Should ad agencies become the client?

Just in case you did not notice, let me point out to you that the Ad Agency business is changing.  Agencies are being asked to be less of the striker that scores the big goal and more of the planner.  (Sir Alex instead of Roonie – the conductor not just the virtuoso violinist)  So the silver bullet campaign is being replaced by something that is ultimately about engagement.  And engagement is multi-dimensional and begging not to be put into neat categories.

Will the market pay for this?  Well they might not, especially at the start.  But we asked for years, how will Facebook make money?

Ad Agencies need to behave more like clients.  We can no longer just wait on instructions.  We need to get closer to customers and not rely on someone else to tell us about them.  In fact, we need to be clients ourselves and interact directly with the marketplace.  Yes, pepper should launch its brand of pepper sauce or do its own events.  And being clients will make us better agencies.