It can’t be easy to build the next big thing in advertising, but that’s what Enfatico is trying to do. A pat on the back to the hard-working people inside there who are making the thing churn, but let’s take a quick second to analyze the barriers they’re facing in today’s hellish environment.
1. Building an agency while trying to put out work isn’t easy people. Seriously, it’s like racing in the Indy 500 while assembling your car. We’ve mentioned the issues associated with this for a while, like for example the use of Mother, Schematic(o) and Razorfish as a crutch during the transition. There’s also the issue of a scrutinizing public that expects something from the non-existent agency that put 800 or so shops on the block last year. As my Dad used to say, “bullshit baffles brains”.
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More: “Is Sarah Palin Moonlighting for Dell/Enfatico?”
2. A WPP hiring freeze can’t be helpful when you’re trying to staff a non-existent agency while simultaneously working to rid one’s self of aforementioned crutches. Honestly, what’s the deal with this? We’ve contacted Enfatico’s representatives to see how they’re handling the stalled hiring sitch, and it turns out that “critical” hires will be allowed. Phew.
3. It’s hard to look good when you keep falling in dog poop. For real; it ruins even the sharpest suit — and usually smells like crap. But Enfatico can’t seem to step out of the way — take for example Enfartico, Digital Nomads, the keyboard/monitor scandal, the countdown clock and everything else you’ve read here (and elsewhere) that’s gone wrong for the agency. Even one piece of semi-mind-blowing Dell work (from Enfatico, not Mother/Schematic/Razorfish) would be enough to offset the harm. But instead, nada.
4. Enfatico’s just started a blog. It’s called NextStoryBoard (which we imagine they’ve been saying a lot these days), and aims to “share insights, successes, challenges, and to engage the broader marketing and advertising community on the future of our industry” — a brilliant idea, which we (of course) will pay close attention to. We already noticed a slight inconsistency:
The inaugural post reads, “But enough about us. Most importantly, we want this to be a two-way conversation.”
We decided to comment, and wrote a nice note of congratulations for the newborn blog. But it turns out the site is moderated. Well, of course it is — there’s no surprise there. But moderation kinda flies in the face of a two-way conversation. Wouldn’t you agree?
Nonetheless, we’re torn by the Enfatico situation. We don’t want them to fail — and we certainly hope Dell keeps paying the bills. But what we don’t agree with are the claims that the agency is doing something astounding, amazing, original et al. Keep it real for us, Enfatico, that’s all we’re saying.