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Posted by Jacques-Herve Roubert (now president-CEO of Nurun, a global interactive marketing agency) - Veja aqui a matéria no Advertisign Age

Over the past 18 months, a great debate has consumed our industry: Are digital agencies poised to sit at the head of the advertising table? Depending on whom you ask and what you read, the answer seems to flip flop -- with a majority of people still having reservations and making claims that digital agencies aren't ready to lead.

So why does the debate continue? Does offline or online really matter to an oblivious consumer who's only interested in "no-line" communications? Are we spending too much time focusing on who should lead and not enough asking: What's next?

Ana Andjelic's DigitalNext post, provocatively titled "Why Digital Agencies Aren't Ready to Lead," mentions several reasons why digital agencies aren't ready to lead, one of which was their lack of experience in the business (as compared with the "decades of experience" that traditional agencies are known for). I'm sure there are instances where decades of experience can directly translate into success, but there are certainly instances (uh, Lehman Brothers?) where deep roots had no bearing on their ability to produce -- and produce well. Furthermore, a certain percentage of the individuals now working and thriving in digital agencies came from traditional agencies.

Additionally, most of the world's most ingenious inventions were not created overnight, but took years of hard work, research, observation, trial and error, and collaboration to fine tune. The digital ecosystem has required much of the same exploration -- and, in most cases, into technologies that are new to all of us. As James March himself said, "Exploration involves being an amateur for a while, but only as a step on the way to being a professional."

And while the structure of an interactive agency may often mimic "one big crazy family" (by the way: Whose family isn't crazy?), how could making sure everyone's opinion is heard be a bad thing? Most interactive agencies subscribe to the notion that you never know where the big idea or concept will come from. Sometimes the big idea can come from the exploration of a new technology or method that enhances consumer connection.

Here's why:
- That was then, this is now. Like it or not, the days of the ingenious, 30-second TV spot are over. Today's creative ingenuity lies within the idea, the technology, the concept, the innovation and, perhaps most important, the Holy Grail: consumer connection. Word of mouth is more prevalent than ever and interactive communities have an increasingly louder and more influential voice and are stronger (and sometimes the only) sources of breaking news stories. No one understands this better -- nor is better equipped to handle the swift demands required -- than the digital agency.

- Teaching an old dog new tricks. The "new trick" is immediacy. It's about faster response times and the concept of immediacy. E-mail, IM, Twitter, Facebook, cellphones -- all of these technologies set the stage for consumers wanting and expecting immediate responses, not to mention, immediate access to products and services. Traditional advertising agencies are not adapting to this mentality because they are still working with processes and organizational structures that were developed in a time when the internet and the concept of immediacy simply did not exist.
Digital agencies understand that brands are being held to higher-than-ever consumer expectations. The plethora of data we can garner from a $50,000 media buy can leave traditional agencies' heads spinning with insight and analysis. The truth of the matter is: Interactive agencies are forcing traditional agencies to integrate with digital media to better track and measure campaign results through custom URLs, short codes, etc.

- Kickin' it old school. Not only are the days of the 30-second TV spot gone, so too are the traditional advertising agency gurus like David Ogilvy and Bill Bernbach. Today, those figures have been replaced, instead, by financially backed entities. Rather than exploration and exploitation, digital agencies need their own gurus and legends that can lead by example.

Five or 10 years ago, I might agree with the argument that digital agencies weren't ready to lead, but after sitting at the table with other agencies for the past decade -- traditional, branding, public relations, marketing -- it's clear that digital agencies have proven their value, not to mention their ability to innovate, inspire, and create the big idea.

Perhaps the synergy and balance between exploitation and exploration is off kilter for digital agencies, but more and more we're starting to see the agency structure itself change with new hires in technology and social media. And marketers are noticing:

- According to Media magazine, AKQA was named the lead agency for Nike India earlier this year.
- Precor named Ascentium its agency of record in October 2009. According to Forrester's Q2 2009 Interactive Agency Wave, Ascentium "received the highest client satisfaction scores in this year's review." The assignment with Precor includes strategic planning and execution of all offline and online campaigns.
- McAfee hiring Tribal DDB as its agency of record in 2008. This assignment included all TV, print, outdoor, and digital.

The balance may not be there today, tomorrow or next month. The truth of the matter is digital agencies have earned their right to sit at the head of the table because they've brought what consumers and marketers are looking for: new innovations in measurement; flexibility and nimbleness; and, most importantly, ideas that bring what a magazine spread or 30-second TV spot cannot.

Comments

- By joshlevine | LOS ANGELES, CA November 12, 2009 11:33:30 am:
I don't buy this at all.

I haven't seen much evidence that digital agencies are ready to lead brands where they need to go, anymore than I've seen traditional agencies capable of leading their brands for at least the last 10 years. Sure, the digital shops get the technology, but the smarter ones will tell you that it's not about the technology.

One of my favorite quotes is from Anne Busquet, former CEO of IAC and American Express, which goes "It's not the age of the internet, it's the age of customer control." Yet the debate rages on amongst you BIG ADVERTISING types about whether the internet guys or the TV guys get to be in charge. Guess what: none of you is in charge. Nor should you be.

So where are the customer control shops? Right here, for one. I built my company on the idea proposed by Sergio Zyman in The End of Advertising As We Know It, that marketers need to accept the responsibility for driving strategy themselves, instead of abdicating that leadership to their agencies. Then, they should surround themselves with experts who can help them develop various parts of their brands.

We represent the model of the future because we are so much closer to the consumer than most agencies even think is possible. And we make it our job to educate our clients and bring them in on the conversation, rather than mystifying our value by making it seem like creative voodoo or technological wizardry.

But I'm not saying agencies like ours should be in the lead. I'm saying the conversation about who's in the lead is not really worth having. While that conversation is happening, consumers are getting further and further away from us all.

- By john | Bellevue, WA November 12, 2009 12:02:54 pm:
I agree with your contention that Digital agencies are indeed ready to lead and as you point out, our company, Ascentium, is demonstrating that in fact with our relationship with Precor, but also increasingly so with some of our other accounts who are looking to us more for ideas, strategy and measureable results and relying on their traditional agencies primarily for mass advertising campaings.

The reasons for this are many and you pointed out some really good ones regarding where the energy, ideas and innovation is coming from. But the basic underlying reason is rooted in the business model of the big traditional agencies more than anything else. The traditional business model is based on revenue streams from media, not direct billable hours. This means that to be successful, agencies were forced into thinking about media as the prime distribution channel because that is how they make money. Digital agencies are not boxed in that way and as a result, they are able to look more broadly across channels and take a more customer-centric approach to communication than a media or product based approach.
Devotion to gathering customer intelligence across multiple channels online, offline and emerging social channels and then applying that to create customer experiences which produce trackable and measureable results is the key to our success at Ascentium and I believe that same can be said for the other great emerging digital agencies as well. The big agencies are saddled with the innovator's dilemma and while it won't be the end of them, it certainly erects a big speed bump to innovation.

- By TimGeo | New York, NY November 12, 2009 12:06:09 pm:
Any agency that still believes there is a difference between 'digital' or 'traditional' is probably not ready to lead. We shouldn't confuse tactics and channels for strategies and ideas. We need all of them, and we need them working together.

- By lipoof | SAN DIEGO, CA November 12, 2009 12:07:24 pm:
I like self-serving articles and comments. they amuse me. Too funny. Separate of that...TimGeo

- By thefounder | Pottsville, PA November 12, 2009 12:13:01 pm:
Will someone define digital advertising? I always thought that meant SEO and Social Media (like getting things popular on Digg). Evidently many are classifying it as firms that do media spends for google adwords and paid placement. Should Digital be leading? Clearly the answer is yes... but only if you define it as the prior rather than the latter.

Making a robust campaign to get things to rank well become popular on social media sites and getting other bloggers to embed a viral video takes planning and by all means has the tendency to become a lead agency.

Throwing up a flash based site that doesn't rank and throwing 200,000 into Google Adwords isn't digital... and no they shouldn't be leading anything.. because that's nothing more than a media buy.

- By dianyu | new york, NY November 12, 2009 12:16:01 pm:
Couldn't agree more, TimGeo.

- By sharon | New York, NY November 12, 2009 12:17:21 pm:
Ditto to TimGeo-- It is not an either or...it is all. If you have all read the reports on Network buys- the numbers are the highest ever - so commercials are not dead. The issue is correct as Tim said - it is the thinking /strategy behind every communications in all media.