That’s the challenge facing classic advertising agencies: we are generalists in a time of specialists. More and more over the past three years, clients have turned to consultants and specialty agencies for strategy, insights, and creative ideas, undercutting what had been the traditional province of advertising agencies. And so now, we basically have three options to address this situation: 1. watch our portion of the marketing investment continue to shrink, 2. hire specialists in various non-traditional disciplines and broaden our agency offerings, and 3. reinvent what we do and how we do it, including staffing and compensation.
All three options are valid, but all three options also share one common theme: change. It is necessary. And coming.