Do clients need agencies anymore?

Smart agencies of the future will provide access to specialist skills that clients would not want to resource themselves.

Either because the cost of self resourcing would be greater than the potential return or, the skills would become stale if confined to one client company.

Smarter agencies will create models that enable seamless teamwork between agency and client whereby clients can pick and choose which bits to do in-house and which to leave with the agency.

The smartest agencies will create this model where the net effect of task sharing enhances the campaign and does not dilute or fragment.

As an agency founder with a straightforward name (ROI Digital) & ethos we welcome the change. As a Marketing Director I was always irritated by agencies thinking that the world revolved around them & their wonderful ideas that no-one had ever considered. The truth is that a good agency is actually a partnership. Brands have a long to-do list including keeping the FD happy. Even if digital means clients can do more they may not have the resource or inclination to do so. If an agency can bring cross-sector expertise & genuinely partner up, which means sharing risk and reward, then why not?

What a nice thought :)