Ian Noble, Bray Leino

Responding to Change

Clearly the marketing agency sector within the region has suffered and it’s been particularly saddening to hear of the demise of the some of the braver independent agencies, especially those within the direct marketing sphere.

Perhaps as a reaction to the downturn we’ve seen the proliferation of agencies breaking away from their single channel heritages to become purveyors of multi-channel solutions. We see digital agencies now setting up PR divisions. We see PR consultancies working across digital, experiential and direct channels. This phenomena, though not new, has certainly escalated over recent months and as media channels converge so it will continue apace. The danger is that the sector is undermined by a trend towards the survival of the cheapest and the commoditization of the creative world is the precursor to its death knell.

So where will differentiation come from in the next 12 months and beyond? Hopefully where it’s always come from – creativity and ingenuity. Agencies need to at the very least reflect the zeitgeist. In order to achieve this we need to ensure that we really understand who we are trying to communicate with and that we recruit and develop a new generation of marketeers.

On the first point I expect to see strategic planning becoming a blend of situational and attitudinal analysis. This will enable agencies and therefore their clients to target mindset and disposition rather than traditional geo-demo profiles. This redefinition of planning becomes both the means to define rich multi-channel solutions and a key point of difference for an agency in a world of parity.

The second requirement is to ensure that we don’t make the mistake of earlier recessions and stop recruiting, training and developing our people. If we continue to train people during a recession we ensure they are capable and motivated to find new ways of generating revenue. They become richer in skills and capabilities if not in their wallets.

We’ve also got to be conscious of the fact that we’re now catering for the Y generation (anyone born from 1980 onwards). We know they’re less hierarchical and more collaborative. They’re less clock-watchers, more 24-hour society. Less loyal to employers, more loyal to projects. These are the people who will become our new generation of marketeers. The people we need to invest time and effort into this year and next.

We’ll also see the continued development of integrated account management professionals, of multi-discipline creatives and neutral-channel planners. This is, after all, the challenge that our clients have had for years.

Finally, the more wizened of us will remember that some of the best creative work of the last two decades came out of the adversity of the last recession. Tough times call for creative measures. Budget cuts call for ingenious solutions. Difficult targets call for brave clients and even braver agencies. Live long and prosper.