying to create? what are the target demographics? how much time do they have? how much money do they want to spend? which mediums should be targeted? Those factors can change quickly depending on news and current affairs, someone beating you to an original idea, technological changes and business changes (mergers, new services/products becoming the focus). Software development, by your metrics, is very similar. Instead of selling marketing people, you're selling programmers.
- smilliken 15y ago
  I believe the grandparent was referring to a product company instead of a consultancy. A software consulting company does indeed have a lot more in common with a creative agency.