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Eric Picard raised an interesting point late last year about how agencies don’t spend nearly enough time strategising about themselves. He quotes the MD of a UK Digital Agency:
"We try to keep our fingers on the pulse of advertising innovation on behalf of our customers – but we don’t hold our finger to the wind on our own behalf. We don’t invest in research or strategies that let us evolve or be particularly proactive. Mostly this is because everyone at an agency is focused on winning, keeping and improving business for the next quarter’s revenue."
Agencies are full of people who are forward-looking, yet it seems almost all the forward thinking is focused on how to help their clients adapt and win rather than themselves. Of-course it’s important that agencies are focused on the future opportunities for their clients business, but shouldn’t they take the time to think about their own? It’s easier for any business to focus on the immediate priorities rather than invest time in something which might not have an immediate return. But they should, if for no other reason than a healthy agency sector built on healthy business and remuneration models means a healthier advertising ecosystem of the future. And that’s good for clients.
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