The annual agencies and consultants’ get together – the 2017 AdForum Worldwide summit, promised to place the Independent Agency Search & Selection Company (IAS) at the forefront of global issues facing the marketing, communication and advertising industry and the complex world of agency selection.
The AdForum summit is a “by invitation only” event that saw global industry consultants, international network and independent agencies come together and share experiences which will shape the industry into the future. The Independent Agency Search and Selection Company (IAS) was the only South African company that has consistently been participating in the summit for the past nine years. More than 25 agencies were visited by more than 40 international consultants during Summit week.
The summit took place from the 24th April – 28th April 2017. Johanna McDowell the CEO of Independent Agency Search and Selection Company was at the forefront of the summit, and while she was there, took some notes which we think will be useful to south African agencies and marketers.
Day 1 of the summit. A lot of what we were shown by the agencies is confidential so I am only including what can be disclosed to the media and what I will be able to include in my presentations back to the agencies in May at the master class.
Ad Forum Global Summit New York City – 24 – 28 April
Day 1
As usual about 30 consultants from all over the world converged on New York City for the Spring Summit. Weather here is cool and fresh with rain expected later this week and a chance it might warm up by the weekend.
As we headed out on our coach – with wifi so that we can all keep up with our local offices while we visit the agencies – our expectations were that we would hear some new things from some of the agencies, some updates from some of the “heritage” agencies – defined as those agencies with a long tradition.
We were not disappointed.
OGILVY
With a new Global CEO, John Siefert who has been with Ogilvy for 26 years and was appointed CEO 18 months ago, the Ogilvy team demonstrated how they are taking all of their own sub brands within the group and transforming the complexity of all of these different divisions into one Ogilvy offering.
Siefert talked about the over-fragmentation of the Ogilvy which has added complexity to an already over complex market place with multiple channels and options.
Clarify. Simplify and Unify is the process that Ogilvy is undertaking in order to ensure delivery. Case studies from IBM Watson, 3G Capital, McWhopper were shown to us to illustrate what is possible.
Siefert sees client conflict that might arise due to the transformation being handled simply and with greater trust levels – as agencies move to become more like other professional services organisations such as legal firms or accounting firms or even management consultancies. The over riding impression of the agency is one of thoroughness and professionalism at top level.
BBDO
We have met with BBDO many times and they never fail to surprise us with their outstanding work and their results. Definitely an Ad forum favourite. This time their “surprise” was that they themselves – Andrew Robertson and co – did not do the presentations. They asked three of their clients to talk about what it is like to work with BBDO – and to show some case studies and work to illustrate the relationship. It was an excellent session with clients, Mattell (Barbie), PepsiCo (Mountain Dew) and Mars( Pedigree – Feed the Good).
An exceptionally interesting session – lots more to share on this when I present back at the master class later this month.
The Future of Pitch Consulting
Ad Forum had conducted a short survey – via AAR our partners – regarding the state of the pitch consulting business. We discussed the results at the next session – which was just for the consultants.
- Succession planning
- Rigour
- Search via automation
- Diversity of service offering
All of the above were discussed – the good news is that the industry, though small, is important and growing.
Brooklyn Brothers
After a 20 minute hold up created through being stuck in a lift – five consultants including IAS – finally were able to attend the above session. Brooklyn Brothers – who have made their name through content production above line, below line and across all channels now have linked up via acquision with Golin – an established PR business owned by IPG and present in more than 50 markets ( including SA via GGi PR) – and can distribute their content on a far wide basis. Brooklyn Brothers and Golin certainly showed us the future.
J Walter Thompson
We ended the day with an update from JWT and their new top team. Lots of changes in the past few years – and they are aware of the “changing landscape” commented on by many agencies at the Summit but we are left uncertain about how many of the “legacy agencies” are able to adapt.
Some interesting case studies and a themed dinner – and then 40 very tired consultants – were able to go back to our hotel – 1 Hotel, Central Park – for a well-deserved rest.
Day 2 – looks even more promising with views from at least three of the more modern agencies and one that has completely transformed. More later this week.
DAY 2
I am going to do each day separately – it is impossibly long to combine them as we have some wonderful content – as we use these daily reports for a variety of channels.
DAY 2 Ad Forum Summit New York City
First up was Wunderman and we met with Global CEO Mark Reed who had told us at the last meeting 18 months before of the plans for Wunderman. It was terrific to see that those plans have all come to fruition so they were able to share some excellent case studies – including a magnificent example from client Investec. South Africa and South Africans are big in Wunderman who recently merged WPP acquired Acceleration into the Wunderman fold.
Creatively driven, data inspired, Wunderman’s purpose is to inspire people to take action. They are also observing that marketers are trying to understand consumers more than brands.
With 7000 people in 170 offices in 60 markets, Wunderman’s largest set up is in the EMEA. Their top global team members have been attracted into Wunderman from other major networks.
Their three case studies – Investec, T-Mobile and GSK – perfectly illustrated what Wunderman is achieving. Their client remits are expanding as the successes that Wunderman is demonstrating through data are encouraging clients to give them more of their strategic marketing communications work. Wunderman can now handle all aspects of advertising – except media buying. Wunderman is now much more than just a direct marketing agency.
They seem to have simplified a complex world. And have found a way to handle client conflict. They regard confidentiality as more important than exclusivity for clients and have built their agency accordingly.
Next was MPC – Moving Picture Company. They are owned by Technicolor. They were the first of many content producers that we met during Ad Forum this time. They work mainly with premium clients via their agencies and are producing content which will support brands on multiple platforms.
“Innovation is in our portfolio” is their positioning and they have done pioneering work with Virtual Reality (VR) for brands such as John Lewis and Adidas.
Collaboration is easy for them – sometimes their suppliers are competitors too – it all depends on the remit.
And then it was VICE (& VIRTUE).
Vice is a production and media company set up for Youth markets. They have their own TV channel – Viceland – and are the company that understands Millennials. It is 11 years since they were founded and they produce 6000 pieces of content per day now. With 600 plus staff in 36 offices they can produce content in 22 languages. The company is a warren of production studios producing original shows and content for their channel and others. Very impressive set up.
Virtue is the agency born out of Vice. It was created in response to marketers’ requests. With the belief that “brands have to think and act like media channels” Virtue has organized itself into an agency able to produce branded content based on tighter brand led briefs. As one of the other agencies said to us, this agency is writing the book on how things should be done in the new era.
The founders believe that “ if you don’t have anything interesting to say as a brand, then you are just a product”. And “content is the new brand strategy”.
Case studies for Belvedere Vodka and Diesel were shown to us in order to illustrate their capability. Other brands they work with include YouTube, Unilever, Samsung, Red and Coke – a real mixture of older and newer ones.
Virtue competes in pitches with Droga, Mother and 72&Sunny – so the competitive set is clear.
BIG SPACESHIP
We met this agency about two years ago when they presented to us in a “speed dating session”. This time they showed us their new agency premises, talked about their growth which has been considerable, and showed us “live” case studies in smaller groups which made the afternoon much more interesting as we met the agency teams as well.
An agency with a learning culture that “does not stop changing”. They believe in culture and behavior over technology and platforms.
Their four principles are :
- Take care of each other
- Collaborate inside and out
- Speak up ( no silent disagreement)
- Do great work
And they position themselves as “ A modern partner to ambitious brands”.
ANOMALY
And so we ended Day 2 with one of the most exciting agencies globally and an Ad Forum favourite. With their “no timesheet” strategy, this agency enjoyed 58% organic growth in 2016 and 42% growth in new business. AdAge voted them Agency of the Year in 2016 and they are expanding from their six offices and 600 people across Europe. Berlin will be their 7th office.
As well as being a strong growth agency they have set up a separate division called ACE which produces content for brands, branded entertainment and a TV series.
As a summary of Day 2, my take out of this day was simple. If an agency these days does not have in house content production – to the highest standards – they are not an agency of today. Production, production, production. Clients want it and agencies are best placed to do this – in house is faster and more cost efficient. It is the name of today’s game.
