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Looks very windy at cota…
Tech startup or big tech company? And why?
How do you give notice in big law?
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Best work of 2019 so far?
Any tips from social media managers?
Going in house is the move, right?
What y'all know about Space150?
Stop with the unnecessary meetings. PLEASE.
What agency is doing the new Twizzler ads?
Craziest offsite ever. Go.
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Sadly, most clients are simply not that intensely interested in the mechanics/ownership of their agency relationship anymore. They have kept cutting scope and compensation for decades now. They view agencies as “resources” vs integral partnerships, and they no longer share that much confidential info with agencies. Plus, they are subject to their own mergers and roll ups. Unfortunately, it’s a fundamentally different business and marketing landscape.
@Associate Creative Director… Here are some thoughts on the differences:
1. Massive change in distribution/sales channels and what it takes to motivate your retail partners (Walmart, Kroger, Amazon, etc)
2. The dominance of digital/social channels for marketing communication. This has led to an exponential growth in the number of messages required and the expectation for personalization and contextual versions. The result of this is that algorithms and AI have to be used to keep up with the message load and timing cost limitations.
3. The fact that so much of the digital media environment is owned by only a few players. They have the money & leverage.
4. Clients, generally speaking, no longer invest in “big ideas” over an extended period of time. The format now tends to be lots of more transactional or specific messages using a similar graphic format & theme. Few ideas really penetrate the culture enough to be broadly well known and become famous.
5. Clients are no longer married to an agency. They will use multiple resources simultaneously on a project basis, or, alternatively, move the account every 3 years. Or, sometimes they decide to just start doing the creative work themselves. Moreover, the clients are now the stewards of their brand identities - for better or worse.
6. Clients and agency staffers moving jobs more frequently, thus making the team bonding more challenging.
7. The rise of procurement - meaning that margins are tight and a limited or zero opportunity for investment beyond exactly what has been specified in the RFP/scope of work.
8. All of the above, and more, has tended to make growth & profitably at agencies really, really, tough and to make their rolemore peripheral players vs central characters in the marketing world.
A friend of mine spoke to senior executives at two DDB clients. They weren't consulted and they're not happy. One weird outcome of this takeover is that clients and agency staff are both on the same side against the holdco.
publicis execs have been very publicly licking their chops both internally and externally about the opportunity to poach clients and top talent ever since the IPG/OMNI merger was announced. so yeah, i would bet on it
Have you seen the industry? No one cares what clients think lol
Very true!
Here for the answer because I was supposed to work on an urgent project last month that seemed to dissolve along with the agency it sat with
There are way too many y people with huge titles They need to take care of of the people that actually do the work
We need to fire 4K people but let’s welcome more new execs with fancy titles.
I’m curious if there’s an opportunity for more independent agencies to start popping up. A smart brand manager could hire the former agency creative team and get better creative and service without the bloated overhead. Not freelance, but small growing shops. Thoughts?
I heard from a headhunter in London that even the in-house agency model is shrinking now. Expedia did layoffs for instance. I think clients will always need really great communications. I just think it will be serviced by a smaller set of more boutique operators.
I imagine account teams are being told to keep it zipped. Business as usual. So none the wiser
Not mine. They DGAF as long as the work continues.
global CEO of IPG walked away with 49M. I fear 26 is coming in very stormy indeed.
The global CEOs aren’t even part of new business. So really why do we need them?
They can cut scope at a moment’s notice and we all know that means layoffs. They don’t gaf.
Mine don’t pay enough attention to our industry to notice or care.
True
Rising Star
I don't think they'll give a damn until the prices go up
I’m brand side and haven’t heard it mentioned once. None of the agencies I work with were impacted though so could be why. I guarantee that senior leadership within the holding companies and sub agencies had discussions with senior procurement at all of their brands though. No way this type of shift happens without informing them at the higher levels but I’m sure agency clients have no say especially not the day to days
Great question. My old agency (independent) just lost an account to a DDB two months ago.