Advertising Agency

This is a thought that I've pondered for some time. It seems that the traditional ad agency structure is not set up for new media/digital work. Those things are still kept in silos even in the most progressive ad shops.

What if, however, one of today's big digital shops stepped up for some traditional agency of record work and won it with the integrated pitch? I think this is honestly just a couple of years away. These agencies have digital roots and have less bureaucracy to deal with to weave in traditional media. The trick will be not putting traditional media into its own silo.

The other option is we'll see a new breed of agency emerge that is digital-centric, but focused on design and then executes that design where the customer is. The possibilities are endless for this new type of agency to come along and talk about ideas and engagement and then look at all types of media with a neutral stance. Too often historical budgets and egos get in the way of truly effective advertising.

I've written a couple articles and blogs this year about how agencies need to adapt or die pretty much. I've had my share of time in large interactive agencies and smaller digial agencies. Both have their postives and both their negatives. I guess it depends on what specific area of the agency you are referring to when we talk about how they need to adapt to the times; are we talking about the work environment? How they value their employees? The way they approach new business? All of these are still about adaptation in the agency model.
What I do have some insight on is how agencies hire. When you work at a large agency, you always run into a few random people in the coffee room that ask you,"Oh are you new here?" And you think...No, I've been here for 4 years. And they respond to your puzzlement, "Oh okay, I just started here two weeks ago." The turn and burn rate seems to be fairly high in certain roles from junior account execs, mid-level marketers, designers, developers and then to the top at the director level. You could say that it might be the "grass is always greener", but I tend to think that below the Director level, it's a central issue of not properly evaluating someone's background or skillset. This day and age with digital marketing, interactive marketing, web 2.0; new talent needs to be hybrid in nature. I don't see people being straight and narrow to their role, but having a blend of technology, marketing, design and business ingredients. Someone asked me the other day, "What makes a great strategist?" I answered, "Someone who has experience in design, business and marketing and understands how to communicate to a developer." These ingredients make for someone who understands the goals of each discipline and knows how they integrate to form a well planned strategy.
If agencies are to survive and keep delivering a value-added service to their clients; they need to attract this hybrid talent. But attracting great talent is for another day.