by Martin MacGregor (@MartMacG) I’ve seen enough “agency of the future” articles to realise that, just like economists, no one in marketing has any idea what those agencies of the future will look like. However, unlike economists, the future outlook of marketers always tends towards the positive — it comes with the territory when your job is to create demand.
Together with this comes an “anything is possible” approach which does make the future feel more controllable. I can make it anything I want it to be.
Here’s my take
So, for what it’s worth, here is my take:
One thing is for sure — the ridiculous silos of separate messaging and media agencies will fall away. It is historic baggage, and I can see from the millennials whom I work with that they don’t look at content creation (yes, that’s what advertising is) and content distribution (yes, that’s what media is) as needing to come from two different places.
Very simply, there will be three different types of agencies. And their format will reflect the timescale of clients’ business objectives and the specialist skills needed to deliver on those.
- First up, will be the agency for clients that want sales now. Not next year, next month, next week, tomorrow, but now. This is the response agency driven by data-led programmatic buying, leading to immediate e-commerce purchase. Message development is directed by what the data says to maximise potential response, which is placed for heightened relevance. Agencies in this space are judged solely upon performance, and they are staffed by passionate data analysts at the core of an integrated creative and media team.
- Second will be the agency for clients that need to tell a brand story. Here the focus will be upon all the content which helps build consumer perception around a brand. Clients will engage these types of agencies with goals around affinity and a key measure of engagement. Content distributors will need to understand the content and its ability to move consumers to ensure it gets shared and viewed. Clients will be looking at a timescale of one-to-two years, where they will want to see a significant shift in brand love.
- Third will be a truly interesting offering which will really elevate marketing’s function. There is much talk of consultant and auditing firms such as Accenture, McKinsey, Deloitte & PWC playing in the marketing space, and it is here where they are really suited. These are agencies structured to identify how marketing can drive future business growth. Where and how much should a business invest in its brand positioning, brand assets and consumer interface? Presently, not enough attention is given to this internally by clients. And, although agencies try to give the best advice they can, they are not really equipped to be true business consultants in this form. The timescale here will be five-to-ten years and these relationships will, as a result, be equally long term.
Hugely exciting
All three types of agencies are hugely exciting for very different reasons, and I think will allow for the right skills to be applied against the right business objectives — and much more realistic than the “we can solve your immediate and long-term objectives” approach of agencies today.
So, that’s the future. Now, we just need to go and create it.
Martin MacGregor (@MartMacG) is managing director of Connect, an M&C Saatchi Company, with offices in Johannesburg and Cape Town. Martin has spent 18 years in the industry, and has previously worked at Ogilvy and was MD of MEC Nota Bene in Cape Town. He contributes the monthly “Media Redefined” column, in which he challenges norms in the media space, to MarkLives.com.
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Well said!