everlastingNow

the genie is out of the bottle in terms of changing what an ‘agency’ is. the baggage with the word is heavily loaded and tiresome. i’ve written and spoken on changing the definition of the work frequently already this year. it’s nice to see the big boys coming along (and being called out by their clients). in a recent article at suite101.com, the topic is discussed by the likes of Euro RSCG and was recently a hot topic in Valencia at the ‘Festival of Media’ where topics like the role of media agencies were taken to task and speeches from agency network CEO’s indicated that they didn’t believe that they themselves could figure it out. Topics like ‘reverse internships’ are now celebrated where old talent is being required to sit with newly hired ‘kids’ to help figure out how this how internet thing works. it’s like the thrashing of a dying animal. can you change an agency of thousands with an approach like this?

at any rate, celebrating crispin, porter & bogusky, in some cases ideo, and agencies like manifest digital who are willing to reinvent how the work gets done and thereby completely ignore the ‘rules’ established by old-line agencies (media, ad, direct, digital, content, or whatever), makes for a much stronger solution. and more importantly, one where clients won’t say what could be the most damning thing i’ve seen in print/out loud in a long time:

Becky Saeger, chief marketing officer for Charles Schwab added that “if I were an agency, I would be really worried about being disintermediated,” a financial industry term meaning elminate the middle man. More worrisome, Saeger said: “More and more, agencies are almost in the way sometimes.”

i guess if you’re reinventing the word, you have to reinvent the business trappings around the industry. oh well. good for the consumer. good for the client. good for us.