The traditional advertising agency needs a PSA campaign. It needs polar bear pups stranded on a block of melting ice. It needs somber VO set to galvanizing music. It needs a strong CTA to donate now or the cute fur balls will be forever lost. This is obviously facetious, but if this breed of agency plans to survive the 21st century then it could use some help evolving with it.
Like the polar bear, the traditional ad agency is a species vulnerable to a changing climate. But its biggest threat to the bottom line isn’t melting ice caps. It’s an economy shifting from career culture to gig culture, fueled by technology, project based-work, visionaries who are starting to see the value in letting staff work remote and creatives who are willing to seize the opportunity.
For the past 1.5 years, I myself have been a work-from-home creative, emboldened by the possibilities – and flexibilities – of writing from my domicile for non traditional, virtual agencies like Cazayoux Creative. And in that year and a half I have also noticed a few market trends that might nod to the waning of the Mad Men-esque era. Here’s what I’ve learned and why I think advertising might be at the brink of something new.
1. We live in a noncommittal economic culture.
Back in the old days (really only 10 years ago), AORs and employee tenure were a sign of great success. The longer you had a client on your roster or an employee on your payroll, the better. Then this little thing called the internet happened and suddenly we were thrust into a globalized market. Client’s could now take their business all over the world — Los Angeles, China, Brazil, Seoul, Austin, Timbuktu. Sometimes working with multiple agencies at once. At this juncture, clients also began cross-pollinating with business partners on a “project” basis, dabbling in digital shops, social media firms and even agencies with names like “Mistress.” As this client-to-agency relationship became more geared toward the short term, it wasn’t long before employers and employees started bouncing around from job to job, project to project, and gig to gig, too.
NPR states in an article on ‘Gig Culture,’ “The lifetime job is history, we’re told, a victim of technology and the logic of the market. Instead, careers will be a patchwork of temporary projects and assignments, with the help of apps and platforms with perky names like FancyHands, Upwork and TaskRabbit.”
But not all agencies – or employees – have subscribed to this new, non-committal way of conducting business. Some monolithic agencies still cling to their office desks and dusty awards while losing talent to tech corporations, start ups, virtual agencies, and even their own clients. It’s a trying time for agencies reluctant to adapt to a new world — no doubt. But can they survive it?
2. We are constantly connected.
Nowadays we do not clock in and clock out, so there is no true ‘off time’ or ‘after hours.’ Bosses, colleagues and partners can contact their employees at any hour of the day and night. For instance, creatives may get an e-mail at 6 am for revisions due by 9 am or scheduled on a conference call at midnight for a client who’s located in Europe. They are required to be plugged in at all times. But if work is busy during odd hours and slow during the day, should staff really be expected to sit and stay at their desks – like a well-trained dog – from the hours of 9-5?
For modern agencies and the incoming creative class, the general school of thought is something like this: “If we are expected to stay connected 24/7 and burn the midnight oil, we should also have the flexibility to take a long lunch break, run errands, or go to the gym when work is slow. And if we can answer an e-mail, phone call, or even attend a meeting remote, then theres really no need for a centralized workspace.”
3. Speaking of the incoming creative class…
Millennials. You’ve heard the term. In the past, they were dismissed as being entitled, trophy-loving snowflakes. But now according to this Forbes article Millennials will make up the majority of the workforce. Right now, the Pew Research Center states one-in-three American workers today are Millennials.
And if there’s one thing that Millennials don’t care for it’s the Mad Men approach to conducting business. So with this generation in the majority, something’s bound to change. In fact, some forward-thinking agencies like this Chicago-based firm are already inventing new ways to satisfy young talent beyond letting them work outside of the office. They are encouraging creatives to work out of the country!
That said, it’s clear times are changing in modern marketing. For the agency. For the client. For the employee. And while these changes seem to favor those forward thinkers who embrace it, we’ll just have to see what happens to those who resist.