September 2013

As we launch our new website to the World …

I am delighted to read Shaun Varga’s blog post in The Wall entitled – Why Advertising Agencies no longer exist, and why it doesn’t matter. (Shaun is Creative Director & Chairman of Ingenuity – London)

He argues that, in their attempts to position themselves differently, marketing specialists from each and every discipline are increasingly keen to be seen as something else!

“Production companies don’t want to be production companies anymore; they want to be specialists in branded content.

 PR agencies want to be social media experts and Social Media agencies are pitching their work as PR.

Digital agencies are, meanwhile, busy trying to eat the lunch of the advertising industry.

 Direct marketing agencies have taken to talking about their ‘integrated capabilities’ and experiential agencies now do ‘brand activation’.”

Varga goes on to argue that advertising agencies themselves are seemingly reluctant to use advertising as a description at all – preferring to describe themselves as multi-discipline ideas companies and alike.

Positioning – as the great marketing classic by Ries and Trout explains – is all about how to be seen in an overcrowded marketplace and this is a great example of the advertising industry trying to do just that.

At SEED, we have spent many hours contemplating the best way to position ourselves in an overcrowded marketplace where this massive convergence is taking place.

Our view, as Varga’s – is simply this …

Clients come to agencies with problems and all they really want is an effective way to solve them. Rather than responding to a particular agency positioning, they are focused on the people they will get to work with and the relevant experience the team will bring to solve the problem.

That’s why we choose to position ourselves around people, the bespoke teams we can build for our clients, their talent and their experience to deliver. Everything else is down to Chemistry!

Thank you Shaun for a great article.

Martin Thurley is an independent brand marketing consultant operating at director level in the UK, Europe and South East Asia. He is founder of SEED Marketing Communications – a full-service marketing consultancy based near Birmingham in the West Midlands providing marketing solutions for business growth. SEED Marketing Communications helps ambitious SME’s with marketing guidance, support and marketing implementation with specialist sector experience in Food Retail, B2B and Not for Profit. A member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing – he has worked for Saatchi & Saatchi as well as for leading UK retailers including Lloydspharmacy and Homebase. His brand growth marketing experience includes work with – British Airways, RAC, Prudential, Capital Radio, Cunard, Stena Line, Amstrad, Selfridges, Imperial Tobacco, CP Foods, West Mercia Police, Poundland and many SME’s.