TAOTF – The Agency of the Future
Google Buzz vs Facebook, Nokia´s Ovi vs Googlemaps, AppleTV, ...GoogleTV coming soon, Microsoft kicks Nokia with Windows Phone 7, Facebook goes Hollywood and social media serves as an outlet to drive sales,... What has been so nicely sliced in different businesses,… is now in the middle of a “all you can eat” mode.
Same picture in the advertising business. Just because the big divide (media agencies spin off digital agencies separation) got boring, all of a sudden everybody does everything. Performance marketing specialists advise on branding and business strategy; media agencies go creative; creative agencies call media specialists back into full service troops, ad-networks and individual media owner conglomerates provide insight, strategy and planning, even brand content production. Terms like “lead agency” and/or “lead medium” become irrelevant. Content becomes liquid, planning becomes permanent, the consumer edits, comments, “prosumes”, but does he actually lead?
Some say yes, some say no. While Madison Avenue and by now almost every contemporary brand says “consumer is boss”, challengers say “DO NOT LISTEN TO THE CONSUMER! IF HENRY FORD WOULD HAVE LISTENED TO THE CONSUMER, THEY WOULD HAVE ASKED FOR FASTER HORSES!” (Nizan Guanaes at the DLD conference, 2010)
Well, as much as I respect and agree to Nizan, I think that if the big three in Detroit would have listened to the consumer and maybe listened to developments outside the USA, it would have helped in a digitalized and globalized world.
And now, with Google opening their doors to the exchange platform, we will see even more competition between all and
everybody. Is it good? Yes it is, it will drive quality and kill fat.
Technology has always driven change. This time we will see a significant step change fuelled by new tech and new eco developments. I have seen many people worried about this, at the same time I see a lot of new opportunities and people succeeding in this new reality with new ideas and new business models.
So from my point of view, the future is great. Yes it will be different and it may hurt here and there in the beginning, but in the end we will love it. And guess what, the consumer will love it even more!
TAOTF is a forward thinking platform for people in the advertising / marketing communications business to exchange POVs, opinions and excellence.
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