Oliver with a Twist!

An Agency of its Kind - Oliver with a Twist 

In the last couple of years, top marketers across the globe have made a clarion call for simplicity and speed, without compromising on quality or price from agencies. As a response to the challenge, the agencies have mostly taken positive and determined strides. The holding companies merged their existing agencies (example: merger of JWT and Wunderman within WPP) and simplified their complex structures for more client-friendly engagement models (example: The “Power of One” model of Publicis). The smaller independent agencies in advertising, media buying and digital, have enriched the agency land with creativity and agility, providing lucrative options to the advertisers. To add to the list, are the consulting firms like Accenture Interactive and Deloitte Digital, who have “one-stop shop” solutions to offer.

In this scenario, a new engagement model – embedding of agency team on client site working as an extended arm of the in-house team - is emerging which has caught the attention and imagination of many a marketer. The trend is yet to be mainstream as there are very few agencies that can offer this unique service model, however, it holds the power to completely transform the industry in the next few years. One of the most successful proponents of this model is Oliver, other notable agencies being The&Partnership and NuFu.

The Uniqueness of Oliver

Oliver is not a new name, it was set up in London in 2004 by Simon Martin.  Simon spotted the trend of in-housing in the early years as the clients were looking for fast-turnaround content in a seamless manner. Oliver specializes in providing digital (70% of its services are digital, which includes video creation, ecommerce, physical in-store displays, etc.) and creative services at scale, who can work on-site along with the in-house agencies of the marketers, providing quality content with speed at reasonable price. The talent staff of Oliver constitutes 80% with creative and freelancers make up for 7-12% of the staff, which depends upon work demand. This is in contrast with the holding companies where administrative staff can constitute 50% of the overall staff.

Apart from flexibility and speed, clients have gained from significant cost savings (sometimes more than 30% as claimed by the agency). Holding companies are attempting to introduce similar models with the likes of The&Parnership and Wunderman Thompson as they have moved to in-housing. The industry will eagerly watch their ability to deploy the new model, as it is more than just placing staff on-site. The effectiveness of the model requires superior organizational design and a collaborative approach to synchronize people, process, and technology.

One of the marquee clients of Oliver has been Unilever, the world’s second largest advertiser, which let Oliver provide staff who could work along with U-Studio, the in-house agency of the CPG major. The joint exercise was initiated in 2016 and currently operates in 18 of Unilever’s offices worldwide. Oliver boasts of an impressive list of clients that includes TSB, Barclaycard, Telefónica, and The Guardian. There are 190 active clients and the list is growing. The agency has grown in leaps and bounds with a Compounded Annual Growth Rate of 64% over 14 years and with presence expanded from just 2 countries in 2014 to 36 countries in 2018, indicating a tectonic shift in client mindset who are increasingly placing greater trust in innovative solutions.

Conclusion

The engagement model championed by Oliver is still at early stages. There are detractors too criticizing the quality of work, terming the work of Oliver as creators of “marketing collaterals”. The agency may not be the top name to recall when one thinks of media or traditional creative, but it can certainly act as a connector for differently skilled agencies and become a facilitator for collaborative work. Clearly, the promise is too evident to be overlooked by Procurement, with not just cost savings opportunities but also because of innovation and transparency. As the supply landscape gets richer with more agencies, holding as well as traditional, coming into the play, procurement may want to take a closer look and reap the benefits of being early pioneers.