Curtain coming down on integrated advertising agencies

JILL BRINSDON*, NZ's first female creative director of a multinational advertising agency, starts a series of weekly columns by marketing and advertising industry people.


In the last few years, there has been much talk about the future of advertising.

Consumers are beginning to see through marketing manoeuvres and this, with the prevalence of short-term results-focused activity, has seen commentators note that brand advertising campaigns could soon be the stuff of legend.

Short-term promotion appears to be beating long-term planning hands down.

This is putting advertising agencies, stacked with expensive staff, under pressure. As such there has been much rearrangement in the industry over the last decade.

Unfortunately, most of this has been on the superficial side. The attitude has been reactive: "We need to build loyalty with consumers? Let's buy a direct marketing company! We need to create events? Let's buy an events company!"

Buying in experts swiftly meets immediate needs, but the resulting structure has become an ongoing challenge for many agencies.

The late 20th century phenomenon of integrating the brands' various communications under one roof has met with varying degrees of success.

Managing the integrated agency structure (like an account service person in every department) can sometimes be a challenge for clients.

For agency staff, the most common issue is brand leadership. "You're not my boss" is heard with monotonous regularity.

In reality, to keep up with a consumer (and a client) that is fast moving, rearrangement is not what's needed - reinvention could be closer to the truth.

And that's where it gets tricky.

Greater agility comes from a leaner structure. A consistent brand voice comes from shared vision, while greater consumer understanding comes from putting their needs ahead of an awards jury.

Ultimately, better value comes from fewer people doing more.

To achieve this is difficult for the traditionally structured agency.

It means having fewer staff and bringing in specialists as required.

For some on the heftier packages, it may even require firing themselves. At the very least, it means paying themselves less. It means kissing goodbye to the self-absorption that the creative award system can generate. None of these things are impossible but many of them require some form of sacrifice.



Biting the bullet isn't anyone's activity of choice. And who can blame the advertising industry for dragging its heels?

But if agencies continue to lag, they will suffer. Design companies, for example, are moving onto ad agencies' turf.

As clients have become frustrated with their brand agencies, design companies have found themselves creating advertising and brand strategy. And getting away with it.

In truth, many of these design companies are best at - unsurprisingly - design. Their greatest skill continues to be understanding the behaviour of type not consumers.

Their greatest asset, however, is being easier to work with than many of the ad agencies.

Developing flatter structures populated by more designers than account directors, senior account managers, account managers and account coordinators is possibly a good start.

Recently, some of the most respected advertising figureheads have decided to conclude their careers by going into consulting.

Perhaps this is the beginning of the industry's reinvention. Or perhaps smart leaders are firing themselves before their international cost-cutting masters do it for them.

Whatever the motivation for re-invention may be, for consumers, marketers and their advertising agencies its arrival can only be good.

* Jill Brinsdon became Ogilvy & Mather creative director in the mid 80s. She held senior positions at agencies Bates, Mojo and Saatchi & Saatchi before establishing the Radiation brand consultancy in 2000.