MediaPost reports of a possible move by MindShare to offer creative services within its digital media operations. The article also outlines several such initiatives by media agencies. As of now, the moves are limited to offering digital creative services. Some like Aegis, the parent of Carat have ‘recently begun producing offline creative, including conventional 30-second TV commercials’.
This is a far cry from the days of unbundling of media services. Media agencies and creative agencies continue to operate in silos. Today, when the line between online media and traditional media is blurring, this promises interesting days ahead for agencies, creative folk and clients. One of the critical factors for success would be the attitude towards digital media from the creative folk. In my opinion, many of them still see it as a domain of the Flash operator and digital creative is equated with web banners. Today, there are too many loose ends when it comes to anything ‘online media’. For example, viral videos (a favourite term of brand managers) is thought off and executed by a specialist agency. Usually:
– it gets made without any clue of how it is going to further the brand’s cause
– how it will be exposed to the target audience; such things are left to fate, luck and blogs
– the ‘viral’ is a spoof on either ‘Sholay’ or ‘Deewar’.
The ‘unbundling’ of unbundling, if adopted by more agencies will hopefully pave the way for the creative and media teams to be on talking terms again. It is also important for the client servicing guy who seems to have been left out chasing artworks and payments amidst all this action.
