Catch up or Ketchup

There’s no doubt that our digital world will keep evolving. Inevitably, so will the culture and the DNA of marketing agencies.

As the outlook on working style and space continues to be challenged, it will be interesting to find out if any clients take these quirky things that we do as agencies into account when deciding whom to work with. Is ‘out of the norm’ something that clients appreciate, or is it something that we do purely for ourselves to foster creativity?

Seeing and hearing some agencies push back on that statement provides a wide, eye-opening view on each end of the spectrum. I was in conversation with a colleague the other week that ultimately inspired this piece. Their take on the evolving agency and deconstruction of the agency model was the following…

“All of these trends will die out, and people will go back to basics. They always do.

 

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I read an article the other day claiming the exact opposite. “The agency of the future will be much more democratic and less hierarchical as it develops structures to help it work faster. You have to evolve and stay ahead of all of those challenges.” – Cilia Snowball (AMV BBDO)

Reading article after article, it is safe to say that whether we work on a daily basis for our clients (in terms of creativity) or for ourselves, it is something that will always remain. It does differ when it comes to the ways that we express our creativity. Are we the agency with a big red slide? An “ideation” room? Do we have a simple office? There is a happy medium out there and it will be interesting to see if anyone reaches this agency model “nirvana” we all strive for on a day-to-day basis. The fundamentals and foundation of marketing have always been, and always will be, the same – the creativity, the people, and the big ideas. This next year within the agency world will be a defining one.

The debate is a thought provoking one. There is no doubt that some days it feels as though agency life is constantly fighting fire with fire, which excites me. The fast paced work environment, the constant coffee, the alternative tunes. Although the real question is do we spend our time, energy and money playing catch up with the latest trends, evolving ourselves, or do we old school marketers stick to what we know, enjoy some fries with ketchup, watch these trends come and go, throw up our feet and enjoy every last bite?

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