Madison Ave's Reluctance Starting to Show

As the largest gathering among the advertising industry in the world, Cannes has been closely watched as the place where great ideas come from. Yet, today’s advertising column in The New York Times shows an industry that is reluctant to accept change.

The report centers around the argument that giants like Google are entrenching on agencies’ turf by removing creativity from the process and replacing it with highly technical applications.

What a bunch of whiners! I mean, how long can agencies deny that change is coming and it includes more accountability. I’m really surprised agencies don’t see it as opportunity to expand their business.

Online ad campaigns, for example, are highly involved and require the use of highly targeted tools, robust creative, media buying services and a need for specific landing pages that consumers view upon clicking on an ad. This is in addition to the creation of the creative and messaging opens up agencies to whole new revenue streams as they control the brand message.

What this trend does change is the “one size fits all”, wider net approach agencies have used for years. Paying top dollar to reach millions at a time is becoming less relevant.

In its place is the opportunity for better results, leaner media buying budgets, real-time data and plain old quality over quantity.