A Visionary View of the Future Role of Agencies
March 24, 2011 | Author: Tim Williams
Britain’s IPA (Institute of Practitioners of Advertising) commissioned a study called “The Future of Advertising and Agencies – a 10-Year Perspective.” The study was conducted by “The Future Foundation,” and the findings provide useful guideposts for agencies who are engaged in retooling their competencies in order to be relevant in the coming years.
Here are some of the main roles envisioned for agencies in this decade:
- Media brand owners
- Joint venture partners
- Content collaborators
- Content curators
- Program producers
- Network creators
- Data providers
- Data aggregators
- Rights managers
- Brand guardians
Several key themes emerge from this list. First, that agencies will increasingly be in the content development business (vs. just the advertising business), and that some of this content will be owned 
by the agencies themselves. Agencies will increasing invent and create new “media brands” from which they can generate recurring revenues.
The study also points to the emerging role of agencies as not just creators, but curators of content. Agencies are already beginning to proactively employ mass collaboration tools such as Giant Hydra and Blur Group.
The “data” theme runs strongly through many of these predictions. Agencies will finally have to learn and love math, because the future of marketing is all about data. As the internet continues to help brands collect information about customers and consumer behavior, agencies will provide data analysis, segmentation and aggregation services. (Witness the rise of firms like Acxiom (ranked ahead of any Madison Avenue agency in terms of revenues) who are squarely planted in the data business.)
Finally, there’s the notion of agencies as protectors of the brand. While agencies have historically presented themselves as “guardians of the brand” the future role for agencies will take this guardianship much more literally, with intellectual property rights and other IP issues becoming increasingly important in a globally interconnected world.
Owners, collaborators, curators, aggregators; part of the new lexicon that will increasingly define what it means to be in the agency business.
