January 17, 2011
with arauser
This post has 5 Comments, add yours! Tagged under: Marketing Observations
The agency model is changing, but there is still plenty of misconception as to why that is. Many may believe that the uprising of digital agencies is slowly dominating the advertising space, stealing all the awards... oh and of course Facebook. But that’s not the case.
The shift is about the change we’re seeing in consumer behavior and about agencies reinventing themselves in order to remain useful. Since mass media is no longer the core of marketing, communication agencies have to adapt to changes in technology, media, and marketing strategies.
As a result is becoming more difficult for marketers to select the right roster of agencies to address this change.
In the last 30 years, agencies of all sizes either created sub companies or departments, each designed to encompass a specific skill set: the branding guys, the interactive guys, the creative guys, the PR guys etc.
But then things changed when consumers all of a sudden became in control of when and how they consume media. Consumers became participants, influencers and even brand owners.
This change has required advertising campaigns to transform into on-going experiences lead by engagement strategies. This means that agencies will have to change even further and not just by moving the digital guys in the same room as the creative director. An entirely new engagement model needs to be designed.
In what ways have you seen agencies transform recently?
Interesting, to be honest I didn't see allot of agency transformation in the middle east, however quiet noticable is the emergence of young entrepreneurs that are specializing in social and digital media, what agencies are doing are attracting more and more of the fresh grads whome are techies, I feel that within the middle east agencies are still scratching the surface of possibilities and what can be accomplished through the digital marketing channel!
yup! power to the consumer!
Changes that I have noticed are in few parts:
Part I: Some big Agencies are reconstructing or expanding their departments to cope with the fast changes in the industry. However, their transformation methods are applied the "Old-Timer" way.
Part II: Some big Agencies spared themselves the headache and started dealing with freelancers, social media agencies and digital marketing agencies.
Part III: Small Agencies and freelancers are forming alliances to transform into full service agencies.
i work at an agency and i hateeee it. it's so dull.
I agree with part 3 in Hasan comment. The truth is old school advertising was mass and that is also passive because you will never get a one on one conversation with a consumer through press or billboards. The consumer is in control because he/she sees traditional advertising as intrusive bombarding them everywhere with poor substance. Another side to traditional advertising is that it's become art which you can enjoy if interesting. Agencies sense that every day as clients ask for an alternative creative for no apparent reason. You can never guarantee 2 people liking the same painting! And that’s without tackling content/message. Advertising is now a form of art. To really reach and communicate with consumers we have to do it intelligently. Bottom line is years ago the consumer wasn’t any wiser. This also puts a lot of weight on product managers too to produce worth products that can be branded successfully.
The new agency model needs to flip. Where digital and social media were minimal or let’s say last in, now need to make up the big chunk of the agency and they should lead alongside PR in putting the brand strategy together. Once that's been taken care of the fluff can be designed i.e. advertising. Advertising is not completely out yet, but it’s definitely not working as it used to and has become a form of art.