DDB CEO Thinks Agencies Have to Speed Up or Be Left Behind

CANNES, France—"You have to ask yourself, are agencies changing enough to keep up with this changing marketplace?"

DDB Worldwide North American CEO Wendy Clark told Adweek that, as major clients like McDonald's make increasingly strict demands of their advertising partners, all agencies must adapt as quickly as possible or risk being left behind.

"Our models now have to be built for speed. Clients and brands are moving in real-time," she said, adding, "It has to be efficient [but] we can't do that at the cost of great work."

DDB has attempted to balance this contradiction in recent months by introducing a new model called Flex that will allow teams across its 12-office network to collaborate on pieces of business, thereby transcending the sort of multi-agency patchwork that frustrates so many client-side marketers.