In the moment we are living, clients want fast answers and there is not always adequate time to start studies from scratch.
The days at SXSW 2016 are quite intense and full of information to absorb. One panel in particular caught my attention by its title, "Software as an agency".
I went to check out the content, even knowing the talk would be outside the convention center and the main hotels, which tend to host the best sessions. The session took place at Old School Bar, a modest venue on 6th Ave, a street better known for its nightlife of bars and clubs than for hosting good talks. The bar's name did not help much in imagining I would get any lesson on something innovative, or at least current, there. But the subject interested me and I decided to take the chance. I went to check it out.
The speaker was Cory Clarke, someone well acquainted with the worlds of agencies and technology. He opened the conversation by discussing some opportunities where technology can help transform the agency business. We all know that advertising agencies have been seeking to digitize themselves to keep up with today's technological changes. But according to Clarke, our actual operating model has not transformed with the arrival of technology. The agencies experiencing accelerated growth belong to a specific type of company. These are agencies that are renewing themselves and learning from technology companies, applying processes that have already worked in the world of technology development. This goes beyond simply adopting methodologies such as Agile, Scrum, or Lean. Those can help, but they do not solve the agency business on their own. It is necessary to learn from software companies the concept of code reuse and the "productization" of deliverables.
In the moment we are living, clients want fast answers and there is not always adequate time to start studies from scratch, with days of immersion in the subject, research, and all the techniques we adopt to map out scenarios and behaviors. To achieve this delivery speed, it is necessary to take the techniques we know and encapsulate them as products, ready to be consumed with a minimum of customization.
Clarke also presented a system that was developed for his agency and is now adopted by other agencies, with the goal of facilitating this encapsulation of information. This software helps in the way they conceive brands and create marketing experiences, which in his view elevates the value of the work to another level, because it brings not only creativity but also the team's intelligence in a product format that the client gets accustomed to consuming, knowing what to expect and what result they will obtain from that product.
But none of this would matter if we do not use what is best in technology: information. The most important aspect of digitalizing an operation is making good use of the information generated. The advantage of using structured deliverables is that we will have structured data, and we can compare it and place it on a timeline, identifying trends and behaviors.
Looking at all of this, one notices how much modern agencies are increasingly closer to technology companies, moving beyond being just agencies and beginning to directly transform their clients' businesses at a moment that goes far beyond what was once simply called the conversion to a digital world.
When digital thinking permeates the entire structure of the agency, it becomes easier to have these concepts of "productization", agile methodologies, and good use of information for business generation, as they will be part of the thinking from the start for a "marketing programmer" working on the account, moving away, of course, from the old school thinking of some advertiser still rooted in outdated concepts, where technology will be of little help.
The time and content obtained were well worth it. It pointed to some paths and certainties about our market.
And I keep moving here, rushing to other talks.
