Late last week, a big agency office in Chicago that was 118 years old closed its doors. That’s a sad day for a lot of reasons, mainly because nobody likes to see good people lose their jobs and I’m sure there were many talented folks within those doors. It’s also sad because that agency came up with a lot of outstanding, memorable work over the years.

However, with all due respect to that agency, I also suspect that this will be another nail in the coffin of the argument that how long you’ve been in business somehow makes that place better/smarter/more nimble than the young, vibrant agency that’s only been in business for a year or two. Age of agency and size of agency are complete and total non-factors in a rapidly changing technological climate.

Instead, ask how well they understand your business and the challenges you’re going through. The fact that they’ve been around since McKinley was President means they’ve been doing something right for a long time, that’s true.

But here’s what it doesn’t mean.:
It doesn’t mean they’ll be successful with achieving your particular goals.
It doesn’t mean that they are more adept at understanding new forms of media, such as social media.
It doesn’t mean that having a large agency network equates to collaboration because, in some cases, it just means more agencies that work independently or even in competition with one another.
It doesn’t even mean that they will recommend the ideas that make the most sense for your brand if it doesn’t bring them a suitable amount of money in return.

When you don’t know how to listen internally or externally, how to stay up on changing trends, how to collaborate with people under your own roof or how to make suggestions for the client’s best interests instead of your own, you are doomed to fail. It doesn’t matter if your company is J. Walter Thompson Chicago or Bear Stearns or another esteemed pillar of business that’s about to fall.

The only thing ours and other industries can do other than the above is push ourselves harder to give our customers more creativity, more customization and more service options that reflect their needs — not just at a level above our competitors but also companies that aren’t competitors. Because they won’t keep the lights on today just because you did something great in 1923.

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