Don’t be alarmed. No one’s coming after you with cold, hard steel. But you should, nevertheless, brace yourself. Because I have some news that may be hard to believe. Ready? Here it is: clients and agencies don’t always agree.

I know, I know. Inconceivable. You probably thought (especially if you’re a client of Big) that every project is all rainbows and unicorns. But the remarkable fact remains: differences of opinion do occur. And when they do, there might then ensue (shudder) conflict.

But is conflict necessarily a bad thing? Of course not. In fact, in my humble opinion, the tension between a client’s viewpoint and the agency’s is the electricity that often jumpstarts a better idea. But you have to be willing to acknowledge that tension. Even, occasionally, encourage it.

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Desperate times, they say, call for desperate measures. But this is getting ridiculous.

Wait. I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me first make it clear what I mean by desperate times. Yes, I’m talking about the economy. (And if “desperate” doesn’t feel accurate to you, if you think that the media and politicians are exaggerating things, talk to someone who just got laid off. There are plenty of them out there.)

So, with our context firmly established, what are the aforementioned desperate measures? Well, since this is the blog of an advertising and marketing firm, you might think I’m referring to some outrageous publicity stunt, some preposterous expenditure on TV commercials, some instance of a business indiscriminately throwing buckets of money at an ad agency in the hope of ratcheting up sales. But, frankly, these scenarios wouldn’t really qualify as acts of desperation. You see, every time there’s an economic downturn, all the business experts raise their voices in unanimous chorus to tell us that challenging periods like this are exactly when a business should up its marketing and advertising budget, or at least maintain it. The most successful businesses coming out the other end of a tough economic cycle, the ones quickest to rebound and primed for new opportunities, are the ones that kept spending ad dollars, even as those dollars became harder and harder to come by.

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Bitter recriminations. Revenge fantasies. Self-loathing. No, I’m not describing my typical Saturday night. I’m simply reporting on the direction toward which many conversations seem to turn at the mere mention of Valentine’s Day. Even folks with no particular romantic axe to grind—for instance, those in a happy, stable relationship—don’t exactly look forward to the holiday with gleeful anticipation.  At best, it seems, the event’s a nuisance, representing another obligation to identify and purchase the perfect gift, with all the attendant doubt and worry over the recipient’s reaction—and so hot on the heels of Christmas, too. 

Granted, there are some who find a celebratory tone amid the cynical cacophony, but I’ve grown to expect ranting, raving, and general venting from friends, acquaintances, and strangers alike this time of year. Still, I was surprised during a recent exchange about the imminent arrival of Cupid and his arrows. Not because my friend’s attitude was positive—it most assuredly was not, given the dark glow of hatred in her eyes—but because of the particular slant of her disdain. The negativity was not due to any romantic baggage—she hates Valentine’s Day because, in her words, it’s a manufactured holiday. 

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Do not pass “Go.” Do not collect $200. Unless of course you have a get-out-of-jail-free card. Or you can buy your way out. Which, if you’re on the verge of building a monopoly, you most likely can.

The gentleman pictured above never played the famous Parker Brothers board game; he died before its invention. But an actual monopoly—that he knew about. His name was Theodore Newton Vail, and as head of AT&T he convinced President Woodrow Wilson that the telephone would spread more rapidly if it were brought under a single monopoly. Central to his argument was something called the “network effect.” Basically, it’s the impact that one user of a good or service has on the value of that product to other people. In the case of the telephone, which is the classic example, it’s easy to see that the more people there are who own telephones, the more valuable the telephone is to each owner.

The network effect has also been crucial to the success of another monopoly, or if not actually a monopoly, then a company frequently accused of monopolistic practices: Microsoft. Windows came to dominate computer operating systems because it is compatible with the widest range of hardware and software—which is true because so many makers of hardware and software ensure compatibility, in order to reach Windows’ huge market of users.

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