2009-03-11 17:12…

I agree, agencies are capable of change, and I know there’s a bunch that are trying to sort through this. But for every one of those, there are a dozen others – many of them digital agencies who still start with a communications brief – who still turn things over to a “copywriter” who still, for all their talk of progress, work in the same way they have for decades.

Individual agencies will survive because there are smart people who can and want to do the right thing in them. I really think it’s an industry problem – why has advertising become a dirty word that no one wants to be associated with. Why did AKQA start their presentation with we’re not an agency.

I’m not on a high horse here, obviously we’ve (ZJ) done the exact same but that tells you there’s something rotten.

I couldn’t agree more with your point that marketers have (or at least should have) a minor role at best in their client’s use of social media. It’s gotta be real. And there’s definitely not a business model in merely giving clients tips or showing them how they should use it. This will only become more true as corporations start ‘getting it’ on a wider scale. I agree with you that that’s inevitable.

I was at the AAAA summit too and it was in fact my question to Barry Judge that illustrated the irony in the content of his presentation given to whom he was giving it. I asked what role , if any, he saw for his ad agency in helping Best Buy sculpt and execute their various social media experiments. I think he misunderstood me to be asking if he’s interested in the ‘puppet-master’ scenario as you put it. Obviously he’s not, I already knew that, and good for him. But even though he misunderstood me, it was very clear that he feels his brand is perfectly capable of doing everything it wants to do using social media without any agency’s help. I bet he’s right. And I bet more companies will be in that position soon.

I also agree with your point that in spite of this, there are great opportunities, and that restricting focus to communications will hamstring an agency. It prevents them from taking advantage of emerging opportunities.

But can’t quite come with you on the jump from this to your condemnation of the future of advertising agencies. It’s because I don’t agree that ‘advertising industry’ = ‘communications industry.’ At least it doesn’t have to, even if it (mostly) does today. Your post would have convinced me (if I didn’t already believe it) that agencies who focus only on communications have a dim future. But I believe (not just because I need to :) that an advertising agency needn’t make that mistake—that there’s nothing stopping them from taking advantage of the very same opportunities you reference. If there is a thing that could stop it, it’s obviously financial feasibility. It’s easy to infer that ad agencies have no choice but to focus on communications in order to pay their huge bills. If so, what I’m describing is impossible. I don’t believe it is. In fact I think the word ‘advertising’ will have a significantly different definition in 10 years—one in which communications is only a part.

If I’m wrong, I’ll know soon enough, when my agency’s gone. :) Time will tell I guess.