Agencies :
Building a New Type of Traditional Agency
By: Don Morgan @ Raindance Consulting
When I use the term “traditional” agency, what I mean probably varies with the age of the hearer. When I began my career at Leo Burnett, they were considered a traditional agency, with three major departments – account management, media and creative. Over the years, media departments were replaced by media buying specialists, and then account planning/research departments and other specialty groups were added. And today’s agency world is filled with specialists of all kinds, from product or category specialists, like a healthcare agency, to types of media, like a digital media agency, to SEO/SEM specialists, to you-name-it.
If you conduct a Google search on "death of the traditional agency model", you get over 75 million hits, and almost as many reasons why so many authors say this is true. The reasons traditional agencies are dying range from structure (too many levels) to compensation (too little profit) to reaction to change (too slow) to the fact that traditional agencies are "generalists" and cannot know as much about a client's industry or need as a specialist agency or in-house group.
That, in fact, was the focus of an AMA Puget Sound luncheon last year that featured four specialty groups that were the antithesis of a "traditional" agency, in that they were specialists in a certain area, and did not do general marketing or advertising.
Today, a "traditional" agency looks a lot different than when I started, but there are still some agencies that I would call "traditional" from the standpoint of how they are structured and the type of clients that they serve.
One agency that seems to fit the "traditional" description is Copacino+Fujikado (C+F), or so I thought until I looked more closely into how and why they continue to succeed while so many other similar groups are failing.
When you look at their website, you quickly get a feeling that this agency is anything but traditional.
Jim proudly describes C+F as a "generalist" with a different philosophy in their business structure and focus. He describes the agency philosophy in three parts: think like a consultant - act like an agency - but stay human by creating an emotional connection between people and the brand.
He describes the agency philosophy in three parts: think like a consultant - act like an agency - but stay human
Their core competencies are grouped into four major areas – Insights, Branding, Digital, and Integrated Campaign. There is no mention of department differences.
Each of those groups have subgroupings, that cover areas from social channel management to analytics. In fact, when I called Jim Copacino to talk about this article, he said that they were anything but traditional in the way they approach and service their clients.
When Jim says that his agency "thinks like a consultant", I think that what he is really saying is that C+F does more research than other agencies to understand the client and their needs, and, like a consultant, they work hard to identify insights that will help them grow their client's business. Often, that means that C+F tackles much more than creative in their work with a client.
When he says that his agency "acts like an agency", he means that creativity is still at the heart of everything they do and say, whether it is developing a new TV spot, making a programmatic media buy or developing a killer idea for a PR event, or whatever will best serve their clients' particular needs.
But when he says that they "stay human by creating an emotional connection" is the one thing that I believe is the key to their success, no matter what type of agency you are or strive to be – specialist or traditional (however you want to define the term).
I have been saying for a long time, that the future of our business lies in our ability to find new ideas and insights to build a connection between the brand and the customer. Without a sense of connection to a brand, your customers are more prone to search for alternatives.
And that is what Jim says as well about his agency. He calls it "being human", and they work hard to reflect a part of that humanity in everything they do, the way they work, and how they treat each other and their clients.
Isn’t that what a "traditional" agency does, just like Leo Burnett did when I was a junior account exec there? The structure is a lot different today, but the focus on developing insights to grow your client’s business is the same as it was.
We have a lot more knowledge and ways to deliver a message and to develop our strategies and plans, but that is a tradition that will never die, regardless of the structure of the agency or its focus.
So, what do you think? Is the "traditional" agency dying or dead? I guess it depends on how you define the term "traditional".
Stay tuned for more "up close and personal" views on the agency business today.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Don Morgan - Chief Rainmaker
Don Morgan is the Principal at Raindance Consulting and nationally known author and speaker on agency management, client relations and new business prospecting.
