The agency sector is rightly celebrated for its creativity, but its people now operate in a highly competitive market in which brands are investing in their own in-house creative resource and management consultants are building $600m content studios. Against this backdrop, it seemed the right time to bring together some of the leading agencies in the South West to discuss the changing shape of creativity and its value to clients’ businesses.
As part of the Marketing Agencies Association’s ‘Agency of the Future’ series, it hosted a recent breakfast session at Taxi Studio in Bristol. The discussion opened with views on what most excites people right now about creativity and the marketing industry.
Fittingly, given the pace of change, Ian Bates, the creative director at The Real Adventure Unlimited, mentioned a quote from Eduardo Maruri, the chief executive and chief creative officer of Maruri Grey in Ecuador, that agency creativity “is the meeting point of Hollywood, Wall Street and Silicon Valley.” It was a powerful thought to kick-off with because it focused minds on the intersection between entertainment and technology that is so central to modern agency creativity.
This is a point that was elaborated upon by Mark Panay, the MD of Simpleweb, when he said “technology has become exciting again and more accessible.” Guest speaker Kelly Finnegan, the founder of agency Man v Beast, picked up on themes that emerged from the MAA’s Agency of the Future research. Among topics discussed were:
- The agency’s role as creative problem solver
- Have agencies lost their creative edge?
- The modern definition of creativity
- The role of innovation
- Whether creativity has become commoditised with the rise of the in-house agency
- The traditional agency model
Ian Bates said that creativity has evolved to combine ideas with experience: “Creativity in agency land has always been about great ideas. But today it has an equal partner – great experience. Without a seamless experience ideas are lost.”
As the session went on, three key pieces of advice emerged for agencies:
- It’s vital to break free from the traditional ‘agency’ model in both business growth and creative terms. This is happening already, so join in.
- Lose the creative arrogance. The ‘one size fits all’ approach no longer works. Be flexible and open, seek out new and unexpected partnerships, collaborations, and commercial models, and find new ways of working with clients old and new.
- Rediscover the instinct for spontaneous creativity. When tackling creative problems early on, try to shift focus away from the big data and information overload. Then use this material as a tool to enhance the response, not as a formula to create by.
The mood after the event was positive. Kelly Finnegan said: “It’s clear that there are enough willing, diverse, creative industry business leaders open to joining forces in some way, to help turn the South West into a stronger creative power and furthermore, better our industry as a whole.”
“The industry is changing dramatically and we can help drive that in a positive, more creative way, even if at first just a small collective come together and co-create when needed. For me that epitomises the agency of the future and the ones that will flourish.”
Overall, the session reinforced Eduardo Maruri’s thoughts on creativity, highlighting that agencies at their best are capable of fusing entertainment, technology, and financial success - at the same time fostering the opportunity for collaboration across multiple disciplines.
Mette Davis is director of digital and regional innovation at the Marketing Agencies Association
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