The current agency model is broken. Agencies aren't built to accommodate innovation. Online marketing requires too many specialists to be effective.
Those are some pretty bold statements, no? They seem even more outlandish when you consider they came from an ad:tech panel called "The Modern Agency," full of agency honchos assembled to discuss compensation models and the delivery of cross-media expertise.
Online advertising has led to a plethora of startups and vendors, all pushing new innovations and marketing solutions. But when it comes time to finding a way to deploy innovative new technology, the agency might not be the best place to look.
"Find a client champion rather than an agency champion," advised Paul Wollmington, founding partner of Naked. "It's a shame, because I'm an agency guy, but I've felt the frustration of being shuffled around before."
Wollmington advised developers and agencies to ask what a new technology can do for a client before making the decision to use. In the end, all innovation has to help boost the clients bottom line to be worthwhile.
One reason digital is struggling with acceptance is the variety of specialists required. Many aspects of digital are siloed, and with a lack of talent entering the field, agencies can't afford to spend six figures to employ digital media experts, nor can they afford to add more and more people onto each campaign.
"Let's use a cargo plane as an example," said John Osborn, president and CEO of BBDO New York. "Digital requires us to add more people onto the plane. And what happens when you add more people to the plane? It can't take off."
Therefore, it's necessary that agencies expose their teams to as many relevant aspects as possible. BBDO is exposing its digital staff to traditional methods, and vice versa.
One final reason agencies are stagnant is the problem presented by large agencies. Larger ad agencies can pitch ideas constantly, essentially giving them away for free and ultimately hurting younger, hungrier creative shops in the process.
"Big agencies have scale to do marketing for free, and that's got to stop," Osborn said. "We're killing ourselves."
