Last week, Brandweek posted this article on its website, proving once and for all that the Millenials may actually be good for something. A recent TNS Media Intelligence /Cymfony study concluded that agencies (including advertising, public relations, design and creative) lack expertise in social media. They consistently come up short when their clients want to take advantage of new online tools and maximize their technological potential.Many agencies continue to apply traditional models to social media when they should be seeking new models to fit these novel forms of communication; they need to move beyond the closed media model and implement strategies that fit the ever-open world. These days, clients need more than just representation, they demand professionals who can evolve with technology and agencies who will stay on top of trends.
What the article doesn't mention, but seems obvious to me is that aging agencies may be the problem. Sure, college grads are pouring into agencies of all kinds, but the execs keep getting older. Leadership roles demand experience (and lots of it comes with age), but our generation holds the key to a whole new level of experience - natural born gurus. Well, maybe not born, but definitely innate. We've grown up directly inside the milestones and advancements - our peers are the ones coming up with these things, including social media. So as scary as it may be, I think it's time that we take over.
2 comments:
The article you referenced in this post is really interesting, especially since most of our class is thinking about what working will be like after graduation this May. It would be great to see younger people like us in leadership roles soon.
Yelena, good points regarding the weaknesses of advertising agencies. I could go on for hours about agencies but here are a few thoughts I had in relation to your post.
The online ad industry is moving toward performance based advertising (http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/18800.asp). This leaves agencies with a simple option, evolve. This doesn't mean they need to build out an engineering team internally, however, they do need to understand how advertising is done online and be acquainted with the tools necessary to satisfy their clients.
Realistically, the technologies available online are a goldmine for agencies. They provide them with enough graphs and reports to keep their clients wanting more. The competitive advantage for these agencies will soon come down to who has the best numbers for their clients. This benefits agencies because it reduces the footwork required for them give their clients reach. Agencies will still get their budgets from clients and take their cut, but now they need to be prepared to deliver metrics to their clients to survive in our data driven world.
Now as for monetizing social media, that is a problem with many potential solutions. However, being the co-founder of such a company (Invite Media, Inc.), I can't quite tell you the answer to that yet...
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