End of agencies?
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- fate0
"The problem remains talent, no one with the talent to do great work is going to want to work on one product, in-house, all the time."
Zarkonite I agree 100%.
But most companies don't need top talent. Nor do they probably want it.
They want their logo as big as possible, their circular ads, coupons, budgets for cheesy Tier 3 car ads that shout at the viewer ontop of running footage.
The old maxim always holds true: "Clients get the advertising they deserve"
- ETM1
It's a cycle. I remember everyone taking things in-house 20 years ago. But there are numerous challenges there too, from the obvious HR ones, to the creative output becoming stagnant and complacent.
So after a while the grass looks greener and they outsource again. Wash, rinse, repeat.
The best is a combo of both, IMO. A beneficial friction that breeds creativity.
- exactly =) I think we were responding at the same time!!zarkonite
- shapesalad0
"Job description
Freelance Motion Graphic Designer | £: Negotiable day rate | London
Our client is an iconic British sporting brand. The organisation has many interests from prestigious events, a museum (with travelling exhibitions), retail outlets, restaurants, bars, publishing and broadcasting.
They want to be less reliant on agencies and have recently started to build an internal creative team. That team so far consists of Design Manager/Creative Lead, Senior Designer and Studio Manager.
We're now looking for seasoned Motion Graphic freelancers as we want to find people that the client can book again and again."
- Could be "$0 fee but you'll get exposure which you can benefit from greatly!"NBQ00
- zaq1
the market is shifting from projects to products.
- riskunlogic1
Check out these two great articles from Jules Erhardt on Medium.com:
State of the Digital Nation 2016:
https://medium.com/fktry/state-o…Chapter I: Industry Perspective: A look at the what, who, and why of consolidation, Digital Product explained, what lies behind advertising’s existential crisis, and the brewing clash of the titans between Ad Holding Groups and management consultancies.
Chapter II: Agency Perspective: The red hot agency market, the reality behind buying and selling, calling bullshit on the ‘end of consultancy’, the designer’s delusion, and the second coming of the independent studio.
Chapter III: New Perspective: Escaping the agency cycle, finding inspiration and perspectives in the startup studio model and in the venture and own product initiatives of progressive agencies.
Chapter IV: Future Perspective: The blueprint for the next evolutionary step for the studio model... the Digital Product Studio.
and State of the Digital Nation 2020: Venture Road:
https://medium.com/swlh/state-of…Chapter V: Media Crusades & The Death of Agency: Roundup on Consultancies vs Ad Holding Groups, the necessary death of the agency model, changing the stakes, all serve as impetus to explore new paths in venture for the creative class.
Chapter VI: Venture Pathfinding: Pathfinding in venture for the creative class, real talk on agency-venture work, and taking inspiration from trailblazing creatives.
Chapter VII: The Startup Studio & Venture Ecosystem: We journey across the divide and take a deeper dive into the supporting ecosystem for startups, an exploration of the evolving startup studio model, and the opportunity within for the creative class.
Chapter VIII: The Creative Capital Studio Blueprint: Moving beyond the ‘pivot’ model of the Digital Product Studio, taking our learnings into a blueprint for starting afresh... The Creative Capital Studio.
Discuss...
- NBQ000
Apple recruits new creatives for its in-house ad efforts: https://www.cultofmac.com/592380…
Apple has reportedly “poached” two teams of creatives from the U.K. advertising agency Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO to join its own in-house efforts.
- eryx0
Does it depend on the brand in question that determines if an agency is used or not?
What I mean is that a brand like Walmart could get away with in house content that is not of the highest caliber. They are not a luxury brand so they don't have to look like it.
Luxury brands like Rolex or Mercedes might use a higher end agency because the quality of the content has to be in line with the quality of the product.
- fate0
Totally agree Hayoth, this is just the future.
The fundamental problems with in-house:
1) It produces shitty work. Even shittier than a watered down brief. Not that agencies don't also produce shit. But who is gonna say "no" to the boss? Or bite the hand that feeds?
2) CMO's rollover so often. Average tenure of a CMO is 18 months. So you got agencies that have been the stewards of brands for longer than the top brass in many cases.
But it comes down to time, money. In-house is going to be better on those quantitative metrics.
- fate0
Hayoth, to continue on your other thread...
I think we're going to continue to see agencies' business fragmented.
—Media planning and buying has been outsourced as a discrete function for years now. So the media budget is going there.
—Production and design will definitely be outsourced. Dedicated UI/UX shops, design studios, production studios, and freelancers
—Consultancies have always stuck their nose in strategy, and now they're taking away accounts
I really don't see a place for big agencies.
I'm not rooting for their demise. I think agencies have largely been ruined by their holding companies (WPP deserves a lot of the blame for this). And so their output has suffered, and the value they bring has been diminished.
- shapesalad0
https://www.theguardian.com/busi…
"The company is to cut nearly 4,000 of its 134,000 global workforce but would not say how many roles or offices would be affected in the UK. It has 400 ad businesses in more than 3,000 offices in 112 countries.
WPP said it would hire 1,000 creative staff as part of a refocus on the group’s roots, meaning the net job losses would total 2,500."
2500 Ad Agency peeps are not going to have a very merry xmas.
- fate0
I honestly don't think in-house is the answer.
And instead of an Agency of Record, I think the norm will be (and already is in a lot of cases):
1) A media buying company
2) UI/UX and Design Studios and Digital Studios on call
3) Production companies or direct relationships with freelance Creative Directors, Art Directors, Photographers, Directors, DP's
4) Consultants for strategy
5) And then shit like PR, Event Development, Celebrity or influencers on an as-needed basis.
And that pretty much covers the roles of big agencies right now.
In-house has and will continue to handle the grunt work.
- fate0
Haha I love it!! I had no idea you were on Newstoday, your work is great.
- doesnotexist0
it's how they're run. their fuckery is catching up to them. they'll always be around, but management will change.
- DaveO0
I guess one thing that smaller agencies can do is adapt and hustle across categories – rather than being at the mercy of a single brand or company's success – which means with the right attitude , any commercial business is fair game.
For instance, I look at what Preacher are doing in austin and they are a company i really admire. They do interesting work across all sorts of sectors, and it really feels like they generate culture and community.
- fate0
DaveO, no joke - I just came across your work the other day from @dankartdirectormemes of all places.
- pablo28-2
- Advertising is probably fucked anyway. Clients will just hire kids in India who'll do it for $5-20 bucks on fiverr.com lolNBQ00
- Hayoth-3
I am conflicted on full service vs expert. I see a lot of branding agencies and design studios getting requests to do their clients digital marketing. They all tell me,
"we didn't sign up for that, we just want to brand and design but now we are at risk losing business or not having additional revenue models"
A SF brand agency told me they were changing their model to keep 3-4 expert generalists on staff and then they would partner with small digital agencies or niche companies to round out there service.
That way they didn't have to fight for freelance availability or need a deep pool of resources if someone wasn't available. They also stated some really great freelancers were just as expensive as small teams so they ditched the freelance route all together.
- Small teams based in cheaper to live places than LA/NY/LDNshapesalad
- Hayoth-5
I believe this conversation should be continued, this could be a real collective insight of this community.
Many of us work for agencies, have side businesses and passion projects. And we know it's changing. We know companies don't want salaried employees, we know recruiting firms suck, we know a lot...We should share it and discuss.
I think the more insight we discover, the more we can apply that to our careers and find a new business model to dominate the world with.