The Forrester Wave™: Lead Agencies, Q4 2016 report is hot off the press! 

Companies that succeed in the post-digital era marry digital engagement, traditional marketing, data, and technology to create superior, customer-centric brand experiences. For marketers, this means staying ahead of changing consumer behavior and organizing your team to meet the needs of today’s empowered customer.

As marketers’ rise to this challenge, they look to lead agencies  to drive brand, creative, and experience strategy, along with campaign development across traditional and digital touchpoints. They also look for productive collaboration across diverse agency rosters and a commitment to attracting and retaining post-digital thinkers.  

We evaluated the lead agency capabilities of eight agencies — 360i, Barkley, Havas Worldwide, Hill Holliday, mcgarrybowen, Publicis NA, R/GA, and VML.

360i, VML and R/GA emerged as Leaders in the Wave with demonstrated commitment to post-digital marketing with data-driven insights, brand experience capabilities, collaborative leadership processes and a purpose-driven culture. They also outlined a corporate vision focused on guiding the agency and its clients through the new post-digital world. For a full break down of each agency’s capabilities, download the report and its corresponding Excel sheet.

In the upcoming months, I’ll be publishing research on additional lead agencies to consider, how to RFP for a lead agency, and the future of agencies. Stay tuned, or set up an inquiry with me to learn more.

Thanks to all the agencies who participated — they dedicated a substantial amount of resources into this process, and we appreciate everyone’s efforts.