The research budget - the project timing-understanding the commercial landscape-the key differentiators - the brand values vs. core, secondary and tertiary target groups. But many often seem to overlook a key element in the process, the company itself, the culture, the current assets (those that represent the brand or product on a daily basis) the hiring policy and most importantly, the consumer interaction. You can’t create long-term consumer relationships if a brand or product can’t deliver on every level.

  

A client of mine states that “It all begins and ends at the bank” and how true that is.

It’s all about recruiting and investing in people, individuals with the ability to combine agency process and approach with the management consultancy market analysis and product insight. We have to develop marketing solutions rather than ad campaigns. Great strategy must be the pathway between a brand and its target audience and it must define the most rational and emotional appeal that resonates most strongly with consumer segments.

Adweek.COM Feb 2008, a Forrester Research survey stated today's ad agencies are not well structured to take on tomorrow's marketing challenges, needing to move from making messages to establishing community connections. In the report, the research firm paints a grim view of the current state of advertising, which it believes is in "a world of hurt" because consumers are tuning out the messages the industry is predicated on producing. Instead, it believes shops need to be organized around communities, not disciplines. What it is calling "the connected agency" would not only know certain communities but also be active members of these groups. Pushing messages would give way to encouraging voluntary engagement, and ongoing conversations would replace time-based campaigns.

Another study published by McKinsey & Co posited the most important corporate resource over the next twenty years would be talent and their ability to create a 360-degree agency. 

Clients are crying out for change and will pay huge premiums for superior cross-dimensional expertise. The opportunities are endless for those shops that can walk the walk rather than just talking a good story. Alas, I have only seen a few that are breaking the mould and investing in people that can and will deliver that superior thinking.