A recent boom in partnerships between automotive and technology companies shows how many industries agree that collaboration is the way of doing business in the third era of the internet.
Proof of this trend can be seen in the recent boom of partnerships between automotive technology and information technology companies. GM, BMW, Volvo and Honda are linking up with the likes of Apple, IBM and Google. The industry has realised that their existing 'plumbing' can be used to grow and innovate in partnership with technology firms. They've seen beyond the gimmick of putting a game console in the back seat to keep the kids happy – they now realise the potential in enabling the car to interact with other services. The worrying part of this trend is that agencies are nowhere to be seen.
In recent years, agencies have been hiring digital specialists and buying small specialist outfits to cope with clients' demands for new products and services. However, most of this digital expertise has been kept too close to production and siloed from the rest of the process. Creative technologists have been an afterthought during the strategy and creative phases of a project and are often given no real insight into the client's business. End result is a plethora of failing branded apps and projects that are a far cry from the integrated services or products expected from consumers today.
While technologists are using collaborative processes successfully in other industries, at agencies, they have been kept mostly separated from the traditional project team and involved only at a late stage, where all they can do is act as the proverbial fire marshal.
So what's the solution to this problem? Part of the answer, in my opinion, lies in elevating creative technologists within agencies to something more than an afterthought in the process. The simple act of involving technology specialists in the initial exploration of a client's 'factory floor' is a great place to start.
At my last agency, after some technology research for one project did not get us any further, we did some client-side networking and were able to visit P&G's research facility in Egham. There, we were presented with their 15 year plan of research, had a more than welcoming knowledge exchange with their resident scientists and were given access to about a dozen technologies ready to use for campaigns. An insight into the client's current and future business that is very valuable.
For Kenco, we connected the UK client with the US team from their parent company Kraft. In this project, the result was twice the budget available for the project and again existing technology could be used to further reduce costs and risk. In both cases, all it took was a strategic technologist to be exposed to the client beyond their marketing department. Unfortunately, these examples are still outliers in the marketing and advertising industry.
If agencies want to keep confidently selling integrated technology projects, they must also form collaborative relationships outside of their client's marketing department, because silos don't fit in a connected world.
Marcus Kirsch is a strategic technologist, consultant and intrapreneur.
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