As the ‘New Reality’ dawns, now is the time to rethink, recalibrate, and reset your business for the future.
The truth is that the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic will not be temporary.
This global crisis will forever alter how audiences behave, and therefore must also fundamentally change the ways that agencies communicate and operate going forward. The marketing services business has changed. Agencies were already struggling with the changing needs of clients. This crisis will only magnify many of the challenges that independent owners were already facing as they looked to build sustainable agencies of the future.
Smart agency owners will adapt their agencies to benefit from the opportunities that will exist in the ‘New Reality’. Over the course of the pandemic all audiences will have hugely increased their use of the internet for shopping, research, gaming, and communication.
In addition, it could well be that consumers emerge from the crisis with some very different priorities, values and attitudes – all of which could impact how they want to spend their time and money. All of this will require a greater focus on developing new customer journeys, buyer personas and improving the customer experience to optimize every interaction.
The growth of eCommerce and the use of the internet has already been a major feature of life and economics, but this crisis may serve to accelerate that growth. This means that the importance of digital marketing will be even greater. As the world goes increasingly digital, so will marketing. What agencies must do is respond in kind: new strategies, a new vision and new services.
These are the big questions that agency owners must consider and then develop a strategic plan to guide the changes that will be necessary to propel future growth:
➜ How can agencies meet the threat of clients internalizing more of their creativity and production?
➜ How can agencies better use data to produce better insight, better strategy, better marketing campaigns and better results?
➜ What kinds of training, tools and technologies should agencies invest in?
➜ How do agencies demonstrate real value to clients?
➜ How can agencies offer future-facing services while running lean organizations that are sustainably profitable?
➜ How can agencies develop business models that are adaptive and resilient?
➜ What can agency owners do to adopt powerful positioning and messaging platforms that will demonstrate relevance in the ’New Reality’?
Agency Futures has brought together an elite, experienced team of advisors that can help agency owners navigate this critical process. Our Future//Forward Agency Reset TM is focused on developing roadmaps that will guide the agency to a more relevant, sustainable and future-
facing positioning. This team has already helped many agencies around the world building a successful vision and service offerings integrating data, digital and technology solutions.
DOUGLAS BAXTER, Managing Partner, Digital Specialist – Doug is a former digital agency owner who has been a digital strategist and creative technology consultant to some of the world’s top brands including Microsoft, Google and General Motors. Doug uses his experience of 25 years in the digital, technology and content sector to help his agency clients transform and evolve their companies and build the agencies of the future.
ALEX VASS, Consultant, Data Specialist – Alex is the former Global Managing Director of Weber Shandwick Analytics. He has helped agencies develop data and analytics vision, products and services. He has built products using econometrics, AI and machine learning focused around paid, earned and social media. Alex Integrates multi-disciplinary techniques to build advanced, effective and most importantly useable solutions for clients worldwide.
JASON RILEY Consultant, Positioning Specialist – Jason has a 20-year history of developing winning propositions for some of the most iconic brands in the world. He employs this same skill set – a brutally simple but rigorous examination of strategic ideas for credibility, believability, differentiation, and motivation – to help agencies position their brands and IP for winning futures. Jason is a former EVP/Director of Strategic Planning for M&C Saatchi.