Re Bundling...or ending the pissing contest.

Carat is a terrific media company. I've worked with them a bunch in the past and they are one of the best out there.

In the past year there has been a real push within their company to build their capability around being able to deliver digital creative. Carat Fusion, which was the combination of a couple of interactive shops they bought, has recently been merged with Carat USA, the media arm. Sarah Fay, the President of Isobar USA, Carat parent Aegis' network of digital shops, became CEO of Carat.

She's interviewed in AdAge this week about several topics, including Carat's ability to deliver digital creative.

http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=120299

In the article Sarah says (about whether we'll see an re bundling of creative and media shops ):

"We are media savvy and we have media at the center, and that drives the experience for the consumer, but it is just as important how that program plays out...Certainly this can be executed through a creative partner, but even creative partners are using a production model. So at some point, what's the difference between us producing or them producing?"

This highlights one of the core problems in our business: this debate centers on what's best for the agencies, not what's best for clients. Sarah doesn't think there's any difference between a media company producing creative and say, Weiden and Kennedy producing it.

Bullshit.

You can not possibly tell me that, at this point, Carat can attract the kind of creative talent that a Weiden has. This pissing contest has clients confused and makes all of us in the agency world look selfish and dumb.

The reality is that clients want best of breed, and right now they feel the only way they can get that is by having multiple relationships with partners that focus on a narrow capability (interactive, media, etc.). The reality is that clients would LOVE to have one point of contact, but have no confidence that any one of their partners can deliver on this. This is the issue that needs to be figured out.

The real answer is creative + media + data (for discussion sake let's say DraftFCB + Carat).

First to figure this out will have a huge advantage.

 

Comments

[Rick]

I fear it's probably even worse.

To the top creatives, it's only a blip of difference working at Weiden or Carat. No self respecting creative, in a digital age, has an incentive to work for a marketer, or in advertising. They can make their own content and get paid. They can podcast. They can start their own brands online. They can make films and albums with zero up front costs.

The same problem arose in broadcast in the early 20th century, and an entire new production process came out of it - one that recognized that the top creative talent was, by all extents, unhireable. Directors, Production companies, post houses, editors, writers and cinemetographers all went freelance.

Unless the talent pool radically expands - and our government and industry are giving us no indication that this is the case - the best creative talent won't be at carat, or weiden. They'll be in business for themselves, just like david fincher, anonymous, method or curious. The agencies that win are going to be the ones that harness this, and develop profitable, large-scale businesses on these new realities.

[luckymansy]

You can be lucky!!!

http://digg.com/users/holdempokertips