Fast Agency, Fast Society
The Game has changed. But for most this critical evolution and transformation has been absent and we are still very much acting and behaving old fashioned.
The Advertising and communication landscape has evolved drastically from the days of Mad Men and 1930’s Madison Avenue. It’s evolved from the days when giants such as Bernbach, Saatchi, Ogilvy and Leo were very much active and attending pitches. Although their character traits and work ethic is very much missed today.
What do I mean by this evolution of the business landscape?
- I mean business conditions are not the same anymore, and the way agencies are trying to ensure they solidify and justify their brand value for clients and in society is not as before. We are finding it harder to establish our true worth.
- I mean the way agencies are getting remunerated today Vs. before has drastically deteriorated. We are now selling creative ideas by the Kilogram; Vs. selling them through a proper measurement that takes into account the time of the agency and the impact of our idea on the clients business. In most cases we are giving our ideas away.
- I mean the way we as a communication industry value ourselves and walk with attitude and a self-belief that we are part of the greatest industry of all time is taken for granted to a large degree. Those legends of the past had this panache; but overtime we have failed in carrying it.
- I mean the way our creative work is perceived today and looked upon and consumed by society is not like before. Today we are dealing with connected society that is constantly on the go and not na?ve. Social media can make you a hero overnight and the opposite is also true. So our creativity has an instant like or rejection and it’s in the open.
- I mean the way our creative product is now the object of desire by so many. Everyone is a creative director; including the consumer. Media agencies; PR agencies; CRM hot shops; digital platforms like facebook and Google, consultancy giants such as Deloitte and IBM as we know are already in the creative space, and clients themselves; all have a say, and all are at the helm of creativity; with the sole purpose to be labeled as creative institutions.
- I mean the democratization of creative production. Everyone can produce content today; everyone can scale creativity and push it through multiple social channels that were not there before. Media has shifted to RTB and conversion officers are at the helm of campaigns.
- I mean the fact that clients are no longer obliged or even incentivized to work with creative agencies (the good old ad agency); as they themselves are producing content and creating communication work. Look at one of the latest dollar day shave club ads that was produced by the client.
Source:https://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/ad-day-dollar-shave-club-shamelessly-mocks-axe-and-old-spice-shower-gel-ads-173883
- I mean the slow demise of the AOR (agency of record) for clients and its replacement by many specialized agencies that can provide a number of offerings; add to that the shrinking retainers that are being replaced with project based opportunities.
The Death of the Agency of Record Is Near or here.
The universe of communication is shifting beneath us and we are standing and working in the old fashioned manner as if all is fine and we are merely mortals. Yeah right.
This business disruption has left us in our tracks; and we forgot to reinvent our modus operandi along the way. We forgot to stay connected. Our inability as a creative community to bring onboard the next wave of integrators and thinkers and ensure our processes are very much simple at heart and egoless has been the reason we are here today. More so we have been reactive to all these points I have raised earlier on. We failed to read the signs and predict the changes.
But all is not lost yet; and time is of the essence.
We need to ensure we understand two fundamental parameters.
What’s best for the brand; combined with an agenda that also suits our interests as creative and communication institutions. Both parameters can co-exist together and there are examples out there.
As Bob Greenberg best puts it; a disruption is needed every couple of years; and nobody can own this mantra better than R/GA. Recently claiming to have built the most connected office in the world; a fully integrated nexus that combines technology; a new agency business model, modern living and a host of connectivity essentials that help their employees ensure they remain connected individuals in a world of changing matrixes.
Source: https://lbbonline.com/news/bob-greenberg-we-create-our-own-disruption/
In my view, R/GA is putting all its focus on being able to remain and act as the agency of the connected age; an age of social media; artificial intelligence and consumerism that is synonymous with technological appetite. Agencies of tmrw, where R/GA is today; need to ensure that their focus remains on how they can bridge the gap of creativity and technology ever so closer.
They must ensure that their creative product is technology friendly; is created with the help of technology but not for the sake of technology; rather for the sake of creating value in peoples lives. R/GA Ventures division does exactly that….and through various accelerator programs it allows new technologies to be created which in turn serves a brand or marketing objective. This is an agency model and example that not only serves the brand its helping…. but also serves the equity of the agency; as it raises it profile; its worth and bottom line in the eyes of all.
The agencies that fail to bridge this gap and embrace this mantra will be forever forgotten and their creative ideas will merely stay relevant for the age of the past and not the connected consumer of the future.
But connectivity alone and an understanding that the final creative product needs to serve a more dynamic purpose is only half the equation. Only a handful of agencies in the world today have figured this integrated formula well. And their work speaks for themselves. But in today’s mainstream communication industry, where all and most holding group agencies sit the process in which the majority are working by needs to also seek this change, fast, and it hasn’t.
Clients are themselves asking for more seamless and integrated answers to their briefs. They are seeking solutions that our silo-models of today are not able to answer. And when we do, it’s not optimal at all.
We are working traditionally and unless we breakdown the boundaries between ourselves, the clients and other agencies that are too serving the brand; our creative product will remain obsolete. Even though we think its breakthrough.
The biggest advertisers in the world; the likes of Procter and Gamble; Unilever, The Coca Cola Company are all asking for a new order of play. Game changing models that need to overcome the complexity we currently live by.
Marc Pritchard might have said it best: "Frankly, your complexity should not be our problem, so we want you to make that complexity invisible."
He said this when addressing agencies at Ad Age's Digital Conference in April, 2016, the Procter & Gamble Global Brand Officer also added that "our expectation is that over time, our agency partners, whoever we choose, are going to be able to integrate [all of the workload], so you can get the production out, the distribution out as well as the creative out."
The agency model of the future should in essence be one that combines a passion and focus for creativity with purpose. One that opposes fragmentation of efforts. A topic that Unilever’s Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Keith Weed views as the one of the biggest concerns both for their business and the future of their brands.
Fragmentation of efforts in our world today; means multiple agencies working on creative solutions for brands; and working in silo’s while doing so; with an end result being ideas and communication channel plans that are not connected; not tackling the real issues, nor simple enough to be understood.
We can only overcome this clear and present problem; if we as communication agencies come together; and stand united before the client and the brand. We can no longer live the “divide and conquer” strategy. This fierce competition between ourselves has also been the cause of our diminishing financial margins.
With out sounding na?ve, it’s about unity and its about having a hard and difficult chat internally on how we can together think long-term Vs. short-term. The future is about working as an Anchor & Support agency model where an agency surrounds itself with experts from multiple fields all coming together to work on a specific strategy, business goal and a defined metrics.
The landscape of today cant have ego’s getting in the way or else things will only get worst. Specialist agencies must work together and ensure there is alignment internally on who does what; agree on the best suitable candidates with the right credentials that can do that job and then do it. Implement a RASCI model for accountability and then move on. Easier said than done….but every one of us has a core competency that we can own better than other things…..why cant we all play fair; identify that and act accordingly.
Most of our structures today are too rigid. Too vertical and too slow. We are too egocentric as a culture and are not open to take on advice from other expert brands in the industry. Instead the agencies that are more connected and prepared for the future are the ones that are working in no silo’s, are horizontal in nature, fast, open and ego free. They have figured out the collaboration model. Hard to accept for most; but it’s the truth.
To recap I would summarize 6 urgent key action points that mainstream agencies of today need to adopt and implement to be able to remain in the game and remain fast.
To use a basketball terminology; the clock is running down on the 3rd with the last quarter to go.
1- Investing in Talent that brings a vast array of skills to the table, from coders, to anthropologist to hard-core data scientists. Even musicians and linguists. Imagine you have all these minds and skills present in a creative agency. A renaissance of ideas comes to life. I want to bring on board more consultants and pair them up with creative designers.
2- Short-term thinking will kill us, as we wont be able to invest in areas that can carry us forward in choppy waters ahead. We need a long-term view during these tough times.
3- Put the ego away; focus on what you do best; sit around the 3.0 table and partner up fast to answer the clients. Divide the revenue accordingly.
4- Try to create a more connected environment in your process and culture. It’s not difficult. Break down the silos and shorten your high-rises; and instead build a linear and more flat field of connected pods.
5- It’s not about the awards. Get over it. Our creative should be celebrated but we cant be in the business of awards. Events like South by Southwest are tmrw’s meeting points; where a crossroad of content; entertainment and music meet. The South by Southwest? (SXSW?) Conference & Festivals celebrate the convergence of the interactive, film, and music industries. Fostering creative and professional growth alike, SXSW? is the premier destination for discovery.
6- Our creative product should be one that is all about creating value for people; be less about marketing at people; rather marketing for people. Marketing for people means bringing the consumer at the heart of your strategy. Keith Weed Global CMO of Unilever has also had a lot to say about this.
In conclusion our creative advertising renaissance must continue, and we can succeed, remain relevant, stay connected, stay fast and lead through creative innovation. But we must enforce some very crucial changes in our organizations, or we will find ourselves alone and a story of the past.
Sasan Saeidi
IAA Global Vice President- Content Strategy.
#agencyofthefuture, #IAAGLOBAL, #Sasan Saeidi, #Advertisingevolution, #IAA GLOBAL Content, #FASTAGENCY
Twitter: @mrsasansaeidi
Mentor-turned-leader| Saudi-raised visionary| Passionate Advocate for People, Businesses and Causes| Brand and Ethical Marketeer| Big Cat Enthusiast
8 年Thanks for this article Sasan Saeidi ...I recently read Ahmad Abu Zannad's De-Commoditizing The Ad Industry..and then this article.. I may not have the regional experience but I believe the problem is similar. Having worked with Y&R and Ogilvy and some local agencies in the past, the problem has always been in the Agency professionals focusing too hard on pleasing the marketers while sticking the old formulas. All your 6 points are valid and quoting Ahmad, the problem is how all the global agencies have lacked the ability to differentiate from each other. A new client pitching goes through the same format of presentation and promises just phrased differently.. Where we are, the awards we've won, the clients we work with and our strategic strict model approach to all your marketing solutions.. and Oh yeah..we do provide Integrated marketing solutions.. It surprises me how professional and reputed Advertising Agencies have always failed to advertise and market themselves to the clients. Some interesting points to think about, some of which are inspired by what I read from both your reads: a) Marketing has always been about forming a long lasting relationship with clients by providing value and experience. - How often do we go choosing clients or providing solutions based on more impact and being cost effective. The race to meet our targets kills any chance of forming that long relationship. In recent times, I am yet to see a long sustainable relationship with a client. b) With budget constraints globally, ever increasing technology and a focus on disruption and abuse of the word "Innovation", CS needs to literally turn into business consultants work on changing business models, rather than figuring out what kind of channel and creative suits the client and their positioning. c) The creative process, starts with either thinking of concepts or activations with integration to social media or forcefully adapted to other media or digital channels.. Really? How can we get the creative to start thinking from a client's business perspective to think from business or brand's value offering perspective considering all practical barrier? If we keep focusing on what the target audience wants..how will we ever get into that innovation zone of discovering unrealized needs? d) Rigid Agency processes and costs aren't helping on providing the support once clients used to get in achieving those glories for fulfilling close to impossible tasks e) Why isn't any Agency developing its App yet? or presenting on mobiles to the clients? (they're on their phones mostly during presentations anyway). Sharing Credentials is a might painful task with the size of our presentations.. f) When do we start to have a right mix of International expertise but actually lead from local insights? We approach a very localized head of marketing talent who has started either having in house creative team or is in search of an agency that truly is local (at least for Saudi) or gets their country g) With all due to respect to David Ogilvy.. Its not about selling anymore... If you sell... you get spotted and are instantly rejected.. It all has to be done organically and accepted naturally without any work being shoved down either the client's throat or the customers. h) Never understood how with all due respect to the Heads of Agencies who are based in different countries to understand and interact with clients based in different countries... The marketing operations, people and culture are very different in Saudi vs UAE vs Oman vs Lebanon vs UK... (even the targets are set there and the financial heads reside on those countries where the rules are made) I'm all up for the revolution and the fast agency remodeling its approach.. the opportunity for an Advertising Industry disruption is ripe and there for the taking if we can realize that unrealized need and build the servicing model around it..
Group Senior Manager, Brand @ DP World
8 年Great article Sasan Saeidi. I couldn't agree more with point #1. We constantly complain about talent quality but we have actually been looking in the wrong talent pools. We need to venture outside our ego-walls and open up to other creative industries. #5 has always been my belief, so no argument there. Do good work, and the awards will come on their own. Lastly, I'd love to hear your thoughts on how we can achieve point #3. It's a tough one. Perhaps in your next article! Cheers
Client Success Manager at Ubrik. Relationship Specialist since & 2002 & Digital Marketer since 2012. Proven track record in building, delivering & maintaining relationships & solutions that drive results.
8 年Hi Sasan Saeidi, you pretty much nailed it in point #6 ...lots of unlearning and re-learning needed for brands and agencies all over. Keep up the disruption...we're witcha!
Brand | Experience | Culture | Innovation | Transformation | Growth
8 年Some really good points here Sasan - time for another of our long chats!
CCO - Soloverse
8 年Good analysis!