by: Idris Mootee
I had
numerous dinner conversations two weeks ago in NYC with agency friends about
the future of advertising and its future role. In the last 24 months the shift
to digital has accelerated. We talked about how the consumer has adapted to new
technology faster than we can imagine and ad agencies have had big difficulty
in keeping up. Here's briefly the key questions that started the dialogue:
The other question is "Does the 30/60sec ad have any future? My answer was "yes", but not the sort of 30 or 60 sec TV ads as in its current shape or form. The creative direction will be set by the agency and they will outsource the idea generation to an open creative circle or specialist creative production shops. The community will be like independent film makers but will focus on mini ads (or we shouldn't call them ads anymore). These min-ads will have a variety of styles from mini-product demonstration to crazy or cool personal story that carry a strong brand narrative. These creative assets do not reflect the core of the brand and its propositions but it reflects that mini-brand stories are much broader and more relevant. Agencies will create new roles such as brand stewards, brand stories planner and trans-media brand coordinator. The team's responsibility is to help brands to stake out their territories including credible and authentic brand stories.
As a result
of that, we will see a market place for creative ideas and creative content
that are not tied into a medium---large screen, mid-sized or mini-screen. This
is the fundamental structural shift inherent in advertising 2.0. "Digital
is the future for all ad agencies" according to Mark Read, CEO WPP
Digital, "the boundaries between digital and
everything else will be irrelevant within the next five years." I
think he totally gets it.
Yes this is
an expensive game. Martin Sorrell CEO of WPP is pretty outspoken about
valuations of digital companies being rich -- too rich, for the most part, for
his liking. But they understand how a few dollars well spent with a startup can
open up dialogue. These minority investments help to cement future
relationships and that's their strategy. When Google announced its plans to buy
DoubleClick back in April, Mr. Sorrell described the move as "game
changing" and said the announcement forced them to accelerate their
thinking on the company's digital strategy. I am sure WPP now has a new plan to
play this digital game including some acquisition plays in the making. I think WPP's agencies (O&M, JWT) are now sigificantly
disadvantaged in their digital capabilties, they will have to make some
moves soon.
I think the
mid-sized agency business will also thrive based on a best-of-breed model,
where outsourced specific roles will be common and partnerships for servicing
business will be commonplace--from strategy to digital content creation. The
void of talent in the marketplace will get worse and I expect to see a lot of
new specialist shops popping up and prospering over the next 2-3 years. I see a
big gap in the market for Digital Strategy
Architects to help clients navigate these new media landscapes and
that's beyond the capabilities of the typical agency planners. Strategists that
truly understand the digital landscape are rare commodities these days.
http://mootee.typepad.com/innovation playground/2007/08/ad-agency-new-g.html
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