• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, September 24, 2013

Marketers and their agencies have always had a need for speed. But digital technology is bringing change so quickly to the marketplace now that warp speed has become the new requirement.

Executives on Advertising Week-related panels throughout the day Monday emphasized how quickly everyone and everything is moving and changing in the business today. CEO’s called it their top leadership challenge.

“It’s about making faster decisions and bringing products” to market faster than ever before, said Susan Lyne, CEO AOL Brand Group.

“It’s the biggest leadership challenge we all face,” said Nigel Morris, CEO Aegis Media Americas and EMEA. “Everything is in near real-time.”

The need for speed was the top reason Mindshare North America recently hired a chief data officer, said Colin Kinsella, the shop’s CEO. Agencies need to quickly uncover insights that are buried in the mountains of data that digital technology has created and then rapidly implement solutions gleaned from insights. “That will separate the winners from the losers,” he said.

Miles Nadal, CEO, MDC Partners, talked about the “speed to genius,” referring to the rapid execution of “brilliant” concepts.

Most agreed with Nadal that both speed and quality are critical. Amanda Richman, president of investment and activation at Starcom talked about “striking a balance” between speed and brand value. With so many options, marketers have to pick their shots carefully, she said.

Bryan Wiener, CEO 360i said it’s critical that agencies make “on the fly high quality content.” But it takes a lot of “practice and preparation” to learn how to do that, he said.