2.2 Agency Landscape

Question 1

How would you describe today’s communications landscape?

Answer 1

The communications landscape is now filled with many different agency models. Most clients work with a roster of agencies, each fulfilling a different role within the communications mix. There are a few key agency types.

Question 2

T/f: Most clients work with a roster of agencies, each fulfilling a different role within the communications mix. There are a few key agency types.

Answer 2

true

Question 3

list four of the key agency types?

Answer 3

• Advertising
• PR
• Digital
• Media

Question 4

What type of agency specialises in the placement of ads, such as TV, outdoor and digital.

Answer 4

Media

Question 5

What type of agency create adverts and often define the brand strategy.

Answer 5

Advertising

Question 6

What agency type often define the brand strategy

Answer 6

Advertising

Question 7

What does the Digital agency do?

Answer 7

They focus solely on the digital elements of marketing, for example, search engine optimisation (SEO) and social media.

Question 8

Wha do PR agencies do?

Answer 8

They oversee a brand’s reputation and narrative.

Question 9

Historically there have been three ownership types within the agency world. What are they?

Answer 9

1. Independent Agencies
2. Agency group
3. Global Network

Question 10

Independent Agencies

Answer 10

• These tend to be owned by their founders or private investors.
• Mother is an independent creative agency, and the7stars is an independent media agency.
• The advantage of independence is that owners can run the agency without external influence.

Question 11

Independent agencies tend to be owned by who?

Answer 11

Their founders or private investors.

Question 12

What is the advantage of independence?

Answer 12

Owners can run the agency without external influence

Question 13

What is an agency group?

Answer 13

• This is a collection of agencies owned by a single company.
• These agencies might compete in the same specialism or be from various disciplines
  Chime is an example of an agency group.

Question 14

What is an example of an agency group?

Answer 14

Chime

Question 15

Global network

Answer 15

There are six major holding companies. They are all owned by a central holding company. WPP is the world’s largest advertising network and owns agencies from all disciplines, from PR, advertising and media to digital and data.

Some of these agencies were independent until they were acquired by the network or merged with another agency. adam&eveDDB was born when Omnicom Group (who owned DDB) bought independent agency adam&eve and merged the two companies.

Question 16

What is the world’s largest advertising network and owns agencies from all disciplines, from PR, advertising and media to digital and data

Answer 16

WWP

Question 17

What was one of the things advertising and media agencies were concerned about in the mid to late 2010s?

Answer 17

In the mid to late 2010s, advertising and media agencies were concerned about management consultancies muscling in and eating their dinner.

Question 18

What acted as a catalyst for for the convergence of the skill sets and services between creative and media agencies and management consultancies like Accenture. What was a consequence of this?

Answer 18

The digital revolution was a catalyst for the convergence of the skill sets and services between creative and media agencies and management consultancies like Accenture.
As such, agencies ended up competing for the attention and budget of the C-Suite.

Question 19

Rise of consultancies

Answer 19

• The Big Four accounting firms were looking to expand their reach into marketing as more and more of it became digital.

Their cloud computing expertise gave them good standing in this space, allowing for CRM integration into marketing campaigns.

However, criticism was levelled at them for not having sufficient creativity to transform businesses nor the buying power to compete against media agencies.

They tried to overcome this by hiring and buying talent and companies within the media space. To a certain degree, it has been a success; however, the threat seems to have subsided.

Instead, it has spurred innovation within the agency landscape, encouraging them to take a more consultative approach, focus on transformation and change how they charge their projects.

Question 20

In 1955, there were … reported television channels. By 1990, there were …. At the start of the millennium, this had rocketed to … different stations. Today, BARB, the TV measurement board, reports on over … TV channels.

Answer 20

In 1955, there were three reported television channels. By 1990, there were 12. At the start of the millennium, this had rocketed to 102 different stations. Today, BARB, the TV measurement board, reports on over 275 TV channels.

Question 21

What was the first commercial radio station, LBC and when was it launched?

Answer 21

The first commercial radio station, LBC, wasn’t launched until 1973.

Question 22

How many radio stations are there today?

Answer 22

there are over 600 licensed radio stations across FM, AM and DAB.

Question 23

As audiences spread their time across more channels, what did media agencis like Mindshare start to do? This was a shift from what?

Answer 23

As audiences spread their time across more channels, media agencies like Mindshare began to differentiate their planning approach to reach the target market.

This shifted from the focus of combined trading (i.e., media buying) that had characterised the first network media agencies, such as Zenith Media and Carat.

Question 24

The new opportunities that arose online after the 1991 advent of the Web were often outside of traditional agency structures. Sometimes, existing agencies couldn’t keep up with the rate of change. What did this give rise to?

Answer 24

This gave rise to specialist agencies focusing on niche areas of expertise - search, mobile, social media, etc.
Many of these have since been acquired by larger agency groups, allowing the established players to keep relevant to clients’ demands.