Twenty-seven years ago the advertising community did not face the challenges of the modern day, where fragmentation and dilution has created a ‘silo' effect in the industry. You have your copywriters, AE's, buyers, strategists, traffic departments, etc, all ensconced in their own private Idaho's with communication channels between them being completely obscured. This has led to a classic case of the sum of the parts being greater than the whole.
What clients want, above all, is transparency, honesty and simplicity. Clients today are savvy and have no interest in being kept in the dark, hence the need for a business relationship between industry and clients has gained significantly in importance. Agencies need to respect smaller budgets which through innovative ideas and strategic pooling of resources can give clients the best possible value for their money.
Other than the client getting a more streamlined service from agencies through linking the silos, internal skills transfer will be fast tracked. Skills transfer will filter through all the silos to create staff who are aware of the holistic picture, rather than being viewed as little, individual cogs in the wheel.
This trend of fragmentation is not exclusive to the advertising industry and can be seen across the board. Financial services companies are a typical case where customers see no consistency when dealing with things when, for example, taking out insurance policies. After going through the lengthy process of filling in a plethora of details for a policy, customers are then required to go through exactly the same process when applying for a different policy at the same institution. This negates the customer as a valued individual.
The advertising fraternity needs to sit up and take note of what is going on, the time has come for all the ‘silos' to merge together, leading inevitably to a greater depth of thought, available energy and added value for the customer.
