Ad Agency

After a decade of steady growth, in-house agencies are finding their place in the sun. In March, marketers from some of the world’s best-known brands took the stage at the ANA In-House Agency Conference in Orlando to celebrate the evolution of their departments from transactional “creative services” shops to high-value divisions that drive growth and customer engagement in a changing media and consumer marketplace.

MSK, A WORLD RENOWNED CANCER CENTER, has appointed ALMA as its Hispanic agency of record following a competitive pitch.

The ANA released a new report, “Enhancing Trust Between Marketers and Agencies,” in 2019 — for which 119 ANA client-side marketer members were polled.

Lebrón was previously Chief Creative Officer of República Havas in Miami. He will now be based out of Walton Isaacson Los Angeles, leading all work for that office as well as WI Chicago, Dallas and New York.

Agencies have always operated in a competitive market, but now, they must contend with brand clients bringing marketing tasks in-house and consultancies encroaching on their turf.

Considering the time, energy and expense marketers spend conducting reviews—and that agencies spend on developing new business—it’s critical for both partners to ensure a long and fruitful relationship.

LatinWorks, part of Omnicom Group Inc., has rebranded itself as Third Ear.

Marketing procurement has become an increasingly crucial aspect of the advertising industry. This should be unsurprising given the scale of expenditures involved: for some companies advertising is the largest single budget line-item they manage. As a benchmark of its expanding importance, registration for the ANA’s annual marketing procurement-focused Advertising Financial Management conference more than doubled between 2008 and 2018, rising from 337 to 739 people over that time.  by Brian Wieser, Global President, Business Intelligence, GroupM

Lopez Negrete Communications, one of the nation’s largest independent, Hispanic owned and operated full-service agencies, has been announced as an honoree at the American Advertising Federation’s 18th Annual Mosaic Awards for work created on behalf of its long-standing client, Walmart. The campaign entitled “A Unifying Beat” launched the retailer’s Online Grocery Pick-Up service to Latino audiences during the 2018 World Cup and will be receiving the Mosaic Media Image Award for Innovation In Storytelling at the Mosaic Awards, taking place at the American Advertising Federation’s National Conference, ADMERICA, on June 6, 2019.

In a January poll of 105 US digital marketers by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and Winterberry Group, analytics and measurement tasks were the use cases that marketers expected would occupy most of their time and attention this year. IAB’s 2018 study on the same topic produced similar results.

Agency Mania Solutions offered advertisers four tips to improve accountability and transparency from agencies.

The past few weeks have brought forward countless news stories, research, and features around the gender pay gap in the U.S. And now new data from Mindshare U.S., the global media agency network that’s part of WPP, highlights some of the other critical areas in the workplace where there’s a gender gap in opportunities and benefits.

AlmaTrack: the convergence of data and creative. Merging ALMA’s creative prowess with Omnicom’s Track DDB (a worldwide leader in performance marketing), AlmaTrack is a unit under ALMA that will deliver exceptionally creative direct marketing by drawing from the best of both worlds.

Consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers that walk into retail buyer meetings fully prepared are more likely to walk out with their products on the shelf. In today’s competitive market, that means coming equipped with the right knowledge to discuss your product goals and achievements with confidence.

In recent years, much has been written about the traditional ad agency model’s shortcomings. So many articles have been published about “the death of the traditional agency,” “the agency of the future,” and the need for agencies to “evolve or die” that the inevitability of a transition has been well-established.  by Mark Duval – The Duval Partnership

“Never be afraid to speak up and ask questions. Listen to every person in the room, not just the ones you think might have the right answers. Be fearless, hardworking and humble. The business world can be a tough place to maneuver, but I’ve found that those three qualities are pretty much always appreciated by both your team and clients alike.”

Increased complexity has become the new standard in marketing.  Increased complexity has been exploited to justify advertisers’ increased control over marketing and to marginalize ad agency involvement.  Yet, brands continue to languish.  The complexity trend needs to be reversed.

It’s true that the six largest “traditional” owners of agencies grew by only +2.1% organically in 2018.  While this was up from +1.0% in 2017, it was still down from +3.6% growth in 2016 and 4.8% in 2015.  

As bundled offerings seem to be regaining favor among marketers seeking simplified agency relationships, COMvergence is out with a new study of integrated reviews in the U.S. over the past two years.

The ANA (Association of National Advertisers) announced the formation of a new initiative called the ANA Trust Consortium to help its members address the issue of trust between marketers and the digital supply chain.