Career Journal: Time to Go Out on a Limb

Not too long ago, I interviewed a senior marketing executive at an AMLAW 100 firm and struggled to persuade her to consider a CMO role at another firm. It was less of a rejection of the position at hand as it was of the profession. She had grown wary of the prospect of “doing it all over again” at yet another firm. She laughed and said she felt like Phil Connors, Bill Murray's character in the 1993 movie Groundhog Day, who seemed to relive the same day over and over again. She wanted out of the legal industry.

While I encourage marketing executives to consider each law firm role with a fresh perspective ' because no two firms' cultures are alike ' I understood her reservations. At least in this case, it was hard to suggest it was remarkably different from what she was already doing.

Not wanting to see her talent squandered, I recommended her to a colleague who does CMO searches across a number of industries. My colleague was accommodating and offered his time, but also a blunt assessment of her relative value in the market. He remarked that few of his clients would be eager to recruit someone out of a law firm. Needless to say, I was disheartened by his comments, but appealed to him to reserve judgment.

My persistence paid off. They met and he was very impressed with her marketing prowess and accomplishments. In fact, he put her up for consideration for a business unit CMO role at large technology company. Ultimately, she did not get the position as she faced an uphill battle against several other candidates who were closer to the profile our client was looking for.

'Lawyers Aren't Serious'

But why was it such a struggle to get an audience in the first place? I went back to my colleague and asked him. He said; “It's simple; lawyers aren't serious about marketing.”

I fought back and told him that, by and large, legal marketing executives are a very talented lot. Many have been doing very creative and innovative things in recent years that have had enormous impact on their respective firms' successes. I told him he should heed the advances made in the profession over the last decade.

As I mentioned, my colleague had a blunt style. He said; “Mike, it took a Supreme Court case to wake up the world's second oldest profession to the realities of marketing and advertising. All the innovative stuff you mentioned has been done over the last decade has gone virtually unnoticed outside the industry.“

He was right, of course. In Bates v. State Bar of Arizona, 433 U.S. 350 (1977), The Supreme Court ruled that attorneys had a First Amendment right to advertise their services. The decision was rendered above the institutional challenges brought forth by the Arizona Bar. Since then, most major law firms have left advertising to the proverbial ambulance-chasing injury attorneys who have furthered sullied the reputation of the profession.

Going Out on a Limb

All of this made me wonder if it wasn't time for a firm to go out on a limb with a bold advertising campaign that portrayed its lawyers as more accessible, compassionate, and self-effacing than the pejorative perception of the profession. Why not poke fun at themselves? Heck, everyone else does. Other professionals have let down their veneer. Doctors regularly appear on billboard signs or radio ads showing their palliative approach to patient care. Even the staid accounting industry has let down its collective guard. In 2007, the global audit firm Grant Thornton ran an advertising campaign with its professionals clutching roses in their mouths, dancing, and talking about their passion for accounting. While the campaign was criticized by some, the firm realized a 14% increase in revenue that year, easily outpacing the other top 10 accounting firms (Inside Public Accounting 2007 Top 100 Firms).

In contrast, law firms have clung to their stodgy, high-brow reserve. They have held to the principle that trusted-adviser relationships are what drive accretive business. While that principle still holds true, it denies the contemporary social construct which has emerged in American culture; that is, we procure services increasingly in a similar manner as we buy products. We use a value-driven criterion for purchases. Economists have recognized this phenomenon and coined a new portmanteau: the “prosumer.” While resisting an outright commoditization of professional services, they suggest the lines that have historically distinguished B to B from B to C marketing principles are beginning to blur.

Taking a Risk

As such, it's time that legal marketing executives takesa risk and launches a creative media campaign that reshapes the industry's image and in the process increases the unaided brand recognition of their firm over the virtual stealth existence of their competitors. It may not win a CLIO, but it will get noticed by others.

I do not offer these suggestions lightly, as I recognize the career risks associated with such an initiative. But I appeal to your collective artistic passions to consider championing such a real game-changer.

Michael DeCosta, a member of this newsletter's Board of Editors, is a Senior Client Partner with Korn/Ferry International, resident in its Stamford, CT, office. He can be reached at 203-406-8770 or [email protected].

Not too long ago, I interviewed a senior marketing executive at an AMLAW 100 firm and struggled to persuade her to consider a CMO role at another firm. It was less of a rejection of the position at hand as it was of the profession. She had grown wary of the prospect of “doing it all over again” at yet another firm. She laughed and said she felt like Phil Connors, Bill Murray's character in the 1993 movie Groundhog Day, who seemed to relive the same day over and over again. She wanted out of the legal industry.

While I encourage marketing executives to consider each law firm role with a fresh perspective ' because no two firms' cultures are alike ' I understood her reservations. At least in this case, it was hard to suggest it was remarkably different from what she was already doing.

Not wanting to see her talent squandered, I recommended her to a colleague who does CMO searches across a number of industries. My colleague was accommodating and offered his time, but also a blunt assessment of her relative value in the market. He remarked that few of his clients would be eager to recruit someone out of a law firm. Needless to say, I was disheartened by his comments, but appealed to him to reserve judgment.

My persistence paid off. They met and he was very impressed with her marketing prowess and accomplishments. In fact, he put her up for consideration for a business unit CMO role at large technology company. Ultimately, she did not get the position as she faced an uphill battle against several other candidates who were closer to the profile our client was looking for.

'Lawyers Aren't Serious'

But why was it such a struggle to get an audience in the first place? I went back to my colleague and asked him. He said; “It's simple; lawyers aren't serious about marketing.”

I fought back and told him that, by and large, legal marketing executives are a very talented lot. Many have been doing very creative and innovative things in recent years that have had enormous impact on their respective firms' successes. I told him he should heed the advances made in the profession over the last decade.

As I mentioned, my colleague had a blunt style. He said; “Mike, it took a Supreme Court case to wake up the world's second oldest profession to the realities of marketing and advertising. All the innovative stuff you mentioned has been done over the last decade has gone virtually unnoticed outside the industry.“

He was right, of course. In Bates v. State Bar of Arizona , 433 U.S. 350 (1977), The Supreme Court ruled that attorneys had a First Amendment right to advertise their services. The decision was rendered above the institutional challenges brought forth by the Arizona Bar. Since then, most major law firms have left advertising to the proverbial ambulance-chasing injury attorneys who have furthered sullied the reputation of the profession.

Going Out on a Limb

All of this made me wonder if it wasn't time for a firm to go out on a limb with a bold advertising campaign that portrayed its lawyers as more accessible, compassionate, and self-effacing than the pejorative perception of the profession. Why not poke fun at themselves? Heck, everyone else does. Other professionals have let down their veneer. Doctors regularly appear on billboard signs or radio ads showing their palliative approach to patient care. Even the staid accounting industry has let down its collective guard. In 2007, the global audit firm Grant Thornton ran an advertising campaign with its professionals clutching roses in their mouths, dancing, and talking about their passion for accounting. While the campaign was criticized by some, the firm realized a 14% increase in revenue that year, easily outpacing the other top 10 accounting firms (Inside Public Accounting 2007 Top 100 Firms).

In contrast, law firms have clung to their stodgy, high-brow reserve. They have held to the principle that trusted-adviser relationships are what drive accretive business. While that principle still holds true, it denies the contemporary social construct which has emerged in American culture; that is, we procure services increasingly in a similar manner as we buy products. We use a value-driven criterion for purchases. Economists have recognized this phenomenon and coined a new portmanteau: the “prosumer.” While resisting an outright commoditization of professional services, they suggest the lines that have historically distinguished B to B from B to C marketing principles are beginning to blur.

Taking a Risk

As such, it's time that legal marketing executives takesa risk and launches a creative media campaign that reshapes the industry's image and in the process increases the unaided brand recognition of their firm over the virtual stealth existence of their competitors. It may not win a CLIO, but it will get noticed by others.

I do not offer these suggestions lightly, as I recognize the career risks associated with such an initiative. But I appeal to your collective artistic passions to consider championing such a real game-changer.

Michael DeCosta, a member of this newsletter's Board of Editors, is a Senior Client Partner with Korn/Ferry International, resident in its Stamford, CT, office. He can be reached at 203-406-8770 or [email protected].