Change is the only constant and as as result, all sectors including marketing and advertising is going through an evolution. “Advertising agencies need to evolve. Organisational structure, talent, training, value chain and agency nomenclature are problems that require innovative solutions,” Sam Balsara, chairman, Madison World said.
It was further discussed that CXOs and CEOs of media agencies need to understand the whole structure of marketing. Highlighting another critical subject of hierarchy in the team Aditi Mishra, CEO, Lodestar UM stated that there is a need for fluidity within teams, which ensures that learning move across in different directions. “The problem can be fixed by being more client centric rather than function centric,” she added.
It was further discussed that there is a need to break hierarchy. “The need to break structural automation, agencies need to bring back the attitude of problem-solving as they do for their clients,” Amin Lakhani, CEO – South Asia, Mindshare added.
Agency nomenclature remained the major area of concern. According to Balsara, there is a lot in the name and thus what originally was positioned as a media buying agency should now be transformed either as growth partners. “The word ‘marketing’ is very important in nomenclature for the layman to understand the kind of work agency does,” he opined.
With different media popping up every other day, the definition of mediums has fairly changed and thus training is essential. According to Mohit Joshi, CEO, Havas Media Group India television as audio-visual medium, print as static medium and radio as audio medium as all these mediums ate diversified now. “Nurturing talent is quintessential in this set up to help young talent to also breed,” he added.
The industry is now moving to the third eye of advertising from what was digital in the ‘90s to sophisticated in coming times. “We are required to adopt the unlearn and relearn school of thoughts,” Naveen Khemka, CEO South Asia, Essence Mediacom, said.