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by Johanna McDowell (@jomcdowell) NEW YORK CITY: By Day 2, interesting trends began emerging already at the 2015 AdForum Worldwide Summit NYC.

It is clear that the agency of the future is the one which can identify the needs and desires of the potential audiences for brands and products, and enable those audiences to have authentic interaction with those brands on platforms which are also authentic to both audience and brand. There were a couple of agencies on Day 2 which are already doing this. More on that later.

The other major observation is that agencies are starting to invest back into their businesses in terms of top people, as well as technology. This indicates a possible return to the confidence levels that we saw before the 2007 market crash. This is also leading to lots of changes at top levels in agencies — with one of the favourite digital natives in recent years, R/GA — losing several of its top people to these newly emerging powerhouses.

Publicis North America

The first agency visit was to Publicis North America, which is literally moving into its new building and has grown dramatically in the past 12 months, from 650 people to 1000+. It is clear that the agency is enjoying organic growth from its existing clients, plus new business wins with new clients such as Cadillac, Sears, Heineken, Sheraton and Kmart. The agency is seeing a much greater level of diversity in the kinds of briefs it receives from clients — a greater focus on solving business problems, as opposed to just communication problems.

Publicis is once again investing heavily into its digital growth, ensuring that is has a deep digital differentiator in its NURUN system — producing “digital might” on a global level.

You & Mr Jones

We then moved on to You & Mr Jones, the business created by David Jones, formerly CEO of HAVAS, in which US$350 million has been invented. The first “Global Brand Technology Group” is the new positioning, and Jones has identified correctly the disruption in the market which will ensure that agencies of the future will be more about audience and creating meaningful connection, and less about branding for branding’s sake. A lot of the plans are still under wraps but we were given a glimpse of what is intended to be very much a “start-up culture” group. OneYoungWorld, a movement that Jones helped create while at HAVAS, is still a part of his life and again more will be revealed in the new connection.

 

Possible

An agency we met a few years ago as a digital startup, Possible is now WPP-owned and is very firmly positioned for the new era where digital, ATLs, consultancies and online platforms converge or collide. Again, it is all about knowing where your audience is and creating meaningful content for them. Possible is one of the few agencies that Uber has allowed to use its platform for a campaign for a liqueur called St Germain, along with social media platform Periscope.

With 800 employees in North America, Possible has expanded across the world and has kept its staff churn at 7.9%, well below the industry norm of 22%. As more than 50% of ots business now coming from WPP agencies, Possible prides itself in having a highly collaborative and flexible culture able to manage the “horizontality” required in the WPP network. The remainder of its new business comes from client referral but Possible certainly wants to be pitching more for new clients that it wants to target.

The Martin Agency

We moved on to The Martin Agency which we met last year and which this year celebrates 50 years of being in business. With a high degree of commitment to the craft of ideas and advertising, this agency believes that craft matters more today than ever before. Two major creative appointments and a soft launch last year in London are positioning Martin as an agency to watch closely as it unfolds its plans.

It is also determined to have fun in its agency; life is not only about hard work.

PI&C

PI&C — an implementation agency, independent, fast — was our next stop. An agency run entrepreneurially by experienced people who have no intention of ever using time sheets to aid their billing processes, they are determined and have proven that they can run their business on a project-management basis with a strong commitment to production values and excellence. Preferring to focus on content production at minimum cost to clients, PI&C has certainly worked out how to deliver for its clients and is charting a new course within its sector.

iCrossing

And, finally, we met with iCrossing, part of the Hearst Group, and now led by Nick Brien, previously global CEO of McCann. iCrossing has been in the digital space for 15 years and, as part of Hearst, have a strong understanding of the value of editorial. The synergy between its stellar magazine lineup, which includes Cosmo and Popular Mechanics, and iCrossing’s digital capabilities is positioning this business as one which will be able to connect with consumers on many levels — going back to the point of understanding audiences and delivering authentic content. Brien talked about taking agencies “from admakers to cultural engineers” — a quote he attributes to the current Cosmo editor.

 
Six agencies (for want of a better term) in a day — showing us the way in which clients and agencies are operating at speed in this new environment.

I cannot wait for Day 3’s lineup.

Best
Johanna
@jomcdowell @agencyselection
#adforumsummit

 

Johanna McDowellJohanna McDowell (@jomcdowell) is managing director of the Independent Agency Search and Selection Company (IAS), which stands at the forefront of the complex world of agency selection in South Africa, and she is one of the few experts driving this mediation and advisory service in SA and globally. Twice a year she attends AdForum Worldwide Summits as an international consultant, which helps her lead the SA advertising industry forward to keep in line with international trends and remain competitive.

 

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