Within the changing and complex marketing landscape the role of agencies is as important, if not more important than ever. Clients around the globe are looking to their agencies to help them make sense of the new environment, to share best practices and drive accountability . . . and yes, Creative is still important. From my perspective as Global Chief Marketing Office, there are five salient areas of agency involvement that are common across the globe.



1. Voice of the Customer

a. It's not enough to just understand the customer, agencies need to make sure the customer is more than just an elephant in the room

b. Customer experience consultancy: more than where are they, what are they doing, how to make them respond it requires listening to customers, anticipating their actions and participating in their world


2. Eyes on the Horizon/Feet on the Ground

a. Best practices have replaced trend spotting

b. With the average CMO tenure being less than 24 months, agencies function as the "canary in the miner's Helmut"

c. In changing client landscape agencies are often times the only repository of institutional knowledge


3. Convergence, optimization and accountability

a. In the new marketing universe where Customers Really Manage, agencies provide frameworks for not only integrating marketing activities but also optimizing and measuring them

b. The growth of planning within the agencies supports this role


4. Global marketing

a. "Global" thinking impacting all clients, local, regional and global

b. For global clients, the Emerging market opportunities have increased importance; McDonald's effect

c. Agencies are becoming co-architects of global models and solutions


5. Creative

a. Customer facing "creativity" remains the agency's key reason for being

b. The new creative is a combination of media, experience and creative

c. Accountable creativity increased in importance