The agencies we met
We met with a total of 22 agencies, including some shorter speed-dating sessions with smaller independent agencies:
Mon 9 May: Cheil Connec+; Dept; The Brandtech Group; Overland; and Stagwell
Tue 10 May: VCCP; dentsu; The Mars Agency; MI&C; and Virtue
Wed 11 May: Forsman & Bodenfors; Interpublic (IPG); and McCann Worldgroup
Thu 12 May: Havas; Huge; Mower; Zulu Alpha Kilo; Marcus Thomas; and Nelson Schmidt
Fri 13 May: Proto; and TBWA\
Key highlights
At first, I wondered if we would be hearing anything new, or newsworthy.
And, indeed, as this was the first time in New York for four years (three years ago we were in Los Angeles and the last two years we were in the pandemic so virtual, except for London in November 2021), what we noticed straight away was that there was much less traffic in the city and NYC was much easier to get around than before. Getting people back into the office is a priority for agency leaders.
The agencies were very excited to see us all and we have sound bites from the various CEOs extolling the virtues of AdForum and why they participate in it. It costs the agencies a lot to participate: in real cash, time and effort in putting their presentations together.
The presentations and the content were all of a very high standard; there were no ‘duds’ over the 22 sessions. Some were better than others, of course. All of them had had the benefit of a couple of hours of coaching from Peter Cowie, one of the AdForum consultants, on how to best portray their agency to best effect with us as consultants. This definitely paid off. Agencies which want to improve are the ones which ask for help.
Growth is primary objective
Growth is the primary objective after two years of an effective slowdown in the industry. Most agencies were reporting much improved figures for 2021 over 2020, when they all suffered. What was fascinating was to hear that, in the US alone, more than 5.5m new companies were registered. So, 2021 was the year of corporate startups in the US — that’s bound to be good news for agencies as those startups will need agency help sooner or later.
Growth is everywhere, too, small and large companies alike. These businesses are able to outperform everything that came before. Examples are Amazon and Airbnb, which have stable cores but are able to flex and innovate. How do agencies keep up with this changing model? Growth acceleration and new ways of accounting for it are critical success factors.
Of course, the metaverse came up. Overhyped, misunderstood, ignored by gamers, etc. Web3 is the overall platform; metaverse and multiverse are just sections of it. Agencies were either very pro or very against. “What will make the metaverse work will be the ecosystem that grows up around it,” commented David Jones, founder and CEO of The Brandtech Group (previously You & Mr Jones).
Purpose came up, and we met one agency totally devoted to purpose. “Purpose is the new digital” is its mantra and there are six aspects to purpose.
Moving beyond advertising
Agencies are all moving beyond advertising. Positioning themselves as either “technology-based marketing services companies”, the “disruptive brand experience company” or “at the intersection of brand, technology and experience”, they comment that creativity is not relegated to advertising.
New business is key, and one agency leader commented that, when an agency is excellent at new business, it means that the whole agency is well-structured and successful, as all of the agency skills have to be harnessed to win. The overall effect of this is highly beneficial for existing clients and existing work. It was one of the better explanations that I’ve heard. Nonetheless, agencies are learning to be more selective about what type of prospects they pursue.
One of the agency groups shared its vision that it wants to “reframe marketing as a valuable service by building tech that puts data to work — creatively, precisely and responsibly”. That vision is a much bigger vision than making great ads!
Agency staff aren’t remaining with their agencies if they don’t feel valued. It’s not only about their salaries; they’re wanting to work in agencies where they can succeed and be recognised by their agency leaders.
Creativity more important than ever
Creativity is more important than ever — and one agency leader commented that, although everyone has done well to keep going in the past two years despite the difficulties of the pandemic, the levels of creativity haven’t increased as they might have done, had the world not gone into lockdown. “Cannes may well be a disappointment” as a result was the observation.
The consultants
Many of the consultants who attended the summit with me are people I’ve known for 15 years. It has been a delight to always be able to share experiences with and to learn from them over this time. None of the Australian consultants could attend this year, as their restrictions are still in place. There were several new American consultants whom we’d not met previously and it was interesting to hear their views.
We all had tough moments during the worst of the pandemic, that’s for sure, but we were all able to stay in touch and were totally delighted to be together again at last in real life — those connections are just priceless and attending AdForum is a highlight for me, personally.
The case studies
There are almost too many to mention but they were all new and wonderful to watch, not only because of the creativity but because of the business solutions, key learnings and results.
Some agencies didn’t show work. They focused on the holistic business-consulting aspects that were marketing-led, and we were spellbound.
Conclusion
Our next AdForum will be in Amsterdam for three days in October; again, it will be the first time in about five years that we’ve been there. I’m already excited to see and hear what will be coming out of that worldwide summit. In between, there will be Cannes Lions internationally, Loeries locally and a whole lot of other activity.
It seems that the world is finally coming alive again and, although travel is still tricky with all the rules and regulations, the lack of airline staff internationally, quiet airports etc, there’s no question that global growth has resumed. Optimism is in the air.
Watch the daily videos:
8 May Introduction here
10 May Day 2 here
11 May Day 3 here
12 May Day 4 here
13 May Day 5 here