The boardroom table is getting full, how the agency model is shifting
A new inter-agency model is changing how marketing works
An interesting analogy was once made by Mark Smyka, former editor of Strategy Magazine, about the state of the marketing industry and changes over the past few decades. He talked about how twenty five years ago you could find a boardroom table. At that table, you had the Brand Manager sitting at the head and the advertising agency was at her right hand side. She would have briefed the agency of her objectives and then she would have leaned over and asked what she should do. The agency would tell her “We think you should do this!” and that’s what she did.
Then you skipped to fifteen years ago, where the boardroom table increased. There were more people surrounding it and you still had the Brand Manager sitting at the head of the table and the advertising agency sitting to her right. Only then, you also had someone from Direct Marketing, another from events and promotions and a scattering of other agencies all looking for scraps at the table. The Brand Manager would turn to the agency and ask, “What do they think?” The agency would go around the table and tell the Brand Manager what each of them thought. The Brand Manager would then again turn to the agency and ask what she should do. At that point, the agency would tell her “We think you should do this!” and that’s what she did.
Moving to ten years ago, the boardroom table continued to increase with even more people. In addition to the staples from before, you now had the initial beginnings of online, direct purchasers and planners of media, new media salespeople for everything from washroom advertising to pool table advertising and a whole lot more. From week to week, the people would sometimes change and sometimes remain the same, but it wasn’t the old boardroom anymore. Now, the Brand Manager turned to the agency and said, “Shut up, I want to hear what they have to say.” She would go around the room and ask questions one by one. Then she would turn to the agency and say “What do you think we should do?” The agency would then say “We think you should do this!”. Only now, the Brand Manager would reply “I’m not convinced. I think we should do this! Please make sure it gets coordinated!” And that’s what the agency did.
Well, it’s ten years later and much has changed in the marketing and advertising landscape. In 2010 the boardroom is a very different place than ever before with many boardrooms of various sizes and many people within ears reach of the Brand Manager. Sometimes the Brand Manager coordinates separate meetings and initiatives with individual agencies, listening and executing on specific initiatives. And increasingly, the boardroom constitutes an inter-agency made up of key people from each specialty. You will have new media, public relations, events and promotions, media and advertising all working together from different agencies for one sole purpose… integration. Often, the advertising agency isn’t even at the right hand of the client but is simply another seat contributing to the overall plan.
Digital agencies and brand agencies are changing how they work
Dashboard, being a small creative boutique, has benefited from the new boardroom set-up. We would also like to think that the client has as well. What the new boardroom requires though, are new rules and new behaviours. Most important for a successful plan, is new attitudes from everyone involved. No specialty leads the idea process, but open conversation, dialogue with strong debate and a willingness to allow the idea to flow and not be stopped because “it didn’t originate here” become paramount to success. While this can be difficult at times, the overall benefit to all parties are stronger ideas that resonate with consumers and reach places that traditional thinking didn’t allow. It also allows larger more traditional agencies to become educated outside their safe zones and realize new opportunities through new vehicles to bring the brand. They learn how to evolve into a more diverse agency from one that can only think radio, television and print. The smaller non-traditional agencies benefit from being allowed to contribute as strategic partners instead of suppliers who are involved as an after-thought. They are also allowed to become involved in developing a much broader idea on a much larger scale for increasingly larger brands.
The result are campaigns that allow more meaningful touch points for the brand and a greater connection with the consumer than ever before. We would love to hear your comments and experiences around the boardroom.
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