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The basic structure of agencies hasn’t changed much in 20 years, but the competition has exploded, according to Rapp Worldwide CEO Marco Scognamiglio.
“Your Wundermans, your Ogilvys, your RAPPs are still big, successful businesses. We’ve done very few acquisitions. We’ve grown organically,” Marco Scognamiglio says in the latest episode of AdExchanger Talks.
The RFP and pitch process is a different story. “We’ll be up against … Deloitte, Merkle, Epsilon, Accenture, CapGemini, even a media agency,” all on the same pitch.
What kind of a brief would pit those companies against each other? You guessed it: business transformation.
“For big brands that have been around a long time, they very much need to transform their organizations to be more customer-centric,” he says. So they call in a bunch of prospective partners for general advice. “It’s not until you get the agencies and consultants in the room that they start to realize who’s right for the job.”
Another change: Rarely does a brand award its whole account to a single partner. AORs are largely a thing of the past.
“How it usually nets out is you end up in partnership” with a consulting firm or a tech platform like Adobe or Salesforce, Scognamiglio says. “That usually nets out because we’ve all got a strength.”
Also in this episode: Procurement agents are getting smarter, creative and media may never “recouple” and Europe’s looming privacy crisis.
