Who?
Let me be honest - to many uninformed youngsters in the ad world in Lebanon, these names mean ziltch. Those of us with longer-spanned memory, can remember them and their work. Naturally, they all carry their history, their legacy and now with the joint venture they are launching with Hopscotch - they're out in full force (Hopscotch is Europe’s third largest communication consultancy in Europe, with a footprint in more than 60 countries globally).
So there, HopscotchME is now a thing.
In the wonderful article by Nathalie Bontems, a sentence really drew my intrigue (said by Omar Nasreddine, CEO, HopscotchME): "by the same way clients choose their agencies, we will also want to choose our clients, the key criteria being the potential of building a sustainable partnership together."
Wait, what?
I know most agencies like to think that way. That they are building a partnership with long-term goals with the client. But honestly, the rate at which accounts shift in the market is frightening. Change the marketing manager and oops! the agency gets replaced by one which is suspiciously run by the said new manger's brother-in-law. I can tell you annecdotes about big banks, large corporations, and educational institutions run on a whim.
It takes a nothing to change direction, tone of voice, prospects, and in today's world - replace strategies with corny spur-of-the-moment Sunday morning (yes, that is the weekend in Lebanon!) instagram posts, army day whatever, new-topic-du-jour all other companies are posting on and what not.
I do wish HopscotchME all the luck in the world. I would like to say that they have both their feet planted on the ground but with a name like Hoscoptch, one foot is in the air!