The Digital Challenge for Ad Agencies

A study conducted some years ago found that more than two out of three multinational advertisers wanted more fully integrated capabilities (including interactive) from their agencies; the multinationals felt great advertising was important but it was not enough. They therefore wished their agencies would join them at every stage, understand their business and help them understand it better. They actually concluded that if an ad agency came back to them with only a media plan and print and television advertising, then they did not get the message (Bob Schmetterer 2000).

Internet Protocol technology provides instant differentiation and also offers the prospect of lasting competitive advantage provided the Web’s potential is fully utilized. Branding should actually be difficult without differentiation. Achieving differentiation in turn requires an understanding of New Media, described as any digital, interactive or on-line communications platform, ranging from the Internet and interactive kiosks and CD-ROMs, to digital TV and radio, and emerging multimedia wireless devices (Will Collin 2000).

In the near future our traditional understanding of demographics and target groups will be inadequate in the new economy of choice, prosperity and geographic independence; this is because the online world allows new levels of data capture and behavioural tracking (C. Ingram and R. Norman 2000). Our ad agencies should be able to coordinate and execute creatively in any channel of communication. It is therefore necessary that there is true convergence at the strategic planning level of product planning and design, mass and interactive advertising, direct marketing, sales promotions, packaging, point of purchase display, public relations, etc. (A. Rosenshine 2000). The onus lies on agencies to bring these capabilities to their clients as a unique strategy toward maximizing the effectiveness of a given marketing budget.

There are three individuals who cannot stop amazing me: Don Tapscott of Alliance for Converging Technologies (ACT), a gentleman described by Al Gore, U.S’ former VP, as one of the World’s leading cyber-gurus; David Ticoll and Alex Lowly both of the same company. They condemn advertising, promotion, publicity, public relations and most other aspects of corporate communications for being archaic. They observe that these concepts exploited unidirectional, one-to-many, and one-size-fits-all media to communicate messages to “faceless, powerless customers.”

The brand will not continue to be an image established through print and broadcast media; it will function as a measure of relationship capital as customers gain new power. Someday media will converge whether we like the idea or not and anybody can own media. Our ad agencies should be smart enough to change their approach to supporting their clients’ brands in the digital world.

According to Jan Soderstrom of 3 Com Corp, “rightly or wrongly, the advertising community has historically been given more credit for following trends than for setting them.” This perfectly summarizes the Nigerian industry, where agencies would rather help clients reflect their customer’s views than try to alter them. Because clients are not getting enough strategic advice, they are beginning to turn to management consultants so as to fill the void; it is high time agencies challenged their way of doing business. It is a positive development that Nigeria is now appreciating the importance of the Internet in its bid to maintain a highly competitive business culture vis-à-vis globalization and changes in consumer behaviour. Today several African businesses can market to global consumers through reputable E-commerce portals; our ad agencies should plug in!

I like our banking sector because it is highly proactive as far as technology is concerned, e.g. most of them already have a Net presence while an encouraging number does online banking. The automated clearing system which greatly increases the number of cheques cleared within a transacting day is transforming the face of banking in my country already.

Noah Samara, an information revolutionary of Ethiopian descent based in the U.S. had digitized scores of audio channels and winged them via satellites to the data-starved masses of Africa thereby providing a comprehensive range of programming to several continents. For advertisers the mix of a vast audience and variety of programming has endless opportunities. The concept of the traditional, full-service agency is now eroded as agencies must wake up to the relationship age. Like computer power, human intelligence is now shifting outward on the Net.

Our ad agencies need not advise their clients to continue to budget resources for controlling message content, flow, and timing because influencing customer tastes and behaviour will depend on developing relationship capital.