Future Of Agency

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FUTURE OF
AGENCY
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FUTURE OF
AGENCY INSPIRED BY

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FUTURE OF AGENCY

Intro

In April, I started working on the follow-up to Evolve: Another participant at the workshop posited:
Agency 5.0 - a revolutionary whitepaper I had written “Perhaps, we should delete the ‘agency’ tag, and
in 2010 - inspired by Tim Brown's Change by Design. instead, be known as a 'Marketing
While facilitating a knowledge session for an
advertising agency on global marketing trends, I had Communications Consultancy', or perhaps, a 'Total
reiterated the need for a new agency paradigm. solutions provider'. 'Marketing Solutions
Rightly, as the workshop progressed, concerns were Company', anyone?” And it went on and on.
raised about what should be the correct appellation
for the word “agency”. Was the term out-dated? If so, Needless to say, we didn’t come up with the
what of the services they had become so used to
offering? Would that have to change too? answer that morning. However, it ignited in the
agency heads, the resolve to clarify how they
“Do we still want to be known as an advertising intended to bridge the gap from WHO THEY
agency?” A senior copy writer had asked. “What if WERE and WHAT THEY DID to WHAT THEY
marketers or journalists described us as a Creative WANTED TO BECOME.
agency? Would that justify the scope of services that
were being offered to clients?” She looked perplexed; I
could see the worry lines etched deeply on her I decided to take the conversation further via my
forehead as she looked around at the other online audience networks, and posed the teaser:
participants, hoping for a divine answer.

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franklinozekhome.com/innovation

FUTURE OF AGENCY

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FUTURE OF AGENCY

“ Someday, clients will pitch for agencies.

”
Agencies run by creative minds at
Orange Academy.

*This quote was adapted from Toheeb Balogun’s
Facebook status message.*
Orange Academy/ Africa’s 1st school of
Integrated Brand Experience/
cluborangeng.com
The response was immediate; but I wanted a lot more
contributions from industry practitioners. What were their
positions on this thorny issue {ala the evolution of agencies}? The workshop turned out to be a blessing and
A topic that never seemed to go away, but continually became a key resource in developing the
reared its ugly head ever since “digital” became a trending twenty-eleven edition of Evolve: Agency
topic in marketing + advertising circles. 5.0, which also fueled the need to develop
the Future of Agency report.

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FUTURE OF AGENCY

The FOA report is only the first step in In the coming months, a series of Future Of Agency
sharing knowledge and resources with interactive workshops will be held across key cities in the
people who are passionate about U.S., Africa, and Europe, incorporating thoughts,
understanding the various nuances and suggestions, and ideas from likeminds around the world.
underlying issues revolving around
agencies in the marketing communications
Please flip through this deck to view commentaries from
industry.
members of theandnetwork.

You are welcome to join our online community and
participate in this discussion at
www.franklinozekhome.com/innovation.

Enjoy the report.

franklinozekhome

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FUTURE OF AGENCY

Welcome to the 1st edition of
the Future of Agency Report
inspired by theandnetwork.

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FUTURE OF AGENCY

In May 2011, I was flipping through Advertising Age’s The writer, Matthew Creamer, had successfully voiced out -
“The Agency Issue”, and became intrigued with the on a global scale - what I had been shouting hoarse to
byline on the cover page: industry practitioners for the past several years. Ad agencies
- everywhere – were being forced to rethink! their business
models as the landscape continually evolved with newer
technologies, cooler brands with funkier packaging and
storytelling techniques, which in turn influenced consumer
perception, behaviour + preferences.

If agencies did not adapt to these changes and face the
realities onground, they would definitely become extinct
like dinosaurs! It was only a matter of time.

Fellow creative strategists - Jesse Adeniji, Fernando Palacios,
Adebola Babatunde, Tunde Olaifa, and Doyin Oduwole –
based in different parts of the world – New York, London,
Sao Paulo, Lagos, Hamburg - come together to leverage
glocal insights and offer opinions + perspectives on issues
that marketing communication agencies need to address to
enable them transform quickly into dynamic and
enexperience brands-in-motion.
Adage.com

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Jesse Adeniji is a brand strategist based in London and the Principal Consultant at Jessemay Consulting.

“ The picture of the future is usually developed
in the dark rooms of the past and exposed in
the light of the present. In the Nigerian
context, we have to understand where we’re
coming from, what our influences are, and use
the aspirations and sweats of the present to
see where we fit in the global scheme of

”
things. That’s when we can bring in our own
unique character into the blend.

Follow @ http://jesseworks.blogspot.com

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The Past.

Some years ago, while working as a copywriter with LTC/JWT Lagos, I was part of the Unilever brand team
{consists of agency + Unilever team} on Lux, a senior colleague from the Unilever side shared with us a little
red book that detailed 10 nugget points which summarizes the best practices Unilever as a company strives to
attain to, in order to truly dominate their sphere in the global scheme.

That ‘senior colleague’ reiterated in no small way the need for absolute confidentiality in making sure the
content of the little red book stayed within the walls of the agency. She only fell short of asking us to guard
the book with our very lives.

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The irony was, those 10 points were actually from Coca-Cola! And the Unilever folks figured if they can
replicate Coke’s success in just about 6 critical areas, they’d be content. It was all bemusing for me. But as I
couldn’t offer any concrete alternate view at that moment, I kept silent. After all, the conduct of most
of the clients in Nigeria was one of we-know-better-because-we’re-the-client. But I
couldn’t shake off the nagging feeling that if thousands of Coke people and their affiliates already knew about
these ‘nuggets’, it couldn’t have been so ‘secret’.

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This scenario points to the strangle-hold of client on the essential information needed to get the best out of
the agency for the brands they worked on. The relationship has not been one of mutual and equal colleagues
working together with mutual respect.

One had to swallow such indignities because the agencies relied largely on the research and insights filtering
through from the clients. I believe that is a result of the lack of belief by the agencies in the notion that IDEAS
are the currency of creativity. As such, no investment was considered in ground-breaking research, in being
at the forefront of emergent ideas in the requisite fields. Maybe that position was engendered by the fact that
most agency owners were from the client-service background and therefore, saw everything from the point
of the cash register.

The practice of making commissions from media and production almost completely overshadowed the real
commodity expected of agencies – Ideas; partnering with the clients to deliver ground-breaking ideas for the
brands to connect with the people. As such, the client had a field day picking apart the
agencies. They’d call for unpaid-for pitches and countless agencies would
sheepishly go there and offer away their bread and butter, hoping against all odds
that they secured the business, or a slice of the account, and then ‘dream’ of
recouping their ‘investments’ via the usual suspects – media and production
commission.

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Only once in nine long years was an agency I worked at given a
major account on the strength of works done in the past. It was
always long drawn-out pitches that took the adequate care and
attention off the resident brands. The continuous
overdependence on commission-making when the paradigm
had shifted globally definitely hurt the leading agencies and did
little to differentiate them from the start-ups. Real strategic
thinking wasn’t what was always on sale at pitches. It was the
aesthetics of the print works!

The use of proprietary tools, used to benchmark the best
practices by the global ad agencies only got introduced to
Nigeria in the early 2000s. It took another 5 years or so to
become entrenched in the top 10 agencies. Planning/ Strategy
departments only started showing up well into the mid 2000s.
Even when the ‘affiliation’ craze caught on, and agencies started
unburdening the component parts – Media, BTL, PR – and trying
to make the core of the agency business creative, it was still all a
mess. It’s not very often you see the client bewildered by the
atomisation of advertising ideas, which should ordinarily be
integrated and media-neutral, underscored by completely
different ideas from each component units.

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The agency might tell you they operate a ‘360 degrees’ approach but rarely do they co-ordinate the
component units to think as one and provide a seamless through-the-line thinking.

On the flip side of all these, of course, is the peculiar nature of clients in that clime. Some
foreign ones
on one hand are so disdainful they kept ramming the materials developed for
other markets down the throats of the Nigerian targets. A few powerful national
ones, on the other hand, are populated with overbearing CMOs and brand
managers. Some even go as far as to rewrite scripts and dump the copywriters
behind on a TV shoot.

Of course, not all of them behave this way. There were always the roses in a bush of thorns that operated like
in the developed world. And those who are thoroughly professional I must say, from experience, are less than
30%.

The fallout of this chaotic environment is the institutionalisation of ‘grab the cash’ mentality. Creativity and
edge-of-the-row research was relegated to the background. Agency staffs disillusioned with their current
predicament often resign positions to start their own agencies. Soon, they also will become more feral than
their alma mater agencies. The unnecessary proliferation even makes it difficult to gain the client’s respect.
That creates opportunity for some very corrupt clients to deliberately side-step established agencies to award
portfolios to emergent ones in a bid to extort huge sums of kick-back from them.

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While we were at this sorry juncture
in our creative history in Nigeria,
South Africa was flexing its fledging
muscles carting off awards at
Cannes and all over the world. Some
of their best hands were being
poached all over Europe. They were
getting worldwide accolades and
recognition.

South Africa joined the frontline
cadre of elite nations looked up to
for cutting-edge solutions to tough
branding conundrums. Around this
time too, Brazil, India, Korean and
Japanese creative hubs were gaining
global recognition by sharing
honours with the entrenched
European powerhouses. © “The Zimbabwean” by South African agency TBWA/Hunt/Lascaris/
tbwa.co.za

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Was that how it had always been for the South Africans?

No!

Graeme Butchart {www.graemebutchart.com}, the Creative Director I worked with at Rosabel Leo Burnett in
2005, reckoned that Nigeria was at the same cross-roads South Africa was in the 70s and that it will take the
agencies making very radical change to become the pivotal point in the communication chain; using the
power of ideas and revolutionary research to produce work that will change the master-servant system that
existed between the Nigerian agencies and the clients in a mutually beneficial situation where both see each
other as custodians of the brand, administering it to the ultimate owners, the people.

Graeme Butchart

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Way back, the South African agencies suffered from a similar
fate as those in Nigeria. To change the status-quo, they made
good use of the resources they had to get better than the
marketers and gain respect through the adoption of global
standards and bold, original creativity that took elements
from the local environment but executed along world-class
benchmarks. That marked the beginning of their rise in the
creative world.

For instance, Jupiter Drawing Room, a South African agency
that developed the knack for great work and independent
spirit, which remains today the only agency in Africa to buy
over a local arm of a global advertising concern DDB. That
great act was just as spectacular as when they fired a couple
of their old clients for not being compatible with the dreams
and aspirations they were building. The trick they used?
Repositioning the arrogant clients of the day, by being a step
ahead and making them actually need the agency. Find the
detail of the DDB take-over here -
http://www.adbrands.net/za/jupiterdrawingroom_za

© Bushmills Irish Whisky ad by Jupiter Drawing Room

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Some agencies have really upped the game in Nigeria in the last 8
years. I will be forced to admit the leadership of Prima Garnet Ogilvy
and Insight Communications [aka InsightGrey] in the area of
rebuffing the excesses of some clients - but a lot needs to be done still
as we define the basis for our global emergence. At least, no Nigerian
Prima Garnet
agency has won a Cannes Lion nor actually bought off a piece of any in focus
global agency.

Some might criticise my position on the basis of the very nature of the
broader societal challenges and the need to earn a living. I admit it’s
tough but I do believe there’s so much to be earned by the agency
that will take the lead in redefining the cultural/creative/intellectual
context of the marcomms business in Nigeria.

While we struggle to grasp the nitty-gritty of the emergent ideas and
convergence of technology, globalisation, innovation, the
environment issue and human behavioural patterns, the agencies also
need to start preparing for a new wave of change.

© Total ad by Insight Communications

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Before going to publish Contagious in 2004, Kemp
Robertson had held the position of VP/Global director of
creative resources at Leo Burnett Worldwide.

He spoke about the ‘death’ of traditional advertising and
the strangle-hold the twin variables of rapid technological
advancement in almost all facets of life and the human
behavioural response to them.

Upon my return from the Leo Burnett University The major trend was the cataclysmic shift
EMEA for the 7+ Course at the tail end of 2006, I towards branded content; mobile marketing;
made a presentation to the board of Rosabel, social networking; user-generated content;
proposing an almost complete overhaul of the
traditional model of operation, similar to what word of mouth; viral; interactive; blogs; video
was happening in other parts of the world. games; retail initiatives; design innovations
and emerging technologies; how all of these
were strengthening the theory of convergence
I had listened to Paul Kemp-Robertson, the
editor of the hugely acclaimed global marketing and how the consumers were responding.
intelligence magazine, Contagious.

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Digital marketing was virtually overhauling the traditional marketing techniques and the shift of advertising
budget in more volumes towards the former became a proof that this wasn’t a passing fad.
I told the top-guns at Rosabel that the role of agency has changed from the ‘producer of
creatives’ to ‘gatekeepers of the new knowledge and digital economy’.

I made it clear to them that the agency that will succeed will be the one that stood at the very edge of
knowledge of the technology emerging and clearly understand how it relates to the consumers.

I added that the capacity to develop media-neutral ideas with great story-telling technique across the
channels will be the key to success.

Bakedin: Little attention was paid to my proposal.
Creating
Products and
Businesses That Today, we find the ‘marketing’ of brands built into
Market the products themselves by the manufacturers.
Themselves by They are also heavily involved in research to
Alex Bogusky
determine what the consumer and market trends
and John
Winsor are and are no strangers to the geek speak of
marketing.

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FUTURE OF AGENCY

Take the iPhone for instance it was a learning experience from the Mac and
the iPod all rolled into mobile telephony. It also incorporated learning from
games, web 2.0, social media and user-generated content and design
innovation via the strategic alliance with the app design community, who
have been responsible for the soar-away success of the iPhone.

Microsoft, with its foray into the OS platforms for mobiles is lagging behind
rather abysmally because it just can’t command the type of app base found in
Apple mobile devices.

As such, communication of the Apple mobile devices is just reeled like an on-
going communication between friends. Not some crafty copywriting or fancy
photography..........it’s beyond that. It’s a connection between the brand and
their way of life. It’s about offering continuous solutions to everyday
problem. And the conversation carries on.

This means the process of marketing communication is daily being woven
into the client organisational process itself. As such, agencies must be the
gatekeepers of consumer knowledge from a continuous, ongoing
conversation.

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At this stage the example of Wieden + Kennedy comes to mind.
It’s an agency that builds its reputation on creatively starting and
maintaining conversations between brands and targets in very,
very creative ways by using non-traditional marketing
techniques. They also stayed at the very edge of the quickly
shifting sands of technological advancement and consumer
behavioural metrics.

Are we at this stage in Nigeria? I think not.

Today most agencies are still green on digital and social
marketing. That’s despite the fact that the internet penetration
density is increasing every day.

60% of all internet access done in Nigeria is via the mobile
platform. Less than 10% of all marketing done involved digital
and social media marketing. Almost nothing is heard of about
games and location-based initiatives. Most advertisers do not
have social media presence or treat the little they have as an
afterthought in a country where 60% of the population are
under 40. Coca-Cola just appropriated 6% of its global marketing
spend to social media. That’s instructive. Ad by Wieden+Kennedy

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Ads by Wieden+Kennedy
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Leapfrog Zippity Platform/leapfrog.co.uk

Roiworld.com
The scenario where digital, mobile and
social media is still taking baby steps
says a lot about the intentions of the
big agencies.

In other climes, the likes of Bournvita
and Milo should actually be spending
big on game platforms for kids!

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The Future

To understand the agency of tomorrow, we have to understand what the brand of tomorrow will look like.
The brand values have changed. The engagement dynamics have changed too. The learning is continuous
and rapid. I particularly like the Johan Ronnestam’s take on the shifting paradigms. I’d borrow a few leaves
from him.

Yesterday Brand Values Today’s Brand Values
{substitute for YBV}

Brand promise Brand fulfilment
Offer Interactivity
Control Transparency
Stability Adaption
Monopoly Creative Execution
Brand positioning Perceived Brand Positioning
Product development Fan Based Innovations
Structural bindings Trust
Marketing Entertainment
Customers Followers

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Brand Promise to Fulfilment

Before now, we spent so much time thinking about creating a large
customer base by selling unique propositions. Nowadays,
customers via technology, have the power to run price-runner sites,
read peer reviews, blogs and swap information on the social media
networks. Nothing is unique; so you’d better make sure you’re
fulfilling the promise and being at the forefront of finding more
ways of fulfilling future expectations.

Offer to Interactivity

The continuous fixation on new offers, new products and services as a
one-way street will weaken your brand eventually. The future of brand
development will not be about the story of the Unilever executive I had
mentioned earlier. Innovation will not be the closet operation of client and
agency cooking something for the atomised consumer. It will be a co-
ownership between the brand people on one hand, and the consumer on
the other. We will have to learn from brands like Starbucks, Dell and
Zappos. See what Starbucks did with www.Mystarbucksidea.com and
Dell with www.ideastorm.com.

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Control to Transparency Dominos’ Zap Electric Car

I see a lot of African brands still wanting to hide
information from the public about their brands and
wanting to be in control. Well, the asynchrony of social
media networks and the power of Google will make
mockery of that.

People are having conversations on various news and social
networking sites and a little error that might have gone unnoticed in
the past can bring down a brand. You’ve got to join the conversation.
Ryan Giggs was unmasked on Twitter despite taking out a super-
injunction.

Dominos Pizza obviously has taken this into account when they’re
speeding up the process of replying to a consumer called
@interactiveamy on Twitter. Amy Korin who had some problems
with her Pizza Delivery earlier this year got answered within 24
hours. A video apology from @Ramon_DeLeon quickly solved the
situation.

The sheer immediacy of social media means you can’t ignore the
conversation and if your brand comes out to deny an obvious
situation like the Nigerian politicians are wont to do, the wildfire of
scandal will spread further and affect your business. Ryan Giggs

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Stability to Adaption

Open Source applications and democratisation
of technology is opening up new boundaries. In
the past Albums were released and a tour was
used to promote them. Technology + lifestyle
change has happened all that. Today, albums
are released to get in on the lucrative road
tours!

CD sales have dropped dramatically and people

Jay-Z performing at a Live nation concert
no longer buy the whole album. Budding
artistes can make cheap music with cheap
cameras and post on YouTube. If a lot of people
like their stuff, the recording labels will be
knocking on their doors.

That’s how the Justin Bieber legend
was forged.

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Sony Ericsson, Nokia and Motorola thought mobile phone
designs were the in-thing. Apple and HTC have unseated
them by simply democratising ownership with their
community of app developers.

Within 5 years, you’d be able to print LEGO from your 3D
printer at home at the cost of a printed paper. Would LEGO
own the right to a 3D printout? Your guess is as good as mine.

The brand of the future will be the one that can
adapt and wound its way around emergent
technology and human behaviour.

Ethical and environmental issues are the ones for today. We
await the complexities of tomorrow.

We all know even work has changed from what you
do to who you are.

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Monopoly to Creative Execution

We all have to own up to an emergent fact – Nothing can be owned.

The amazing level of parity is levelling out real advantages, including the
economic need to merge. What is the difference between a top of the
range HTC phone and an iPhone? Little. There’s virtually nothing you
can do on one that you can’t do on another. The edge one might have
over the other, of course, is in the creative execution.

How do you package your products and services?
How do you communicate?
How do you entertain us?
How do you stay fun to be with?
How can you make our day better?

Focus on the values that makes us talk about your brand - in a
positive way.

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Brand Positioning to Perceived Brand
Positioning

Quite a lot of consumers already know what they want
from a brand by doing their own research online {that’s
the reason why most website strategies still revolve
round providing a whole gamut of information regarding
the brand and socially optimizing them}, talking to their
friends and loved ones, reading peer reviews, and
generally shopping around for opinion.

That’s irrespective of how much you spend ‘positioning’
your brand. In effect, people enter a relationship with Maarten Schafer, CoolBrands: Using storytelling to bridge
your brand based on what others say about you – not the gap between brand identity and brand perception
what you say. A study of the Brian Solis social flower
model will help see if you’re getting a favourable
share of voice out there by starting a conversation.

Your brand needs to distribute its marketing, provide
content, and applications free to stimulate preference
via the voices of millions of targets in regular
conversations out there – the very voices that will be
decisive to how you’re perceived.

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Product Development to Fan Based Innovations

The iPhone became successful because of the army of fans who
loved it so much they started creating applications to make it
better.

www.threadless.com sells t-shirts made by the visitors to their
website. Nike Air designs are done online by the fans and sold
to them in return. We are in the age of crowdsourcing where
people from different backgrounds and locations work
together online to finish a project. Millions of folks maintain
and update the Wikipedia site for free.

Smart brands reach out and deliver tools that make the brand
and the fans become co-creators of future products.

Foursquare, the location based business social media platform
and Facebook’s modifications have largely been achieved by
our collective behavioural patterns tracked over time.

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Structural Bindings to Trust

Many brands, especially in telecoms and financial services, bind customers
into long and medium-term contracts. One example of the absurdity of that
practice is the Telcos. The rate at which technology changes will see a
customer’s phone and services obsolete by the time the contract ends. That
will be one angry and vindictive customer. The European Union just passed a
law restricting this kind of practice. Beyond the power of laws, the brand will
be actively breeding haters and disgruntled customers that will say all sorts
of negative things on the social media networks and to their friends.

Plusnet, a telco in the Yorkshire area of the UK, is now offering no-contract
offers. That’s the future.

Even the government of the UK is putting more laws in place to make sure
customers can switch bank accounts very easily. Future brands will be
built on relations, trust and loyalty of the BRAND to the
customer. I see a lot of Nigerian promos running with the idea that they’re
‘rewarding’ the loyalty of their customers. That’s funny.

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Marketing to Entertainment

I will quote Johan Ronnestam here. His description is so enlightening and thought provoking. Read him:

“Tick tock tick tock tick tock. Can you sense it? The pure thought of a time makes people
stressed. Time is the most precious thing we have and yet brands are wasting it.
In a recent global study I was involved in we identified four factors that matters to
guys and girls in the age-span 18-25. The study was performed in so-called style cities:
New York, Rio De Janeiro, Stockholm, Berlin, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong etc.

Innovation, entertainment, interactivity and creativity. The two that stood out the most
was entertainment and innovation. One kid said - “I’m bored so if I’m supposed to choose
a brand I will choose the one that entertains me and adds something to my life.”
A guy in Tokyo said - “If I’m supposed to show up with a pair of new sneakers to school I’d like
© Johan Ronnestam

them to be different than anyone else's”.

Your brand has to stay on it’s toes. If you are into making cars you’re not only competing with
other car manufactures, you’re competing with time too. If I am to interact with any
kind of communication coming out from your company it better livens up my day.
If not I’ll go somewhere else!”.

Enough said.
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Customers to Followers

The power shift has moved to consumers.
They can chose what to do with your brand
information, whether to listen or not. If you
don’t get their attention, they simply flip you
over with a click.

The customer era is over. You only
have temporary followers. If I like you
I will follow you on Twitter or add you
on Facebook. If your values aren’t in
sync with me, I’ll use the ‘unfriend’
button. It’s that simple.

You can measure this sort of behaviour by looking at the variety of mobile phones you’ve used in the past 3
years. Now, you get the picture? People can now compare everything online from bank transfers to car rental
charges to insurance. All you have to do is head to www.comparethemarket.com or drop by
www.gocompare.com. Your customer is now your client. He can say good-bye far easier than was ever thought
possible.
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So, back to the question: What is the agency
of the future? behavioural pattern of the targets and apply the
requisite solution via whatever channel that meets the
The reason for delving into this analysis about the changing dynamics - branded content; mobile
brands of the future is to enable us better understand marketing; social networking; user-generated content;
the requirements that are currently needed by word of mouth; viral; interactive; blogs; video games;
agencies to evolve, satisfy clients and wow customers; retail initiatives; design innovations and environmental
and discuss the best ways to prepare for the future. issues.

I believe the agency of the future will be the one that
becomes a GATEKEEPER of the knowledge of the
brand, the emergent technology, and the evolving

Intel Retail Kiosk concept by Frog Design
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FUTURE OF AGENCY

That, I believe this should be an on-going and continuous
effort that requires agencies to invest in ‘innovation-
hubs’ and develop people with capacity to anticipate and
plan strategy across multi-disciplinary platforms.

More importantly, the agency has to be a leader of
knowledge and in the minimum, stand shoulder to
shoulder with the clients.

That core of manpower, I am afraid is in limited supply in
Nigeria for now. It’s a huge paradigm shift but one that
can bring great rewards – awards and wealth.

Verizon Beatbox Mixer by R/GA

Aquaduct by IDEO

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Tunde Olaifa is Associate Director, Brand Management with Prima Garnet Ogilvy.s.

“ In the future, the agency as we know it now will be
looked at in awe and disbelief, the same way we
look at dinosaurs now.

That does not take away from the fact that
organizations and individuals will not require
advertising as they do now, but only brand solution
providers (I hesitate to call them agencies) that

”
evolve would be around to meet their marketing
communication needs.

Follow on Twitter @ablackjamesbond

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FUTURE OF AGENCY

It is clearly a case of ‘Do as I say, but don’t do as I do’. Most
agencies are the apostles of change and they preach the gospel
of how rapidly the world is changing to their clients but they
themselves have refused to react to those changes.
© iGadget Life

Every day, tools that enable consumers and advertisers to
generate their own content are being introduced into the
marketplace. In the future, user generated content (and this
includes advertising) would have matured to a level where
quality of output will rival those currently being provided by
Agencies [So out goes some of the competitive edge).

The world is changing so fast that agencies, by the
very nature of what they do and their business
models, simply can’t keep up with the frenetic pace
of change. Agencies as we know them now haven’t

© Edelman Digital
changed fundamentally in their operations and
business models in almost 80 years. Now compare
that reluctance to change to the pace of change in
the media environment, traditional and modern,
that agencies operate in and you will see that
agencies have not even left the dock.

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FUTURE OF AGENCY

YouTube and Vimeo continue to breed a new
generation of movie makers and TV producers.

The DIY culture is on the rise and can only get
stronger. Social network sites are redefining
market spaces and marketing and more and more,
consumers are starting to realize how powerful
they are and sooner than later, will wrest power
and control from the advertisers.

Advertisers now know that some of the services that agencies
used to charge them for can be handled directly by their own
people. Media commission which is a main source of income for
most agencies, especially in these parts, is being negotiated out
of the hands of the agencies and a lot of clients are buying
media directly. This trend will definitely continue in the future.

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FUTURE OF AGENCY

As marketers begin to seek ways to
connect with future consumers who are
already hyper connected and over-
informed today, the scene doesn’t look too
good for today’s agencies that seem to be
stuck in the past.

The traditional ways of speaking to
consumers will become obsolete as these
consumers continue to actively seek out
what they want to see and read and weed
out what they don’t want {the tools to
screen out ads would have been firmly
placed in the consumers’ hands anyway}.
Brands that understand these shifts in
paradigm will realize that the existing
agency structure, knowhow and business
model can neither sustain nor support their The 3D Agency and Nike Town “Write the Future” 3D Sculptures
marketing objectives.

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FUTURE OF AGENCY

Hence, they will begin to look for a new type of brand
solutions provider who I suspect will be a mutated cross
between what we know today as a hot shop and a
management consultancy; nimble, smart, lean and most
importantly, respected.

Nike platforms by R/GA

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FUTURE OF AGENCY

These agencies will be nimble and lean not because they are
small but because they have processes and practices that
deliver faster. As a matter of fact, there probably will be
bigger and fewer agency networks in the future because I
personally do not think the forces of convergence and
globalization are slowing down by any means. Hence, we
would see a lot of lifting and shifting [of knowledge and best
practices] amongst members of a network.

These agencies will be smart because they will charge
differently. They will realize that their compensation will be
based on the value they bring to the client’s businesses and
not on number of hours clocked, their creative or ideas or
the media volume they buy. They will determine what they
want to earn and will negotiate with Clients as partners and
not suppliers.

Finally, the agency of the future will be respected. They will
be respected because they know their stuff and are truly in
tune with the consumer, the marketplace, the brand and the
changing world around them. So when they speak, the
client listens!

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FUTURE OF AGENCY

Fernando Palacios is the Autor at Storytellers based in Sao Paulo.

“ I’m someone who was an insider and now an
astronaut. Advertising and Digital agencies in Brazil
don't earn from ideas, they profit from buying media.
The creative pieces come as in a package. However
there’s a shift going on. Simple ads are losing their
power. More and more agencies are putting effort
into creating interesting + relevant content. And

”
when advertising talks about content, it must ensure
entertainment. Otherwise people will just ignore it.

Follow @ http://storytellers.com.br

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FUTURE OF AGENCY

Content + Entertainment can be done in many ways.
One can make a bet in sports, as Red Bull does. One
can also convey the message in a more orchestrated
way: STORYTELLING.

Storytelling can tell anything just by showing it, in a
very emotional way. Storytelling can create
struggles and counterpoints to explore each corner
of a message making it much more persuasive.

There's only one problem towards storytelling:

It requires a lot of craft, including a rare
know-how and development time. The
author must be able to see the story by its
most appealing angle. They’ll also need the
skill to tell it in the most seductive way.

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FUTURE OF AGENCY

The other side of the coin about storytelling is that it competes against
other stories.

In this scenario, agencies who crave prizes will go to Cannes Festival, but
won't be looking for golden lions anymore.

The Sphinx’s question is this: how the agencies can be deep
in storytelling when working along corporate deadlines?

After all, even a book takes over a year from the idea to the shelves.
A movie can take up to three years.

My guess: brands will have their storytelling specialists to gather inside
stories while agencies will grow their own fictional universe. All agencies
will become a Marvel or a Pixar of sorts. Thus, agencies will lend their
Michael Moore is awarded the Palme characters to make the brands’ stories shine brighter: as bright as a
d’Or in 2004 – the highest prize at the Palme d’Or.
Cannes Film Festival which is presented
to the director of the best feature film.

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FUTURE OF AGENCY

Babatunde Adebola is a young creative talent who combines strategic thinking with creative
artistry. He was recently awarded the prized Lurzer Archive Scholarship to the Miami Ad School Europe in
Hamburg.

“ Readers Manual: Well, you actually do not need any
manual. This article is in this weird form, first as a
simple entertaining quiz and second to pass the
message of new thinking.

Read on, it is in English Language but with a twist.
”
Follow @ http://voiceofthebus.blogspot.com

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FUTURE OF AGENCY

“New Thikning, New Futrue!

As you’re reanidg tihs, the wrietr can raed waht is on yuor mnid.
You are msot liekly thkining, at fsirt glnace, tihs atricle is flul of
tpoygraphyical mistaeks. How rihgt are you? Verily, how wrnog you
are! The wdors taht maeks the brcik taht builds tihs piece hvae
intentiolanly and rebellisouly too appreaed in tihs form in odrer to
conrofm to the denamds of tiems and ineedd psas viatl meassge.
Lietrarily and laetrally, the wrold in chnaging and the wrod canont
be an execption.

The innevtion of the prinnitg psers in 1440 by Gutenberg chganed
the way ppeole perceived thier wrold. For the vrey fisrt tmie, his
wrok mdae it psosible for the precise and rpaid crteaion of meatl
movbale tpye in lrage qunatities. This mechnaizatoin led to the fisrt
mass pdoruction of bkoos in histroy in asmesbly line-stlye.

51

FUTURE OF AGENCY

As scuh, in the insudtrial age, the wtirten wrod was knig. The riegning thuoght was ratiolanity, factuality
which is ineedd influenced by the loicgal order in which letters fololw ecah other in an accetapble patretn
in wrod fortamion.

Are you still redaing? If yes, then you’re aldeary living in the first dedace of the etomional age whcih has
nullified the acnient asmusptions of the abvoe paragparh.

According to the research at the Cambridge University, it doesn’t matter in what order the letters in a
word are. The only important thing is for the first and the last letter to be in the right place. The rest
can be in a total mess and you can still read it without a problem. This is because the human mind
doesn’t read every letter by itself but by the word as a whole.

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FUTURE OF AGENCY

Now, you’ll aprepciate why this arcitle is in this form. It is time we
bkroe losoe from the dogtamic asmusption of the insudtrial age. Our
mnid is not structured to perceive our wrold the way the wriettn wrod
forces it to, unisg synatx and otehr rleus. Our mnid attempts to gian
understdaning of the wrold by ctapuring imgeas and that is why the
oredr in which of letters apeapr in a word doesn’t afceft yuor
understdaning as lnog as the pciture of the wrod it. Wehn you wree a
bbay (and if you can’t rceall ask mmumy) you as saw our wrold, you
we semlt its scnet, you flet its txeture berofe you bgean the lnearing of
lnaguage-sopken or wirtten. Picutres spaek mroe to us tahn wdors.

Can we theerfore sezie to annonuce the obiutary of the wrod? The
speaicl edioitn of the Econosimt, the wolrd in 2011, precidted taht
this yaer may be the benigning of the end for the writetn wrods as
we know it. Words are failnig-woefully to meet the communicaoitn
challenges of 21 century. In a hyepr wrold where atnettion is the
scarcest comdomity, assimilation of wrods take tmie we can’t afrofd
to wsate. We theerfore mkae a sesne eevn mroe sesne-of our
environnemt respdoning instinctviely to pictoairl commniucation.

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FUTURE OF AGENCY

Are you stlil reanidg? If yes, then this is a graet
opportniuty to bulid csae for emotnoial commniucation
in bnard builindg efftors. Jsut as toady’s rdiao
broadcasnitg scremas mroe muisc lses tlak, toady’s
advertinisg sholud showcsae mroe enaggnig pictures
less wodrs. Trhee is hoewver a cavaet: not a picrutes
commniucation. Only picrutes that are inritguing that
can tseae the vieewrs to maeks new concentions and
new maening will hvae a susatinbale impact on
conmusers. For instacne, these words you are readnig
have seized to be the noraml bornig wrods you hvae
been uesd to. Ratehr, tsehe wrods you’re raeding are
picutres.

Ratehr, tsehe wrods you’re raeding are picutres. They
subnocsciously make you form new maening of the
inirtguing scattenirgs of the lettres. Taht way, they are
cut thurogh the clutetr; they lveae a lastnig imppresion
on you. Infact, one can precidt rithgly that you’ll srahe
this eepxrience with a friend. Imanige if brand
communication has this much impact on csonumers,
imanige waht the rerutn on investnemt will be.

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FUTURE OF AGENCY

© Ronwolf.com/Media
2015: Future of media

One mjaor mitsake we mdae is to beeilve
csonumers are dlul; that if our bnard
commniucaoitn is submilanil, inritguing or
puzznilg jsut as tihs comuln is, the mesgase
will be lsot. Are you slitl rdeaing? If yes,
then this assumtipon is clearly wnorg. We
all love firend who tell us intellinegt joeks
becsaue new lreaning mkae new
concenitons in the biran thereby making
such epexrience unroftegtable.

In the begnniing was the wrod but in the
new yaer, let’s egnage our csonumers more
etomionally-a ltitle mroe pciuters wlil hlep
for tehy sepak mroe than thsee thousands
of wodrs.

55

FUTURE OF AGENCY

Doyin Oluwole is the Principal Consultant of BrandCentuate based in Lagos.

“ I remember vividly, five years ago, during one of our
weekly executive committee meetings (EXCOM) at
Insight, that Kayode Situ, the Executive Director,
Finance and Systems had declared that we were
consultants and not agents. As expected, he had
gone on to state his case, which was in no way
questionable. For certain reasons, ‘force majore’
maybe, it did not fly. However, it had taken the ED
Finance to help me see the path through the maze

”
that had bedeviled the industry for years. To
explain in detail, permit me to tell a true life story.

56

FUTURE OF AGENCY

Agency Bitters

I had again woken up on that fateful day to the loud, croaky
and irritating voice of a ‘preacher’ attempting to sing with a
megaphone. I just about had it. I was going straight to him to
give him a good tongue-lashing. His daily ‘godly’ routine was
of nuisance value to me.

I had struggled enough with myself, with not ‘putting down a
brother’ that was ‘propagating the gospel’, but it wasn’t
working anymore. I was through with swinging between my
Christian bias and my true feelings. Suddenly it struck me.
Going out to shout him down and probably smash his
megaphone into bits wasn’t going to do it. I would have been
the ‘devil’s advocate’ finally revealed. I had to look deeper
into the key issues, of the message, the preacher, the
medium and the receiver. After much thought, it was
cracked.

On my way out, I walked up to him calmly and we had a
short, brotherly chat. © Collegehumor.com

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FUTURE OF AGENCY

I remember telling him a little story (I’ve always believed in story telling because they last
forever) about how preachers for decades, (I remembered clearly the early ‘70s) always
went about ringing bells as they shouted their lungs sore, preaching to us the ‘children of
men’. I guess the only target market for bells then were schools and preachers.

The ringing bells always carried an air of reverence and power. Listeners never took them
for granted. The message always hit home.

However, over the years, technology and familiarity (yes, familiarity that always breeds
contempt) had their day in the sun. The preachers, both old and young (with the new-
wave believers, popularly known as ‘SU’s) deferred to convenience and technology by
adopting the megaphone. They no longer had to shout, lose their voice or battle
exhaustion. They could preach for longer and could be heard farther.

So, the megaphone was the ‘new medium’, the magic tool, the power tool, the
current tool, the appealing tool. It appealed to the receiver, took the stress off the
preacher and gave the message new opportunities, like room for singing.

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FUTURE OF AGENCY

But again, that was a long time ago. Probably close to four decades.
Technology and familiarity had taken their place in the sun one more time.
Something had to give. The medium was stale, denying the message new
opportunities. The receiver was bored and had gotten to the state of
indifference, in my own case, irritation. Unfortunately, he, the messenger
was stuck in a time warp and had no clue of advancement and goings-on. He
therefore had no understanding of his position in the scheme of things. I
believe the message hit home because he thanked me gladly.
I then proceeded to suggest strategies based on ‘new media’ that would
connect with the receiver, open up new channels of opportunity to the
message and make the most impact.
End of story.

Now back to Kayode Situ: What he ‘preached’ (just as our
Apostle John de Villiers taught and practiced as the former ECD
of Insight) was that as long as there is a message for the
receiver, there will always be a preacher- either misinformed,
uninformed, ill-informed or well informed.

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FUTURE OF AGENCY

Martin Lindstrom
As long as there is science and technology, every medium will
constantly change, opening new doors of opportunities to the
message. Also, as long as all these factors exist, there will always
be ‘gifted, learned and skilled’ preachers that will create
messages that align with any relevant and current medium, for
the receiver.

I remember clearly that before the ‘Agencies’ started off design,
events, experiential, ambient styling, sponsorship, media and
the like, as separate businesses, they (agencies) handled
everything. I mean every kind of message, through every kind of
medium, to every kind of receiver.
Whatever name is given to our business today, be it advertising,
branding or Ideas creation, it all dovetails into our root name,
our DNA, our family name, our all-encompassing essence;
INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS (IMC).

I dare say that because we are very learned in a field so
eclectic, building individuals and businesses into enduring
global brands in more ways than one, we are CONSULTANTS.
Tom Peters

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FUTURE OF AGENCY

© Andyh-brightside.blogspot.com
Therefore, we are IMC CONSULTANTS.

The name ‘Advertising’ may become obsolete and
die. The structures and approach may become extinct
in the next three days, but the ‘learned preachers’ will
forever remain, to be called by other names, built into
other structures and driven by other approaches.

‘Learned’ preachers will not swim against the tide of
technology, advancement and new value systems,
which are some of the determinant factors of our
business. I believe they will swim with the tide and
evolve with new thinking, strategies, skills and
practices that stand on three legs. relevant, effective
and fresh.

In conclusion, the learned strategists, creatives and
client service experts (they all make up the preacher)
will always remain, always evolving with the
constantly changing medium and receiver.

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FUTURE OF AGENCY

Outro

“ Agencies must be bold enough to 'disrobe'
themselves from the agent mentality,
revolutionize their business models, and
embed hybrid-thinking principles + innovation
lab culture within their organizations.

”
This will go a long way to transform the
mindset of marketers toward agencies.

Franklin Ozekhome II is a trendspotter, strategist and storyteller based in New York.

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FUTURE OF AGENCY

Eight key principles to adopt
1. Understudy the environment 5. Have an open-mind/open-door policy
Analyse the business environment, market Be prepared to give criticism as well as take it.
dynamics and interpret consumer trends Listen to input and contributions from everyone – every
idea should be allowed the benefit of doubt
2. Innovate…Always
Adopt a business-in-beta model. Design a creative 6. Have integrity
operational service structure that is fluid and easily adapted Build trust, honesty, and be consistent
to suit socio-economic/political/ technological changes
7. Design great experiences
3. Differentiate Go beyond mere servicing clients to creating
Have a point of view. Your agency must have a unique wow! experiences and value at every touchpoint
culture, personality and values that are properly reflected in its
creative output, environment, and people.
8. Invest in the Future of Innovation reports curated
by theandnetwork with partners across the world
4. Engage with clients and consumers
Be inspiring to your target market by leading them. Be
social by taking an interest in what they do and participating in
ventures that they are passionate about

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FUTURE OF AGENCY

About theandnetwork

theandnetwork is a gathering of likeminds who understand the
present + future needs and wants of consumers and appreciate
the application of strategic planning to enhance creativity,
advertising and marketing of brands.

The "and" in “theandnetwork” stands for co-ideation,
co-creation, co-operation, collaboration, community, and co-
working. It represents our way of thinking:
Future Tense…Never-ending…Always beta.

Collectively, we co-create cool stuff; collaborate on new projects;
and develop engagement platforms that act as alternate guides
and models for businesses and knowledge-seekers looking
for materials and resources in the areas of pop-culture and
entertainment, digital media, social innovation programs,
experience branding and social influence marketing.

Feel free to download and share this resource with your own network. Ideas are
contributed daily on our group’s page at www.facebook.com/theandnetwork.

64

references

Thanks goes to the following individuals, organizations, blogs and websites
for citation of their original materials and use of photos:

Insight Communications
Contagious Magazine
Collegehumor.com
Matthew Creamer
Wieden+Kennedy
Martin Lindstrom
Orange Academy
Toheeb Balogun
theandnetwork®
Edelman Digital
Advertising Age
Marketing Edge
The Economist
Ronwolf.com
FastCompany
CoolBrands
frog design
Tom Peters
Tim Brown
Creativity
BrandZ
Droga5
TBWA
TIME
IDEO
R/GA

FUTURE OF
AGENCY
INSPIRED BY theandnetwork™/SUPPORTED BY Identiture®

franklinozekhome

franklinozekhome.com

Future Of Agency

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