Oh look,nother 900+ word article yammering on about the state of the advertising and marketing industry. Drop everything and read on, it’s just what the world needs. As for the subject of this article – what agencies need in 2025, here are the author’s startling revelations.
Agencies need people
Who would’ve thought, right? Mind, she’s not talking about garden variety people here – there are enough of those filling seats presently. She’s referring to the kind of talent that is leaving our industry week-on-week, in search of greener pastures.
We need thinkers, doers, people who can be groomed into loving advertising if they don’t already. Thing is, people such as these need to feel like they’re being challenged, like they’re learning, like they’re growing. And by not providing all or any of this, we’re losing them.
In 2025, we need to start protecting our interests by retaining our best and giving the next generation something real and tangible to sink their teeth into. Can our teams parse a brief? Do they know what it takes to mount a pitch? Do they understand that creative strategy kicks in before the idea and not afterwards as a retro-fit on a deck? Speaking of which, have they ever soaked in and then questioned the flow of a deck? Can they open their mouth in front of clients and defend the work or push back intelligently? Are they passionate presenters? Can they read a room? Are they developing an instinct for work that will work? Are they good negotiators? Can they pre-empt hiccups in procedurally complex jobs? Are they operationally sound? In short, do they know their elbows from their derrieres? Everyone need not do everything well but everyone needs do something well – are they being trained for that?
Are our people on the path to being partners to marketers or are they merely paper-pushers? Are they creative geniuses who haven’t a clue about creating compelling advertising but are greatly skilled at saving blind spider monkeys in Vanuatu and winning accolades for it on the global stage? An agency decides what path it sets its people on. That decision determines whether advertising flourishes or dies.
Lastly, in a not-unrelated news flash this author proposes that our people need to be paid well. The dizzying high of getting an email of appreciation from the CEO in lieu of an increment just doesn’t cut it anymore. Which brings her to the next burning need of the hour.
Agencies need money
“We won 24.3 new businesses in the last 6 months.” “This has been our most successful year ever.” “T’was a quarter to beat all quarters!” Quotes such as these are given at will and statistics bandied about freely and yet, few agencies are financially secure. We’re afraid to talk money, we shudder at the thought of demanding a pitch fee, we second-guess ourselves into oblivion when drafting commercial proposals and we’re champions at overpromising and undercutting.
2025 is as good a time as any for agencies to reevaluate their value propositions. Because fear creeps in only when one knows that one is not adding value. That’s what the industry should be correcting for. If you’re billing a client because you’ve thrown 31 warm bodies at the account, there’ll always be someone who’ll throw 32. If your meal ticket is that you’re cheap and fast, there’ll always be someone cheaper and faster. There is only one way that your business will grow. A client has to believe that your agency and team does what others cannot. So, what is it that you do?
Already, creative is the dhaniya that many outfits are giving away for free with media. Sooner or later AI will take over BAU. In-house agencies are fast becoming the norm. On social, everyone is a creator and almost everyone an influencer. On LinkedIn, everyone is a guru. Wait, what, you’re Agency of the Year? Awesome, but so is every other agency. So, why should someone pay you and not the next guy?
Most of us are in some kind of vicious cycle – networks want to consolidate to maximise every client rupee in their collective coffer. It’s all about the power of one, you see. Indies want to scale so that more client rupees come into the same coffer. It’s all about the power of many, you know. Few can command a premium. And so we expand and contract and remain unfailingly poor, taking to social media to air our woes and demand justice twice a day or once a week, depending upon the size of our followings and egos.
Which brings this writer to the third and perhaps most important [in her opinion] chapter of this piece.
Agencies need a reality check
A little less posturing, a little more proof of pudding. A little less self-aggrandising, a little more self-reflection. Fewer declarations of being chuffed, stoked, honoured and humbled on LinkedIn, more straight talk. Fewer PR pushes in newsrooms, more pushbacks in boardrooms. Fewer generously embellished case studies, more real results in the real world. Less gassing, more persuading. More thinking that generates disproportionate ROI and gives brands an almost unfair business advantage. Fewer bells and whistles.
What makes advertising tick has and will always be fundamental. So this author is going to go out on a limb and say that what agencies need in 2025 is not very different in principle from what was required in 1925. Perhaps then, it is not so much about what we need. More about what we want.
If each of us can answer that with clarity, the narrative for the year ahead will write itself.
This article is penned by Pallavi Chakravarti, Founder & CCO, Fundamental. a
Disclaimer: The article features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the stance of the publication.
