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It's understandable that digital specialists are going to fight tooth and nail to try and use the media to argue the relevancy of their offering in an ever increasingly integrated media background. Unfortunately they are merely fiddling while Rome burns. The reality is that major clients such as O2, BT, AA to name but three know that it is plain common sense to have a centralised structure that can be planning and delivery neutral and co-ordinated together to esnure maximum cross media uplift efficiencies. It's easy for them to kid themselves and say it is entirely down to economies of scale regarding the buying, but that's like trotting out the "we came a close second" or "the other agency dropped their pants on remuneration" after every pitch loss. We are talking experienced clients who have been around long enough to know that it doesn't matter how long cheaply media can be bought if it is the wrong media for achieving strategic goals. Obviously some clients may well be purely interested in rates if agencies cannot demonstrate exceptional planning skills and strategies, but that is an agency's challenge and has been for years.
The other challenge for "traditional" agencies is to live the all media promise and ensure that the development of strategy and implementation is truly joined up. They must also ensure that they acquire or develop strong digital and integrated knowedge and craft skills because if they get clients interested in an integrated solution but then can't deliver equal quality across all channels, they will lose credibility very quickly and set their crediblity cause back significantly. Fortunately at Zed, we are perfectly positioned because we have embraced digital since it's rise to prominence and we immediately positioned it with other media channels. This cross pollinated understanding between on and off line and enabled neutral thinking and understanding. This is why I feel extremely confident for the future of our agency and this is why digital specialists should be concentrating on finding close strategic partnerships with agencies who can help them be part of an all media offering.
