The document critiques the current advertising landscape, highlighting the shift from traditional advertising agencies to marketing agencies that struggle with silos and evolving client needs. Advertisers also contribute to the problem with inconsistent metrics, internal politics, and a lack of clarity in their marketing goals. The piece calls for a fundamental change in the advertising paradigm to better navigate today's fast-paced digital environment.

1. TODAY'S ADVERTISING PARADIGM IS
BROKEN...
AND EVERYONE'S TO BLAME
By Hollis Thomases, 12/11/13

2. ADVERTISING USED TO BE…
Mad Men image source: http://blog.wordnik.com/word-soup-mad-men

3. …WHICH MEANT
Singular, big creative ideas
 The Creative Director was God
 It was all about branding and generating an
emotional reaction
 Ad agencies stuck to paid media and advertising
vehicles were finite and standardized (mainly print,
radio, TV)
 Media commissions were fat (~15-20% of media
spend)
 Agency teams revolved around client brand


4. NOW ADVERTISING IS…

5. FEW “ADVERTISING” AGENCIES ARE EVEN
STRICTLY PROVIDING ADVERTISING…




Some are doing only one thing – like brand concepting
and creative develop or media planning and buying –
really well…
And outsourcing or partnering to do “the other stuff”
While the rest are really acting more like marketing
agencies, offering whatever kinds of services it takes to
make it appear as though they have competency in
everything to satisfy their clients
Too many silos exist (strategy, creative, traditional, digital,
mobile, search, etc.)

As a result, agency compensation models are thrown
asunder, and it’s hard for companies to compare apples
to apples during an agency review process
SO SHOULD ADVERTISERS BE HIRING “AD
AGENCIES” OR MARKETING AGENCIES??

6. SPEAKING OF ADVERTISING
CLIENTS…

7. ADVERTISERS CONTRIBUTE TO THE PROBLEM
1.
2.
3.
4.
CMOs come and go,
sometimes even before
the agency term is up
They have internal silos of
their own
Smart ad/marketing
decisions can be stymied
by corporate politics
They want to piecemeal
out work as projects but
expect all involved players
to play nice in the sandbox

8. ADVERTISERS CONTRIBUTE TO THE PROBLEM
5.
KPIs and other
benchmark metrics of
successful marketing
aren’t often pre-defined

9. ADVERTISERS CONTRIBUTE TO THE PROBLEM
6.
7.
There is a tendency to
be swayed by bright
shiny objects (e.g.
Pinterest, Vine,
Groupon, etc), even if
they don’t serve the
business objective
The ad/marketing
landscape is crowded
and cluttered, and hard
and getting ever more
difficult to understand

10. ADVERTISERS CONTRIBUTE TO THE PROBLEM
8.
9.
Digital ad/marketing technology can
be intimidating
It’s easier to default to “experts” than
to be one...but are they too easily
abdicating the allocation and
performance of their ad/marketing
dollars?

11. SPEAKING OF DIGITAL…

12. AD/MARKETING TECH IN THE PROBLEM MIX
Built by technologists trying to solve problems but…
 Technologists don’t often speak the same language
of ad/marketing people



Benefits get lost in translation
Start-up technologies may use too much of their
funding on building and not enough on educating
the market on the value of their product

Are they even pitching to the right decision-makers?

13. AD/MARKETING TECH IN THE PROBLEM MIX



New technologies often face long adoption curves, so
much so that their value may be obsolete by the time
the market catches up…and the tech may be out of
cash to adapt and change by then
Utilizing, implementing and updating new ad/marketing
tech requires expenses clients and agencies might not
have budgeted for, and therefore the tech might just get
passed over
Clients AND Agencies may be missing out on great tools
to help them reach, acquire, process and retain new
customers
THE ENTIRE AD PARADIGM NEEDS TO SHIFT
TO ACCOMMODATE TODAY’S PACE OF
CHANGE!

14. HOLLIS THOMASES – CLIENT DIGITAL
ADVOCATE
In 1998, multi-time award-winning entrepreneur
Hollis Thomases founded Maryland-based Web
Ad.vantage, providing strategic digital marketing
and advertising solutions. In 2013, Hollis
became a sole practitioner focused on marketing
advocacy – ensuring clients were educated and
aware of the pitfalls and missed opportunities
that the digital marketplace can provide.
In January 2010, Hollis authored the book,
“Twitter Marketing: An Hour a Day,” by John
Wiley & Sons, and has been a columnist with
Inc.com, Social Media Marketing Magazine, and
ClickZ. Hollis also frequently speaks at industry
conferences and association events.
Hollis Thomases graduated from Cornell
University with a BA in Social Relations. You can
find her in the Twittersphere @hollisthomases,
on LinkedIn, by email or
by old-fashioned phone: +011-484-679-6364.