What sort of agency does 2015's marketer really need?

History is a wonderful thing – it tells us everything we need to know about things that actually happened, why they happened and whether the outcome was right, wrong or could have been different. Now let's just think back to around 2009, we were 2 years into the recession and business was tough, everywhere. It just so happened that coincidentally a new breed of agency was springing up everywhere, they were called 'Digital agencies'. As trade was continuing to diminish for everyone, everyone had the same thought - "we're not doing enough on the internet, it's all about the internet now!" That had a lot of truth to it but what happened next was the bit where history presents us with that 'told you so' attitude.

Everybody put two and two together and ran out looking for a saviour, someone to reverse the sales decline and build them a bigger and better business through the internet – the saviours were supposed to be the 'digital agencies'. For some it worked but for most it didn't. Why? Because they made the mistake of replacing their traditional agency and the budget with a digital agency thinking that these digital guys knew everything about creativity, marketing, persuasion and brand communications.
But they didn't because they were not creatives they were iT people and while the website was getting higher up the rankings and the sales on it were increasing, the core of the business was losing its brand identity in the rest of the marketplace.

So now 4 years later you are starting to hear more and more of what today's marketer really wants and that is a 'fully integrated agency' – one that understands marketing, branding, advertising and oh yes digital.

So all you digital agencies that jumped on the band wagon and made a fortune while you were the bees knees I applaud you, but let the real agencies get back to doing what they do best – looking after marketing clients from a marketing perspective of which you are an important but not (anymore) the only part.

David Barratt
Bsc Hons Marketing Lancaster University