This morning, our account executive Anna shared with us a piece she read from Advertising Age. The piece, entitled “Why Metrics are Killing Creativity,” really hit home to those of us in the ad world.

Don’t get us wrong; metrics definitely have a place of importance in the ad world. We are realistic, we know our clients have to measure success somehow, to see a return on their investment. But it becomes tough when we’re ONLY thinking about numbers. When metrics inhibit taking risks or executing strategic creative because we’re not considering anything but how many impressions, leads, clicks, conversions, etc. we’re going to get, we’ve become sorely misguided.

While numbers can’t be everything, neither can creativity: don’t do it for the sake of doing it. This is where strategy comes in. Having a cool ad is one thing. Having a fresh, big, new campaign that is targeted at your audience and will resonate with them on an emotional level is another. The latter, if done with strategic purpose, can (and will) deliver the numbers and metrics that we rely on. But to get there you have to put the metrics aside and step outside of the numbers box.

And as much as metrics has become the norm for measuring success, we cannot and must not deny the emotional aspect of branding. Emotional connections are what cause people to identify with brands. Its the break from the norm, the challenge of convention, that stays with consumers. Not the numbers.

At any advertising agency, there are many parts. There is usually some mix of creatives, account service, word of mouth/social media, traffic, and PR professionals. (Hint – if you want to see the people behind The Cyphers Agency, click on some of the links in this blog post)

We thought it would be a good idea to let you know what all of these people do, and why, when you put us all together, we come up with such great ideas.

Account Service – The people in account service at The Cyphers Agency are constantly making sure that our clients objectives are being accomplished. They oversee all projects and campaigns, and provide strategic and planning insight throughout the process. Communication (to keep clients happy, and keep the agency “account”-able) is essential with account service personnel.

Creative Department – These groovy folks aren’t just the ones creating ideas, websites, building facebook and iPhone apps, designing print ads, and filming television ads. Yeah, they do all that, but their most important job is conveying ad messages and accomplishing strategic objectives in unique and memorable ways. If you can see it, these people did it. And they put a lot of thought behind the idea.

Word of Mouth / Social Media (we call it “Push-N-Pull” here at Cyphers) – This department spreads the word for our clients. Whether our clients want to increase awareness, increase web traffic, improve customer service, search engine optimization, increase customer reviews, (BREATH….) perform market research, distribute promotions, handle a crisis, or just start “Facebook-ing” and “Twittering”, this is the department that will be getting your message to the people that want to hear it.

Traffic – This department handles the behind-the-scenes management of all the jobs. Who needs what? Where does that job need to go next? Traffic handles the who, what, when, where, and why for all of our clients. Most importantly, our traffic department ensures that all of our jobs are out the door to clients on time.

So hopefully you now have a greater understanding of how advertising agencies work. Why does ours work so well? Because we don’t just do our jobs separately. From brainstorms to our open office to staff meetings to following each other on social networks, there is a lot of communication here at The Cyphers Agency. That way, when something important happens, we all know about it quickly. Or when someone has an idea, we can all build on it quickly. This is just one of the reasons that The Cyphers Agency is greater than the sum of it’s parts.

Yesterday, as I walked into work with our creative director, my attention was brought to a pile of phone books lying on the ground beneath our mailbox. Darren, our CD, noted that they were for our office complex to use, but that they had been sitting there for about a year. A YEAR!

The nearly untouched pile of phone books got our minds turning. How long ago was it that EVERYONE wanted a spot in the Yellow Pages? It was one of the best tools to use in any print campaign.

We don’t mean to continually beat it into the ground, but times are changing. Web 2.0 is happening. It’s no longer the way of the future. Need a number? Google it. Need to find a company? Google it. Advertisers need to step up and embrace new mediums to really meet their customers.

We also don’t mean for you or your company to jump the metaphorical traditional advertising ship. Not at all. Print media is still relevant and can have a place in an advertising campaign. We’re just saying that it can’t be the only weapon in your arsenal. And more than anything, we believe in integration: using the right tools for the right audience, mixing necessary mediums.

So if you are one of those people or companies that is stuck in that traditional mindset of only using print advertising, you better step up your game and embrace new ways of communication. Because if you don’t, you’ll get left behind, just like the pile of untouched phone books sitting on the cold, hard ground outside of our office.

Today just so happens to be The Cyphers Agency’s twentieth year in the biz. Over those 20 years, we have grown and changed, both figuratively and literally. So to celebrate, we are enjoying some old stories and cupcakes!

Here are some stories that have been bouncing around:

“…I remember that year when we swiped that rock star creative guy from the agency downtown and Bob our HR guy acted like we were going to get some old Sicilian message (e.g. fish wrapped in newspaper) sent to our office”

“…I remember when one dude accidentally cut his head and we found out that another employee got queasy at the sight of blood and he hid out in the bathroom until all evidence of the accident was cleaned up”

“…I remember when Julianna told a media rep that she loved them at the end of a business voicemail. ‘I love you. No, wait, I don’t love you. I don’t know why I just said that’. Now THAT was a priceless moment”

“…I’ll never forget many years ago, our first major agency review. We were up against several of the big names in Baltimore and DC and we rocked the pitch. It was then I knew we had arrived!”

Needless to say, we are a very unique crew here at The Cyphers Agency, and I mean that in the most loving way. Sometimes, it can get a little crazy around here and strange things happen. We roll around on a scooter to get from department to department, and we have yoga balls in our office that are used more for throwing and bouncing than exercise. We play music and eat chocolate (a lot, in the WOM department). But mostly, we simply love what we do, and we look forward to doing it for another 20 years.

We would like to officially welcome Howard Mont to The Cyphers Agency as the new Vice President of Sales and Marketing. He will be leading the agency’s business development team to create new client relationships.

We don’t like to brag, but Howard is pretty awesome, and we are pretty lucky to have him. In his 40 years of professional and entrepreneurial experience, he has worked at and owned a number of prestigious firms, including Ackerman, Mont, White, a full service advertising agency in New York City. He is more than passionate about what he does and really knows the biz.

Aside from his professional experience, Howard also loves to cook, and doesn’t hesitate to give us culinary tips and advice. If only he would cook lunch for us every day…

We are happy to have Howard (and his huge ring) on our team here at The Cyphers Agency. We look forward to working with you!