Presentation by Rick Webb of the Barbarian Group to the Danish Association of Advertising Agencies, at Advertising Week NY, 2010.

1. WASSUP DANES.
1

2. Denmark is awesome. I love
that place.
2

3. So hi! I am Rick
I am one of the founders of The Barbarian Group.
I live here in New York.
3

4. So what have
we been up to?
Just under a year ago, The Barbarian
Group sold itself to Cheil Worldwide - a
Korean agency network. Since then,
we’ve been dilligently chipping away at
this whole “agency of the future thing.”
4

5. We moved our headquarters
from Boston to New York
and moved into a new office.

6. We’ve expanded our
capabilities to include
Social Media and “Products
and Services”*
* More on that later

7. We’re formalizing our R&D
lab, complete with a
physical space.

8. We’ve grown from 70
employees to about 115.

9. Boston 19
San Francisco 16
New York City 71
Austin 1
Working from Home Elsewhere 3

10. And we’ve doubled our
2009 billings*
* And made our first-ever profit!

11. And as of this moment, we
currently don’t have a single
ad agency as a client.

12. We’ve also done some
pretty awesome work this
year.

22. So. All in all, a good year
(despite the economy).
Why am I telling you all this?

23. “Barbarian Group will now
be known as Web Banner
Group”
– An AgencySpy.com Commentor,
upon learning of our sale.

24. I am proud to report we
made a total of 3 banners
this year.

25. I confess I am using this
occasion to look back on
our first year as part of a
network.

26. But i do think it touches on
several interesting trends in
the industry.

27. Five interesting trends, in fact.
(Because people love lists.)

28. First: The era of the quick hit
viral is over.
Okay, it’s not over. But it’s on its way out.

29. A viral hit is useless in a
vacuum. They must be
capitalized upon. Amplified.

30. The plumbing of digital
marketing has radically
expanded.

31. The Subservient Chicken - Then
31

32. If we made the Subservient Chicken Now
32

33. “A million visits is cool. You
know what’s cooler?
A billion visits.”
(I really hope this preview has been
playing in Denmark as much as it’s been
playing here.)

34. We’re not interested in the
next big viral hit. We’re
interested in transforming
businesses, and helping our
clients conquer the web.
(Viral is just a piece of that.)

35. Second: Digital advertising
is shedding its Madison
Avenue complex and
looking toward Silicon
Valley.

36. People are leaving Madison
Avenue to go to Silicon Valley.

37. But interestingly, people are
leaving Silicon Valley to
head to Madison Avenue.
(this is probably a bit of an exaggeration.)

38. And somewhere
along the line,
sci-fi writers
stopped writing
about internet
companies, and
started writing
about advertising.

39. The conversation between
the best digital agencies
and the hottest tech
companies is constant.

40. (Especially in this town.)

41. And the digital agencies are
learning from all of these
conversations.
(Even if they haven’t taught
their clients yet.)

42. Sustained execution is the
new black. The unglamorous
is the new sexy.

43. Agile is the new campaign.

44. Let’s look at two examples.

45. Here’s a site we did for Red
Bull. At the time, we told
anyone who listened that
this was the future.

46. It’s agile! Iterative! Solves
business problems!

47. The press yawned.

49. Ditto for Kashi, where in our
fourth year, we are coming
up on our 1,000,000th
registered user.

50. And the site was recently
judged by an outside
marketing measurement
firm to be more effective
than the television spots.

51. These sites arent’ “sexy.”

52. These sites aren’t something
Madison Avenue would ever
have made.

53. They’re sites Silicon Valley
would have made. They’re
agile. They’re unsexy.
And that’s why they work.

54. Third: Social is speeding up
this transition.

55. The rise of social media and
the disruption it has caused
has hastened these
changes.

56. Social has
forced
clients to
think
beyond the
campaign.

57. Social is always on.
More and more, brands
know they need to constntly
tend to their social media
presence.

58. A “social media campaign”
isn’t an oxymoron yet.
But it will be.

59. And it has begun to wean
them from their media
agency-instilled delusions
that they can replicate
broadcast with viral videos.

60. Even if you don’t do social,
thank those weird “social
media experts” for speeding up
advertising’s digital transition.

61. Fourth: No agency, model or
holding company has an
advantage.

62. Fact is, we’re all trying to be
something new. We tout the
advantages we have, while
scrambling to build or buy
our way out of our
disadvantages.

63. The big ad agency is learning digital.

64. The big ad agency is learning digital.
The media company is relearning
creative.

65. The big ad agency is learning digital.
The media company is relearning
creative.
The digital production company is
learing strategy and brand.

66. The big ad agency is learning digital.
The media company is relearning
creative.
The digital production company is
learing strategy and brand.
The video production company is
learning digital.

67. Everyone is learning: Social

68. Everyone is learning: Social
Mobile

69. Everyone is learning: Social
Mobile
Experiential

70. Everyone is learning: Social
Mobile
Experiential
Word of Mouth

71. Everyone is learning: Social
Mobile
Experiential
Word of Mouth
(Except the social, mobile,experiential and WOM
agencies. They’re learning everything else.)

72. The small agencies are trying to get big.

73. The small agencies are trying to get big.
The big agencies are trying seem
smaller.

74. The small agencies are trying to get big.
The big agencies are trying seem
smaller.
People are leaving big agencies to start
small ones.

75. The small agencies are trying to get big.
The big agencies are trying seem
smaller.
People are leaving big agencies to start
small ones.
Somehow we’re all global. Even if it’s
just a URL.

76. I hear that you and your band have sold
your guitars and bought turntables.
I hear that you and your band have sold
your turntables and bought guitars.
– James Murphy, LCD Soundsytem

77. There is no agency model of
the future.

78. Or rather, there is only one.

79. And, like all good things on
the Internet, its creation is
being crowdsourced.
And it’s iterative.

80. Fifth: The “brand” vs “direct”
tension is achieving balance.

81. Online ad dollars have
fluctuated from brand (the
banner)...

82. Online ad dollars have
fluctuated from brand (the
banner)...
...to direct (AdWord, SEO,
eCommerce)...

83. Online ad dollars have
fluctuated from brand (the
banner)...
...to direct (AdWord, SEO,
eCommerce)...
...and, now, back toward brand
(Facebook, social media)

84. Ad Spend
Brand Marketing
Direct Marketing
1995 2000 2005 2010

85. Ad Spend
Brand Marketing
Direct Marketing
1995 2000 2005 2010
(These numbers are totally made up.)

86. We used to have the
“digital” agency:
below the line, direct, search

87. And we had the “agency of
record”:
Traditional, brand focused,
did some digital.
When, you know, it was cool.

88. Digital is becoming the brand.

89. Digital is becoming the brand.
(Or at least something that shapes the brand.)

90. So. Yeah. There ya go.
Five observations.

91. If you think about this, this
makes sense.

92. Your brand and your digital
presence:
Both require constant
nurturing.

93. Brands are made over time.

94. A great digital presence is
made over time.

95. Both are iterative.
Both grow over time.

96. Campaigns are part of both.
But they are not everything.

97. Thank you.