A Conversation Starter
Reconsidering the Advertising Industry
By: Alain Thys and Stefan Kolle © Lisovskaya | Dreamstime.com
FUTURELAB
Sponsored by
Management Centre Europe.

FUTURELAB
Prelude: Why This Document Exists
© Lisovskaya | Dreamstime.com

FUTURELAB
Prelude: All is Not as it Should Be in the Wonderful World of Advertising
Net Promoter Score™ by Industry
telco advertising automotive
-6%
-21%
© Stockphotonyc | Dreamstime.com
-48%
The Net Promoter Score ™ is a registered trademark of Bain, Satmetrix and Fred Reichheld

Prelude: Are Marketers Held Hostage by the Advertising Industry?
High
Hostages Loyalists
Likelihood to repurchase
Defectors Mercenaries
© Alexey Avdeev | Dreamstime.comquot;
Low
Low Likelihood to recommend High
FUTURELAB

Prelude: Do Agencies Overestimate Their Impact on the Client’s Success?
© Chris Fourie | Dreamstime.com
FUTURELAB

Table of Contents
SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS: Agency Challenges 2009 Page 7
12 REMEDIES: Setting Things Right Page 35
10 FORMATS: Agency Models of the Future Page 48
Appendices for Digging Deeper Page 59
FUTURELAB

FUTURELAB
Chapter One
Situational Analysis: Agency Challenges 2009

FUTURELAB
Chapter One
Situational Analysis
7 client needs many
agencies ignore.
3 areas where agencies
are “out of synch”
4 gaps in agency
authenticity

Client Need #1: 75% of clients want a truly tailored approach to their business
FUTURELAB
© Frozenpeas | Dreamstime.com

Agency Response #1: Services that Happen to Fit the Agency Model
FUTURELAB

© Breeze393 | Dreamstime.com
Client Need #2: Show Me the Return on My Marketing Investments
FUTURELAB

Agency Response #2: We Are Very Creative ... And Big ... And have Big Clients
© Robert Byron | Dreamstime.com
FUTURELAB

Of the 50 largest advertisers in the world ...
91% 85% 74%
Consider the media buying Are convinced their media Opined that these deals
process to be insufficiently agency had deals outside the caused bias in the choice of
transparent client agreement media and recommendations.
Client Need #3: Be A Trusted Media Partner
FUTURELAB

Continued Underperformance The Occasional
Intransparency and “creative math”” Scandal
Agency Response #3: Bad Apples
Image 1: CC 2.0: Phauly
Image 2: (c) Design 56 – Dreamstime.com FUTURELAB
Image 3: (c) Aleksander Ruzicka

Client Need #4: Engage Our Audience
Image cc: Dogsbylori's - http://tinyurl.com/6658d7 FUTURELAB

Agency Response #4: Saturation Bombing
FUTURELAB

What marketing leaders want from their agencies when it comes to digital
Client Need #5: Walk Digital
FUTURELAB

FUTURELAB
Agency Response #5: Talk Digital
© Yuri Strakhov | Dreamstime.com

FUTURELAB
CAGR by Marketing Mix Element - Manufacturers
(2004-2010 Est.)
Source: Deloitte, 2007
Client Need #6: Shopper Marketing

FUTURELAB
Agency Response #6: Silo-based Thinking
© Phillip Minnis | Dreamstime.com

FUTURELAB
Client Need #7: Help me into the C-suite

FUTURELAB
Agency Response #7: Look How Cool and Fun We Are ... And Creative Too!
© Tomislav Birtic | Dreamstime.com

FUTURELAB
Chapter One
Situational Analysis
7 client needs many
agencies ignore.
3 areas where agencies
are “out of synch”
4 gaps in agency
authenticity

FUTURELAB
Agencies have optimised their business for themselves. Not for their customers.
Kris Hoet, EMEA Digital Media Communications Manager, Microsoft
Disconnect 1: Most Large Agencies are Mass Production Factories…
© Leigh Prather | Dreamstime.com

FUTURELAB
Agencies need to be chameleons which can become
what ever the client requires them to be.
Not just what they happen to be good at.
… While The World Needs Multi-Disciplinary Boutiques
© Iphotoexpert | Dreamstime.com

Digital Creative
Production Management
Account
Mgmt
Planning
Disconnect 2: Most Agencies are Multi-Local with High Levels of Duplication ...
© Michael Brown| Dreamstime.com
FUTURELAB

... While Today’s World is Global and Highly Interconnected
© Hewlett Packard, Halo Room
FUTURELAB

Disconnect 3: Agencies Compete within “Their Crowd” ...
© Julien Tromeur | Dreamstime.com
FUTURELAB

© Kevin Renes | Dreamstime.com
... While the Competition is Transforming
FUTURELAB

FUTURELAB
Chapter One
Situational Analysis
7 client needs many
agencies ignore.
3 areas where agencies
are “out of synch”
4 gaps in agency
authenticity

FUTURELAB
Authenticity Gap 1: Diffuse Identity
© Eric Marechal | Dreamstime.com

Authenticity Gap 2: Oversensitivity to Trends
FUTURELAB

FUTURELAB
“We knew that it wouldn’t work, but the
client wanted it. So we made it happen.
After all, under all the gloss, we must
accept that we are prostitutes.”
Head of Business Development commenting on
modifications to a global campaign you know.
Authenticity Gap 3: Undue Compliance
© Jose Antonio Sánchez Reyes | Dreamstime.com

© Steve Cukrov | Dreamstime.com
“I don’t care about making money for my clients. I just want another
award before I jump this ship. ”
Agency CEO of a A-list mediterranean agency
“Listen, we know that spending x million in above won’t fix the
issue, but they’re going to spend it anyway. We can just as well try
to grab as much as possible.”
Pitch team on an international account
If a client thinks a brand is great, but you find out his consumers
disagree, you’d only tell him if you’d get more business out it.
Otherwise, best to leave these things untouched.
Major agency creative director instructing a recent recruit over lunch
Authenticity Gap 4: Occasionally Questionable Motivations
FUTURELAB

1. Become a solution house ...
2. ... Or Not
3. Talk Money
4. Media Neutrality & Transparency
5. Replace Noise by Engagement
6. Be Digital
7. Think of the Shopper
8. Get a Makeover
9. Synch to Global Reality
10. Establish A Clear & Differentiated Position
11. Align Good Apples, Get Rid of Bad Ones
12. Take a Moment of Self-Reflection
Chapter Two
12 Remedies to Set Things Right FUTURELAB

© Jan Prchal | Dreamstime.com
“Our recommendation is not to proceed with any
above-the-line campaign in the coming year.
In stead, it is better to upgrade call-centre training
and accellerate the go-to-market processes so
they co-incide with the consumer shopping cycle.
Obviously we are happy to assist in these areas.”
#1 Become a Solutions House ...
FUTURELAB

© Infomages | Dreamstime.com
#2 ... or not
© Lisa F. Young | Dreamstime.com FUTURELAB

#3 Talk Money
FUTURELAB
© Breeze393 | Dreamstime.com

FUTURELAB
© Nob50 | Dreamstime.com
#4 Media Neutrality and Transparency

FUTURELAB
#5 Replace Noise by Engagement
©i Dan Breckwoldt | Dreamstime.com

#6 Be Digital
FUTURELAB
© Spaceheater | Dreamstime.com

#7 Think of the Shopper
©i Edyta Pawlowska | Dreamstime.com
FUTURELAB

FUTURELAB
#8 Get a Makeover
© Rebecca Abell | Dreamstime.com

Image: (c) Sebast1an – Dreamstime.com
#9 Synch to Global Reality
FUTURELAB

#10 Establish A Clear and Differentiated Position
FUTURELAB

Customer
Proposition
Strategy Behaviour of
Culture
Commitment Leaders
Performance Processes &
Metrics Structures
(c) This framework is property of Management Centre Europe – used with permission
#11 Align Good Apples, Get Rid of Bad Ones
FUTURELAB

© Pavalache Stelian | Dreamstime.com
FUTURELAB
#12 Take a Moment of Self-Reflection

FUTURELAB
Chapter Three
10 Formats: Agency Models of the Future

FUTURELAB
#1 The Factory
© Sedam35 | Dreamstime.com

FUTURELAB
© Infokus408 | Dreamstime.com
#2 The Category Killer A: Media

© Rui Vale de Sousa | Dreamstime.com
FUTURELAB
#3 The Category Killer B: Curated Creative Marketplaces

FUTURELAB
#4 The Category Killer C: Production Machines
© Richard Thomas | Dreamstime.com

FUTURELAB
#5 The Customer Specialist

#6 The Serial Monogamist
FUTURELAB

© Helder Almeida| Dreamstime.com
FUTURELAB
#7 The Marketing & Communication Boutique

#8 The Craftsman
FUTURELAB
© Sebastian Czapnik | Dreamstime.com

#9 The Fragmented Giant
FUTURELAB

FUTURELAB
#10 The Persistent One
© Drx| Dreamstime.com

FUTURELAB
Appendices for Digging Deeper

• Forrester Research: Help Wanted: 21st Century Agency ($ 279 at www.forrester.com)
• Rainmaker Consulting: The Intelligent New Business Survey (free at
http://tinyurl.com/59dkff)
• Agency Search – What Matters? Winning Strategies for Ad Agencies – presentation ,
MillWard Brown, April 2007 (free at: http://tinyurl.com/5hhh7e)
• Henry Jenkins, Convergence Culture, NYU Press, 2006
• The full version of this report which can be purchased on
www.futurelab.net/agencyreport (€499 + VAT)
Must-read information for every agency executive.
FUTURELAB

If you want more information on this report or would like to discuss the
pursuit of any of the strategies discussed in your agency, get in touch with For a conversation on aligning the people in
us on info@futurelab.net: your agency to your strategy, get in touch
with Management Centre Europe who have
International: + 32 2 733 8332 Alain Thys/Stefan Kolle acted as co-sponsor to this report:
Athens: +30 210 6101240 Milton Papadakis
Bucharest: +40 751 229 217 Ramona Patrascanu Mr. Patrick Faniel
Hamburg: +49 40 2780 6223 Anne Marx Customer Specific Solutions Director
Kiev: +38 067 502 99 41 Olga Vaganova Tel.: +32/2/543.21.20
Moscow: +7 905 500 5856 Marina Natanova Email: pfaniel@mce-ama.com
Shanghai: +86 136 2179 9450 Jan Van den Bergh
More Information & Action
FUTURELAB

FUTURELAB
About Futurelab and This Report
WWW.FUTURELAB.NET - BLOG.FUTURELAB.NET - 100.FUTURELAB.NET - PROBES.FUTURELAB.NET