Collaboration saves lives!
After having a conversation with a planner last week and him saying 'Planning is dying', I began getting that same old feeling, not another 'Adapt or die' situation! When people were saying 'The 30-second TV ad is dead', if innovations and technology really posed a situation that was serious enough to warrant that statement, were 30-second TV gems really going to be consigned to the history books in a blink of an eye?!
No. Don't be daft. Noone was going to let them really, were they? (Even though there wasn't really a lot to worry about there in the first place!) With a little bit of pondering about the thinking behind them, the messages within in them, the creative mantra, the timings, campaign roll-outs etc etc, everything can be resolved. Now that wasn't too bad, was it? Everything changes, this is what the communications industry is meant to be so good at adapting to, at positively seeking the out and understanding/exploiting those changes.
Anyway, this latest morbid onslaught got me thinking the same sort of thing. Media agencies have an integral role in the communications process, they're not just the numbers merchants, they deal with distribution, where to get the best transactions and most importantly, campaign efficacy. However, as the landscape shifts once more as the technology-consumer synergy comes along to complicate things, everyone starts freaking out again.
As I have said a million times over, with a little bit of collaboration, with disparate agencies working together towards a single goal, client relations would benefit, communications would benefit and consumers would benefit. Agencies, in working together, can optimise what they are offering and really understand the game that they are playing. An agency outsourcing skills, to me, isn't a sign of weakness, it's a sign that they understand the project and what's involved, they understand the consumer and what they can do, so they are organising and arranging the best skills for the job.
We're all in the same industry here, we all want to sell things by engaging people, so lets stop whinging and just get on with it!
2 comments:
interesting thoughts!
In Japan, mega agencies are getting monopoly in the industry with their mega media-buying power. For us a smaller agency, the way to survive in the industry is the collaboration indeed.
Certainly! It's the way forward for agencies of all sizes. I think for smaller agencies, collaboration really highlights their agility and skill in the field.
Where there is a monopoly though, the most important thing is that the agency is right for the job, that smaller collaborative hubs wouldn't have actually had the right skill sets and this is the best way forward for the businesses involved. Whether this is always the case, is another matter.
If I was a client, I would trust the expertise of different skill sets for the task and demand collaboration. And with collaborative success, I'd expect an outstanding return.
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