Study: Change, Challenges and Call to Action for Ad Agencies

Ad Agency New Business, Back to the Future

The  Accenture Global Digital Study was published a few years ago, but this look back is also a great look forward. The study provided a view of the  long-term future of advertising. More importantly to you, it identifies the change, challenges and call to action to ad agencies.

The study’s six key findings:

  1. Advertising agencies have the most to lose in the transition to digital advertising.
  2. A real threat to the survival of advertising agencies and traditional media companies that do not embrace new technologies and business models.
  3. Advertising will become more performance-based.
  4. Analytics will become more accurate and more critical to the business.
  5. Advertising relationships with customers will become more interactive.
  6. Traditional advertisers are largely unprepared for the wave of digitally driven change about to engulf them.  Especially in terms of customer analytics, targeted advertising and customer interactivity.

Those surveyed for the Global Digital Advertising Study were unanimous that major disruptive change is coming — and that those who fail to respond will simply find themselves swept away. Agencies are affirming  that the change has come!

Bare in mind that this shift in advertising brings with it a dramatic shift to your agency’s new business practices and innovative new ways to promote your agency.

About Michael Gass

Consultant | Trainer | Author | Speaker

Since 2007, he has been pioneering the use of social media, inbound and content marketing strategies specifically for agency new business.

He is the founder of Fuel Lines Business Development, LLC, a firm which provides business development training and consulting services to advertising, digital, media and PR agencies.

Comments

  1. Another nice post, Michael.

    Ad agencies are great at branding, but have been resistant for whatever reasons to embrace digital technologies. Perhaps because of the difference in mindset, i.e. talking to the consumers rather than at them.

    Meanwhile as Ad Age has pointed out, Digital agencies on a large scale like Tribal DDB and Tequila which is a TBWA\Worldwide company are becoming agencies of record. The battle is on.

    On a more local level, digital agencies are very weak at branding and content creation.

    Digital agencies and traditional agencies need to come together either through mergers or at the least strategic partnerships.

    Oh, and don’t forget the threat PR agencies hold. Social media is largely a PR function. If PR firms can put the tech and creative resources in place, they could also play a major role in getting social media assignments.

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