An Agency's First Step To Getting "Connected"

[Posted by Peter Kim]

Thanks to Mary Beth Kemp, my colleague and co-author of The Connected Agency report, for taking the lead on this new Forrester blog called Agency Futures.  So I'm cross-posting this from our Marketing Team blog.

A lot needs to happen before agencies get Connected.  The clear first step for most shops is building digital acumen.  So I've published a new piece called "Agencies Must Build Digital Skills To Survive" - pretty much to the point, eh?

Here's a [long] excerpt:

Traditional advertising agencies -- marketing services providers that have built global brands through mass media --€” need to prove their digital mettle now more than ever. Although late 90s startups like Scient, Viant, and ZEFER flamed out, firms like Critical Mass, Organic, and Avenue A|Razorfish have risen high above the dot-bomb wreckage and are well-positioned for success today.

Clients are shifting business to digital shops, and consumers have turned away from media channels that built the agency industry and toward emerging Internet media. Ad agencies must build new interactive competencies quickly in order to succeed. How? They must build digital skills with a three-tiered approach of establishing digital commitment at the executive level, retraining existing staffers, and building a pipeline of future talent.

So what's the secret to success?  Hire a chief digital officer?  Tell all your staffers to get on Facebook?  Go 2.0 with your web site?

Maybe all that and more...

[Posted by Peter Kim]

[Posted by Peter Kim]

[Posted by Peter Kim]

Comments

[Barbara French]

Are you planning to title this blog "Agency Futures"? I noticed it's not set as the blog title, although it is the title in the feeds and URL.

Also, will it stay accessible to the public Or is it going to become another private Forrester peer-group blog?

Thanks!

[Peter Kim]

Hello Barbara - looks like the changes have been made. I assume that it will stay public; what private peer-group blogs are you talking about?

[John Kottcamp]

There are two sides to the Digital Agency. Not only do agencies need to develop interactive compentancies, but they also need to understand and embrace a full range of marketing techologies that both empower the engagement across multiple channels both online and offline as well as provide measurement that can be tied back to business metrics that demonstrate the value of engagement.