Adage released its 2008 Agency report today and my company, Ascentium, appeared for the first time at #27 on the list and at #11 among independent agencies. While this may be considered remarkable in itself by those of you who have never heard of Ascentium, I think the more remarkable story is that there are other companies who you probably have heard of that made the list for the first time today. MRM Worldwide, the relationship and interactive side of McCann Worldgroup (and my former employer) appeared on the list for the first time at #17. Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, a great advertising company, normally not thought of as an “interactive” agency shows up at #32 and reports 52% of its revenue coming from interactive and then there’s IBM Interactive, which debuts at #5 with almost $200 Million in digital marketing revenue. What does all this mean? Everybody is jumping on the digital bandwagon? An acknowledgement of what every pundit has been saying for several years, that digital is finally taking its rightful place next to traditional advertising? Or is it a sign that the inmates are taking over the asylum, consumers are using digital media to drive, shape and define their relationships with brands rather than having brands prescribed to them through traditional push advertising.
Almost 50% of the list experienced growth of greater than 30% in an economy that was already showing signs of weakness. And combined, the top fifty agencies generated almost $4 Billion dollars in revenue in 2007. If I were an investor, I’d be looking at companies like Ascentium, and to be fair, others like Brulant and of course AKQA and VML, recognized leaders in the digital marketing world. There aren’t that many of us who have reached the critical mass needed to meet the digital needs of big brands and yet have maintained our independence from the holding companies that tend to sacrifice innovation to support outdated business models far too heavily dependent on media spend.
But more importantly, if I were a CMO, I’d start taking a hard look at digital agencies, not as supporting cast members, but as the strategic consultants who can help their brands make the transition from advertising to engagement. And even then, be careful of any agency who too quickly tells you the answer is interactive. It’s not. It’s a combination of online, offline, customer service, commerce and sales.
Customer engagement is recognizing your customers, wherever they interact with you, remember who they are and what they’ve told you about themselves and then be able to continue the conversation by delivering something of meaningful value back to them. If your agency, digital or not, can’t help you build that kind of engagement, then you still need to keep looking around. There are a few of us who can. And from the way the list is changing, there’s a lot more who would like to be able to do it and are moving in the right direction.
