• by June 8, 2005

Consumers have started integrating their media by going to Web sites mentioned on TV commercials and participating in contests and polls that are part of shows such as "American Idol," but the marketing and media world has yet to embrace integration, said panelists at OMMA West in San Francisco Tuesday.

"The marketing and media industries resist integration at every turn, said Cory Treffiletti, senior vice president, managing director, Carat Interactive, San Francisco, who moderated a panel about integration.

Kate Everett-Thorp, president, interactive advertising, AKQA, San Francisco, added that integration has been a longstanding challenge to the marketing world. "Integration has been a problem in the communications industry for a long time. Cooperation is the key word to integration. You cannot provide a desirable, finished product without integration."

Jon Raj, vice president, interactive marketing for Visa USA, which counts AKQA as one of its agency partners, said: "Online has come a long way, but I'd like to see an offline agency on the panel. I don't think the online agency is the problem. At Visa, we do a good job of putting interactive at the table, and I mean at the planning table. AKQA, BBDO, OMD ... they're all at the same table when we plan."

One problem, according to Raj and Greg Wilson, CEO of Red Ball Tiger, San Francisco, is that offline agencies have their own agendas. "They make more money when they have more work, and when they plan what they do... It's very difficult for any agency to step up on their own," Raj says.

Another roadblock, said Wilson, stems from the ego--and greed--of agency creatives. "If I'm a TV agency, I want my idea. I might not make as much money on yours. I want my idea advanced. Are we integrating our egos? No, and that's a major problem."

Integration works best when senior leadership is involved, said Katie Riccio Puris, group account director, partner, Atmosphere BBDO. "At BBDO Atmosphere there's been a real sea change in how people are working together. We get TV creatives from BBDO who call up with online ideas," said Riccio Puris.

"I need the name of these creatives," chimed in Visa's Raj.