In a call for “a modern agency,” digital agency leaders questioned what I’ve been questioning myself for the past few weeks: What will — and what should — the modern agency look like? Mark Kingdon, CEO of Organic, moderated the panel and shared the stage with Greg Smith, senior partner and COO of Neo@Ogilvy, Grant McDougall, EVP at Carat and Tom Bedecarre, CEO at AKQA, weighed in on this weighty matter.
“Many clients are frustrated by the current agency construct,” Kingdon pointed out, adding that clients are often frustrated by having to referee when various agencies work on an integrated campaign.
Bedecarre said he believes the separation between digital and traditional agencies is obsolete; that some of the best digital work he’s seen, for example, has come from traditional agencies.
Smith added that while the creative work may be changing, and agencies are taking on more of a consulting model and tasks that they haven’t been asked to do before, there is still the same agency structure.
He also pointed out that it is CMOs themselves that need to change, because it is younger CEO’s — both physically and in terms of attitude — that are open to new types of media.
