Elephant in the room syndrome for agencies

The more I search for information about agency structures and models, the less of it I seem to find, not only are there very few descriptions of the traditional agency structure, how planning, creative and client service work together, but there is even less information about how these models are evolving and what might be…… Continue reading Elephant in the room syndrome for agencies

Reinventing marketing strategy, plans and thinking

As I read the pipeline article on ‘learning to unlearn’ it occurred to me how key this idea is when applied directly to the way we plan marketing and communications campaigns today. The last few years have seen the arrival of new channels, the prevalence of content as key to engagement and have put the…… Continue reading Reinventing marketing strategy, plans and thinking

How do we build knowledge in the agency business?

The question of building knowledge in this industry has arisen more frequently recently, mainly as a result of expanding markets in particular areas such as digital and interactive and also as a result of the economic downturn when many people are let go or changing positions and organisations must fight hard to transfer and retain…… Continue reading How do we build knowledge in the agency business?

Packaging, content and delivery

Mark Zuckerberg is no Steve Jobs, and we probably knew that already. But for those of you that watched the livestream update from Facebook HQ last night (or yesterday afternoon, depending on where you were), and saw the recent Apple Keynote, or have ever seen Jobs present you will understand what I mean when I…… Continue reading Packaging, content and delivery

Digital planner, an even rarer bird

The traditional advertising agency strategic planner is a rare bird, mostly of anglo-saxon origin and more often than not found congregating in London, New York and Minneapolis. Every other country outside the anglo-saxon world that has tried to apply strategic planning, never seems to get it quite right, either from an internal or external perspective.…… Continue reading Digital planner, an even rarer bird

Advertising + Digital = ?

What happens when you try to combine a traditional agency with a digital agency – after all this is all the rage right now, as the madison avenue big boys start snapping up the geeks left and right. Integration is the buzzword of the moment, we need to develop the product (and the skillset) to…… Continue reading Advertising + Digital = ?