How you view our industry greatly affects the quality and value of our work.

A man walks into a fine men’s clothier to get a custom tailored suit. The tailor politely asks him to step up to the mirror so he can take all his measurements. After doing this, the man and the tailor discuss what style of suit would be most flattering on the man’s physique and, for his personality. While they are talking, the tailor offers the man a cup of coffee. The man accepts and the tailor pours him a cup of coffee with two lumps of sugar. They sit down at a table with a stack of books holding fabric swatches. Together they page through several books of swatches until the man finds one that he feels is just right. Then, the tailor takes down all his information and instructs his client to come back in two weeks for a final fitting just to make sure everything with his new suit meets his satisfaction.

Two weeks later, the man returns and tries on his new suit. The tailor makes some small adjustments. He pins a few places on the coat to make for a better fit on the man. The tailor says he will make these adjustments while the man waits and offers him a glass of water while he waits. The man sits down in a comfortable stuffed chair to wait for the alterations to be completed. The tailor says he is welcome to read any of the magazines on the table while he waits. The tailor soon returns with the altered suit. Again, the man tries on the suit. Satisfied with the fit, the tailor neatly packs the suit up. The man pays the tailor and thanks him for his wonderful new custom suit. The tailer returns the pleasantries by thanking the man for his business.

Many people would look at this scenario and conclude the man got great service. But, what he actually got was a great product - A new custom-tailored suit completely unique to him. The superb service he received was simply the gift wrapping.

This is exactly the same for professionals in the advertising and design industry. We are providers of a product. A unique, custom-made product that will help our clients - be it a branding campaign, website, packaging, etc.

So, why then do we constantly devalue our product by referring to ourselves as nothing more than a "service industry"? Doing so puts less emphasis on the work we create as well as on the people who create it. Good service should always be a requirement to doing good business, but that doesn’t make us a service industry.

In the end, if the man didn’t get the suit he was looking for, all the great service would have been for naught.