March 25th, 2010
The last advertising agency on earth
Just came across this great little video about the last agency on earth. Really well done and quite amusing.
I think they might be right. If agencies don’t evolve, they will eventually die out. The majority are still woefully behind the times in terms of understanding the modern consumer and how to reach them. So far, they are not experiencing any problems because of this, so they think everything is fine. However, if all the clients were to suddenly realise that they need a change, the agencies would not be able to respond quick enough and would have a crisis on their hands, as it would be too late. In order to bring about institutional education and a fundamental shift in perception, you need a bit of time. You can’t just hire a few geeks and say “job done”. You need the whole agency to ‘get it’. The trouble is, often, the people in the top few layers are blissfully ignorant and may well have someone beneath them who is 1 page ahead of them in the manual, so can pull the wool over their eyes, but is no better themselves.
The Last Advertising Agency On Earth from FITC on Vimeo.
I don’t agree with the video that broadcast media will die out completely. I think it will continue to play a role, but that role will be a very different one indeed.
When I set up my next agency, it will be just as capable of doing great TV, print, experiences and more as it will obviously be in doing digital. It will also foster a spirit of constantly looking forward and making sure we are on top of any innovations or advancements in new channels. This is something that people from a digital background are used to doing anyway, because that is the nature of technology. It’s what keeps us interested. It’s always changing and you need to constantly keep learning or you are left behind.
The agency of the future will recognise this and embrace change. It will also stop thinking about things in such a silo’d and traditional way.
The trouble is, changing an existing agency is like turning a super tanker. Indeed, in many ways it’s harder. A super tanker will eventually turn. However, some parts of an agency may never truly adapt.
The only real solution is to start again with a blank sheet of paper. Cast aside all preconceptions and look at things with fresh eyes. Forget how things used to be done. How ’should’ things be done? Any existing agency coming from either side of the divide will always be either “an above the line agency, doing digital” or “a digital agency, doing advertising” and they will always be doing things in a way that is similar to how things used to be done.
People’s habits have changed beyond recognition in the last twenty years. Have agency models? No, not really. They haven’t fundamentally changed for a lot longer than that. Sure you’ve had the odd gimmick or social experiment like St Lukes. But nothing that has really addressed how to go about creating work that is in tune with the modern consumer.
There’s a massive opportunity for a new type of agency to start as they mean to go on and launch right in the sweet spot that everyone else is clamoring towards!
Watch this space…
