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A digital revolution is causing a major shift in both media and advertising with consumption patterns changing, where users are on multiple devices and operate in an omni-channel world. Digital has transformed marketing as we know it.
Digital has transformed marketing as we know it.
Agencies, whose largest constituency was marketing departments, now need to realign themselves to the changing needs of the end consumer and their own clients to stay relevant and not get relegated to only being the ‘creative’ partner. To be ‘creative’ in a digital world is now an omnichannel delivery of a conversation, engagement, and experience. This needs new approaches, new technical skills, and new analytical and data marketing skills more than ever before.
The proliferation of social media and digital marketing have changed the dynamics of commercial messaging. New media avenues have paved the way for opportunities that never existed before – programmatic advertising is offering limitless choices and flexibility related to placement, timing, and format of ads and led to multiple layers of complexity. Consumers increasingly choose to receive the commercial messages they want and which they find helpful, and native advertising is often the preferred form for receiving content for them. Savvy consumers expect brands to personalise communication and messages – sending them messages that do not fit their needs, interests or lifestyles eventually erodes their respect for the brand. However, this needs equal alignment between an agency’s strategy, creativity, and technology.
How can agencies bring their skill sets to their consumers new digital world?
Business Agility
The traditional agency model was built upon revenue generation based on media placement. That model today has been overhauled with the advent of the self-serve demand and supply-side platforms that allow marketing teams of brands to deploy programmatic media buying for their campaigns. The only way agencies can harmoniously fit into this changed reality is by being a strategic partner to a brand’s needs and take on an agile marketing approach that takes shorter turnaround times to adapt data insights and works on quicker workarounds for campaign success.
Data-driven approach
While traditional advertising focused on raising awareness through creative campaigns, agencies today need to help marketing teams to develop deep, meaningful insights from their data to deliver great customer experiences and drive purchase behaviour.
Faster, well-tested campaign execution will ensure continuous performance optimisation, making it a win-win for both brands and agencies. Accepting data, insights, and analytics as today’s method and madness for marketers can help advertisers move beyond instinct and a “this is how we’ve always done it” attitude.
