Gone are the days of the long lunches and concepting over beers. I have accepted it. The new norm is “I need it tomorrow.” Or, “do you think you can have something by end of day?”

No self preserving account executive uses the word “no” anymore. This leaves us creative types pulling more and more out of our a$%es these days. Branding agencies are becoming retail shops and retail shops, service bureaus.

Why? The simple answer is that it’s the economy. Everyone has to work harder when times are lean.

But not everyone is finding the times as tough. A conversation I had yesterday with a friend working in a related creative field revealed a very different story. The perception of value of what his company is providing hadn’t changed. Clients were still asking the same from him and paying the same price.

I’d like to propose that ad agencies are suffering from a branding problem. The category has been devalued. In fact, some agencies are dropping “advertising” all together.

A lot of this problem has been our own fault. Many shops don’t care to understand social media, development, and especially SEO. Too many are trying to sell these new services exactly the same way they’ve sold traditional products.

The good thing is that there are lots of agencies out there that get that the game has changed. They have changed the way they offer services, how they work, and how they deliver solutions to their clients.

What do you think? Do you think agencies deserve the current environment? Or is this just a bad economy?

Posted on: December 4, 2009, by : Jimmy Gilmore