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New Challenges, New Opportunities: What Do Agencies Look Like Today?

01/11/2024
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Leaders from Mother, Uncommon, Pepsi鈥檚 Sips & Bites, and Our Lego Agency (OLA) discussed the state of the modern agency at 天美棋牌鈥檚 Better Together event, and made a case for working with each other in harmony
鈥淭he only constant is change,鈥 said Natalie Graeme, the co-founder of Uncommon Creative Studio, with a knowing smile while discussing what鈥檚 next for agencies at 天美棋牌鈥檚 Better Together event last week during a panel titled, 鈥楬ow Are Agencies Evolving?鈥 

Natalie was joined by Chris Gallery, head of strategy at Mother, and in-house representation from Carlo Cavallone, VP of creative at Our LEGO Agency (OLA), the LEGO Group, and Matt Watson, executive creative director at PepsiCo鈥檚 Sips & Bites. Together they discussed the state of the modern agency today, the necessary evolution every one is undergoing, and the continued need to know who you are amid rapid market changes.

It鈥檚 no secret that agencies have had to work harder, smarter, and with less budget for a while now, shape-shifting capabilities and adapting to client needs while navigating a steady trend of brands launching in-house agencies. 

A sense of identity 


Chris, Carlo, and Natalie impressed upon the audience that agencies today can鈥檛 afford to not know who they are and what they stand for, highlighting how this steady sense of self has been central to their agencies, even while they have branched into unexpected territories. 

At Uncommon, this certainty has allowed the team to explore design, feature films, and even architecture; at Mother, this looks like being a coherent family of agencies with an advertising core to offer 鈥榥ose to tail鈥 brand building that reflects modern client needs; while OLA鈥檚 recent moves included a LEGO feature film with Pharell Williams and even a gallery launch in Paris. It鈥檚 not about doing everything but it鈥檚 certainly about doing more than one thing, and really well. 鈥淪mall groups of people can do massive things. You don鈥檛 need to have a presence everywhere,鈥 said Chris. 

鈥淜now where you stand,鈥 added Matt. 鈥淧rotect your POV, what you stand for, and what you don鈥檛. Don鈥檛 say yes to everything because you need to add value. Know what you are and stick close to it.鈥

And the strong sense of self also comes in handy through the mergers and acquisitions that have defined the agency landscape in the last few years. Uncommon, which was independent until 2023, knows this well. 鈥淲hen you scale and add capabilities, you have to think about why you exist and why you deserve to as the market is oversaturated and undefined,鈥 Natalie said.


Playing nicely


The nature of the market means that competition is an inevitable and a necessary force that creates innovation and shapes agencies. Instead of viewing it as a kind of necessary evil, all our panellists agreed that there is more than enough work to go around and that specialisms mean there鈥檚 need for all. Carlo said there was 鈥渕erit in both indies and holding companies, let鈥檚 keep the space open for both,鈥 with Matt adding that 鈥渨e weren鈥檛 made to work in competition, but alongside each other. It鈥檚 about bringing creative excellence into the heart of the business, which brings with it cost savings and efficiency.鈥

鈥淲e have to realise that there鈥檚 a bigger pie. We鈥檙e all aiming for something bigger and we  don鈥檛 need to squabble over a small bit of it,鈥 said Natalie. 

Playing nicely is a base level for Chris who stated, 鈥淚f we want to do something great, we all need each other.鈥 Chris鈥 position on the panel was unique in that he was the sole voice representing the independent angle of the industry. Though in places like the US and Australia, independent agencies have a strong foothold, the UK is trailing a little behind. It鈥檚 not something Chris is personally aware of, with Mother recently launching another indie agency, of which he said: 鈥淭here鈥檚 more than enough business for the independents and more talent all the time who want to work at an indie.鈥

Playing nicely wasn鈥檛 reserved just for fellow agencies 鈥 it goes right across to media too, something 天美棋牌 has recently investigated and termed a 鈥榗onscious recoupling鈥 of media and creative. It鈥檚 something Natalie is seeing at Uncommon, driven by a need for efficiency. 鈥淲orking hand in glove with media agencies provides invaluable expertise around communications planning. It鈥檚 happening a lot more and more pitches looking at both at same time.

Matt is likewise seeing this 鈥榬ecoupling鈥 at Sips & Bites, welcoming it with open arms. 鈥淚t allows us to move quicker and bring more interesting, diverse media choices,鈥 he added. 


Meeting new challenges with new capabilities 


All the panellists acknowledged that there are a lot of challenges facing them, and the market, right now. This calls for agile ways of thinking and applications of creativity. 

Sips & Bites is tackling the challenges head on by 鈥渕oving into a horizontal way of thinking about brands,鈥 which Matt said is a 鈥渃onstant brief to answer every day of week.鈥 He added that 鈥榖ig idea鈥 thinking isn鈥檛 enough anymore and instead it鈥檚 about 鈥渓ooking at trends and culture and how brands can get involved rather than focus on the one big Christmas or summer campaign.鈥

For Carlo and OLA, this period is defined by a feeling of creative freedom and he said the agency 鈥渄oesn鈥檛 feel stifled, it鈥檚 an exciting time.鈥 He added, 鈥淲e鈥檙e launching products every week. The LEGO Group is a constant machine of fun opportunities.鈥

Natalie said that finding the right solutions means being a lot more collaborative across teams and less of a 鈥渓et鈥檚 just give it to the creatives鈥 attitude. There鈥檚 also a lot more 鈥渄ata, strategy, and comms planning which all has to work with creative,鈥 she explained. 

Another big shift agency-wide is the amount of freelancers working in the industry. Covid was the catalyst and a fair few have chosen to remain freelance as a result. Carlo said that he saw this as a positive: 鈥淔reelancers and external partners are important for an outside perspective, since working inside the company can make you too businessy. It鈥檚 good to have disruptive, interesting, outside perspectives.鈥 Chris had a more balanced view and offered that when clients come to Mother, they鈥檙e 鈥渂uying into us as a brand though, so we need to balance it and we need to be consistent鈥 with the talent that鈥檚 onboard. 

Both a challenge and an opportunity converge in the availability of AI and its applications. For Chris, the efficiencies are undoubtedly a benefit while Carlo says the OLA is being cautious. Matt echoed these sentiments and said, 鈥淲e鈥檙e also cautious and learning. We use it as a BTS tool to speed up some processes to help us be as agile as possible and solve as many problems as possible because we鈥檙e not a big team. It has a role in what we do and we鈥檙e excited to see where it goes.鈥

On the subject of AI and creativity, Natalie wasn鈥檛 worried. 鈥淚t levels the playing field. All the output is of a certain standard in that it looks like it was made on Midjourney. We do need to examine it more and see how we can apply our talent to it.鈥

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