The advertising industry, which has spent much of the past two decades pulling itself apart into ever-smaller pieces, appears to be trying to reassemble itself — though not necessarily into the same configuration it started with.
That is one conclusion from a series of conversations with search consultants and strategists who have been watching the pitch process evolve, as reported by Campaign US. The consensus, such as it is, suggests that clients want agencies that can work together seamlessly, whether or not they share a lobby. They also want agencies that know their particular craft very well. And they would like all of this delivered through sophisticated technology platforms, please, preferably ones that align with the client's own systems.
(It is, one might note, a lot to ask.)
"There was a time when it was about consolidation and integration," said Moya Fry, a vice president of strategy at Mediasense, the consulting firm. "Now, more and more, there's this pendulum swinging back more toward specialization."
Mr. Browning, identified as a 30-year industry veteran who previously served as senior vice president and global account director at DDB Chicago and has spent the last five years as a search consultant, offered a cautionary tale from last summer. A public relations agency that seemed culturally ideal for a client was eliminated during the request-for-information stage because its technology stack appeared insufficiently modern.
"It just felt like a laggard," Mr. Browning said.
The emphasis on workflow tools and data integration has become so pronounced that Ms. Fry described a recent pitch in which agencies that would normally have led with their creative credentials instead wanted to discuss their technology platforms. A year ago, she said, that would not have happened.
Amid all this talk of systems and specialization, there are also signs of what Duffy Humbert, a senior partner at SRI, described as a renewed "need for brand" — clients who have spent years focused on bottom-funnel performance marketing and now find themselves wanting something more.
"There's just the craft that we all came to this business for and love," Ms. Humbert said.
Ms. Fry offered a note of caution about the role of artificial intelligence in this environment: used poorly, she said, it simply allows teams to arrive at a bad idea faster.
Original story published in campaignlive.com: "Integration, specialization and a resurgence of ‘magic’: How the pitch process is evolving | Campaign US"