Is this Year of the Ghost?

Opinion
The constant ghosting, in various guises, speaks poorly to the trust, integrity and “values” that this industry supposedly embraces.
For a change, let’s talk about ghosts.
Not the pints of Adnams Ghost Ship many of us turn to at this time of year, nor the ghostwriting business I founded in a fallow period some long way back.
Nor the increasingly en vogue topic of the ghosts of advertising previous, despite rising regulatory interest in the irresponsibility of the platforms and the gathering traction of the necessary Advertising: Who Cares? movement.
No.
Rather, ghosting in the online sense.
The sound of silence
As someone who still very much believes in face to face and — yes — going into a workplace to interact with colleagues, I was delighted to attend a gathering of senior, experienced and highly decorated (ie. unemployable) folk just before Christmas.
One topic of conversation came up that really united and engaged everyone: ghosting.
As in people making contact, requesting input, work and requests for proposals that they then meet with silence.
(Having been ghosted recently by a long-standing and hitherto good friend, this is a raw subject for me personally too.)
A frequent characteristic is not even know the transgression that drove the ghosting.
Everybody had multiple stories to hand and this got us thinking just how common the phenomenon is.
It turned into quite a thread. Someone even came up with a LinkedIn frame…
Widespread phenomenon
Subsequent conversations confirm it is indeed widespread and far from confined to proprietors of smaller, consulting businesses.
It’s now common enough to be seen in many circles as quite OK to elicit work and then not respond to it — let alone pay for it, in many instances.
This may likely have evolved from online behaviours and perhaps American ways of doing business too?
But it speaks really badly to the hot topics of trust, integrity and “values”.
Top ghosts
There was even an idea of setting up a Ghost of the Year awards. The categories illustrate the nature and scale of the issue.
Job Ghost: People enter a recruitment process, including being interviewed. They then hear nothing, get the runaround or are treated like cattle.
It’s scary how bad this is. It highlights how bullshit so many claimed company values, like “integrity”, are. HR departments seem awfully complicit in how they interact with and treat people.
Here’s just one LinkedIn post, subsequently deleted as the obviously frustrated author figured it wasn’t going to get him a gig.
Pitch Ghost: When an agency is on a longlist or shortlist, the process seems to be to make it as hard or as awkward as possible to get a decent brief, have time with the client or get answers to questions.
Fairness is an excuse for badly arranged or non-existent feedback during or after a process. Eggshells are avoided as it’s a pitch, but the truth is the client or advisor either hasn’t done the work or maybe can’t be bothered.
Then the pitch happens and a vacuum follows. No feedback. Some can drag on for months or even years. Even more weirdly, some rare instances even lead to an eventual appointment!
Project Ghost: Not an agency or consultant chasing business, but when an existing client or prospect approaches you to do a project, normally with some urgent deadline.
So off you go and then… nothing. Emails are not replied to. Dates you were told were urgent are ignored. You chase. You ask. You get no reply or a stalled promise and then nothing.
We all understand that intended projects might not happen, but people seem incapable of just saying this is the reality.
Year of the Ghost?
What are your experiences? Spill the beans, anonymously if you wish, but do provide as much detail as possible.
While naming and shaming would of course be great, it’s not practical. But in our close-knit community, it’s quite possible to impart a pretty clear sense of who to be cautious around without libelling them.
Note: A hat tip to Mark Palmer of Maverick Planet for much additional content.
Bob Wootton spent 40 years working in advertising, first as a media buyer at some of the UK’s leading agencies before joining the trade body Isba in 1996, where he was advertising and media director for 20 years. He is also the founder of Deconstruction, a media and tech consulting business, and presents The Guitar Show on YouTube.