What is Dell getting out of their agency consolidation?

After a very long flight, I’m in LA for Forrester’s Marketing Forum, which kicks off on Tuesday.  Where one of my very pleasurable ‘duties’ will be a Q&A of main stage speaker Casey Jones.  Casey Jones is VP of Global Marketing for Dell and mastermind of the recent consolidation of Dell’s agency business with WPP. 

Casey wants to set a new standard for integrated communications.  See his FM interview from before and after taking the Dell job. 

Here’s what I’d like to know:  does consolidation really drive smart marketing integration?    The idea of a client-centric agency - albeit pushed to its extreme here - isn’t new.  Large clients have often been able to command dedicated cross-functional teams; sitting together, much like the O&IBM team I was a member of in Ogilvy’s Paris office.

Does everyone need to sit under the same roof - and in particular, in the same profit center - to align interests?  Dell’s point of view would seem to be yes.  And if the approach is supported by performance-based remuneration based on business results, it would certainly be compelling.

However, does one supplier work better than the ‘market’ and competition to drive efficiency and innovation?  There, I have my doubts.  It's simplistic, but compare that to a client going to its various agencies and asking each ‘how would you spend the whole of my budget and what results could you deliver if you did.’  Then, with that vision, working with the agencies to build a smart, integrated plan.

True, the client has a bit of arbitrage to do in that exercise, but most of the large advertisers I’ve spoken with - at Coke, Nestlé and Procter for example - expect that.  They are more comfortable when not all their eggs are in the same basket. 

The second doubt I have is about one agency’s ability to intimately know and support - from a business perspective - very different and diverse target markets, with only a single client.  If you’ve read the Connected Agency, then you’ll know that I think agencies should evolve to a target-centric model.  But that vision works when the finely targeted consumer/customer groups are mutualized across a number of brands or clients. 

My first question to Casey Jones will be:  is Dell getting better integrated marketing out of the consolidation?   I'll let you know what he says after Tuesday's presentation. 

What question would you ask? 

What is the future of Agencies?

Earlier this year, Pete Kim and I published  “The Connected Agency”, which looked at the future of advertising agencies.  The idea was to get people talking…and that it did. 

Since the piece came out, I’ve hosted a couple of Agency breakfasts, both here in Paris and in London.  And have also been invited to exchange with some agency teams.  Every time, the conversation was lively, interesting. 

Rather than summarize all the discussions in a research report and push it back at you, I thought it would be more pertinent, and certainly more fun, to continue the conversation with you online.  To kick things off, over the next couple of weeks, I’ll post about those offline exchanges we’ve had. 

The bottom line is most people I spoke with believe agencies have to change. The model we proposed might not be quite the right one; perhaps just one model is too limited for different types of agencies and clients; and surely the timing we put forward is too aggressive (agency management hopes). 

What do you think? 

How do agencies change to take advantage of technology?  How do they change to keep in contact with consumers who avoid, block and distrust advertising?  How do they keep being relevant when there are ad exchanges to manage media placement; and creative networks to deliver content?   

What do you think?   I look forward to ‘talking’ with you. 

In case you haven’t read the research yet, here is the executive summary.  And if you’re a Forrester client, you can access the full report here.

Today's agencies fail to help marketers engage with consumers, who, as a result, are becoming less brand-loyal and more trusting of each other. To turn the tide, marketers will move to the Connected Agency — one that shifts: from making messages to nurturing consumer connections; from delivering push to creating pull interactions; and from orchestrating campaigns to facilitating conversations. Over the next five years, traditional agencies will make this shift; they will start by connecting with consumer communities and will eventually become an integral part of them.

Pete captured quite a few of the online comments in a blog post that you can find on his blog.