When you think of a marketing or advertising agency, what is the first image that comes to mind? Cool young people being creative in cool spaces, using cool computers and tools, right? Today, invariably, marketing agencies are made up of open-minded, creative people working in very well-decorated offices, often with a game room or some other place to unwind and “calm the nerves and let creativity flow.” Ideal, isn’t it?
Good work makes a mess. For the most part, these agencies deliver Pretty Pieces With a Clever Twist. Nothing wrong with that, but something very important is missing: understanding the client and delivering results. Awareness of measuring results is very strong these days, which is why Marketing Managers are under great pressure to show numbers from their campaigns. There is a constant need to prove ROI, whatever the media format and whatever the campaign. The mistake lies in building agencies that are highly creative but not very analytical, that fall short in understanding business strategy and rely only on communication strategies and technical creative skills. Agencies are changing how they operate and what they deliver. One example was McKinsey and Accenture entering this fight last year. What do they have that old-school agencies don’t? A business and strategic vision. The agencies of the future need to prioritize their clients’ needs, diving headfirst into their business to understand what really works. They need to act like consultants, first looking at the landscape and planning metrics for each action, and only then focusing on the quality of what they deliver. Clients, for their part, absolutely SHOULD share results with their agencies. I see hours-long meetings between client and agency to choose the shirt color for the cast of the next campaign, hours spent discussing the slogan, layout, images… If half of these meetings were devoted to the strategies behind each campaign, the results would be different. When it comes to metrics, data analysis, and presenting real results, competition in the sector increases, service quality rises, and from now on only the agencies that don’t live on appearances alone will survive. That is what needs to happen in every business, but what do these changes mean for marketing in general? Combining action with analytical thinking has never been more necessary.
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