As the operator of an ad agency, I have to tell you that these days I have been thinking about the changes I’m seeing and wondering if agencies will survive. Here’s some of the things that we did not have when I first entered McCann’s in 1982: Freelancers, virtual agencies, social media, direct media sellers, in-house agencies, event planners, google ad words, text to win contests, crisis managers, Cable TV, ipods, spin classes, web developers, to name just a few. So any agency whose going along on their merry way as if the Bee Gees are still topping the charts will find themselves singing a sad song.
What can we do? Why do we exist? What are we selling? Fundamentally, we sell two things. We figure out what to tell people. (message) And then we dream up ideas that deliver the message. (through marketing drivers like radio, events and online tools) But advertising is a very accessible field. Everyone knows what should be said and has an opinion on the best to say it. So advertising agencies’ role has been devalued. Why pay for something that we can pick up any where or that we can do for ourselves? That’s not an unreasonable stance. And that’s why we need to do stuff that our clients can’t just pick up any where. That’s how pepper will be one of the last ones on earth.
