Agencies are notoriously late to the carcass of online media buying. Mediabrands only now offers targeted buys with analytics across a broad spectrum of websites. Meanwhile, WPP, Havas and everyone else is diligently grinding out their own software and analytical systems. This is a natural extension of their business considering that agencies have long been buying print and broadcast time for their clients.
But, seriously, where were they five years ago? Oh right. They were waiting for smaller companies to due to their work for them. All the while, they were losing dollars, market share and projecting an image of naivety above the internet to clients. Rob Norman, chief executive of WPP’s digital-media unit, Group M Interaction Worldwide told the WSJ that tech firms “got there first and dealt with the science before we did.”
Yeah. Yup. You snooze you lose. Now, all these big guys are going to be fighting for market share not only among themselves, but with established players in the game like Big Mama Google. Agencies need to think forward from here on out if they want to survive. Let’s not be afraid of technology. Let’s use it to our own ends and actually create the carcass to be picked over, rather than waiting to be the vultures hovering, hungrily at the end.