The Future of Marketing and Agencies

The IPA and Future Foundation’s new report on The Future of Marketing and Agencies, The Next 10 Years for Consumer Engagement, has predicted a dynamic landscape for the advertising industry based on four new agency models. The report has been published in association with Advertising Week Europe and is a follow up to the IPA’s 2005 landmark title which accurately predicted the current industry shape.

Following extensive consultation and participation with agency heads and chief marketing officers, the models react to four future brand scenarios outlined by the IPA and Future Foundation in March 2015 (iControl, Best Buy Brands, Brand Me-Q, and Me and the Brand Next Door). These scenarios revealed how brands will need to manage the tension between consumer and brand control. Where harmony will mean balancing personalisation and mass functionality and where the importance of customer experience within the marketing mix will be one of the key drivers for success. 

The implications for agencies are: they need to broaden their definition of creativity, they need to gain a deeper understanding of their clients’ businesses and they need a richer base of talent to deliver.

The four new agency models to match these different needs of this future environment are:

- Provocateur
This model puts the emphasis on strategic consultancy and reinvention, to advise clients on continuous brand refreshment and sources of specialness.

- Influence 
This model puts the emphasis on talent spotting and nurturing of super-creative consumers to tell the brand story for clients.

- Incubate 
This model puts the emphasis on creating spaces to facilitate consumer creation with branded tools.

- Sustain 
This model puts the emphasis on the design and build of frictionless, total, transparent marketplaces for consumers who care.