• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, October 5, 2007

To open source or not to open source--that is the question facing brand clients increasingly bombarded with specialist agencies offering an excess of media and creative options.

The AdForum on Thursday brought together a roomful of roughly 200 client reps, agency executives, and consultants to address this issue of multiple vendors handling single accounts.

"Clients have a huge number of agencies they need to deal with," said Stuart Pocock of London-based consultancy The Observatory.

Open source is the way to go, according to qualitative research presented by Pat Spenner, CEB Research Director.

"The folks we're talking to, pushing in [the open source] direction, are happy and want to continue pushing that way," said Spenner, adding that quantitative research to support either argument is still "a little too spotty."

However, Spenner conceded that the costs associated with open sourcing are considerable to clients. "I won't pull punches," he said. "There are a lot of costs."

For that reason and others, agency executives expressed their doubts about the future of open source.

"We have more of an open model now," said Diane Gibbons, director of agency management at Pfizer. Indeed, the drug goliath presently works with "several hundred agencies on a project-by-project basis," she said.

"Where we end up in three years is an open question," Gibbons cautioned. "With open source--with no central model--it can be an issue to make sure we're meeting corporate objectives."

At the end of the day, the fault lies with clients, according to Spenner. "Clients are the ones putting this agency model into place," Spenner said.

To the surprise of most attendees, Jim Akers, senior vice president of worldwide procurement at Pfizer, agreed.

"We're our own worst enemy," Akers admitted. "We're always driving up our own costs," he said, adding: "and we're not good at admitting to each other we're driving up our own costs."

"We're not as good a client as we could be," seconded Gibbons. "There's a lack of education about how to interact with agencies. Another potential pitfall for open sourcers is the problem of integration, according to John Bond of consultancy Kirshenbaum Bond + Partners.

"The multi-agency rationale is about vertical skills," said Bond. "What people don't talk about is horizontal integration--That's where the synergy really is."

"If you're not good at knitting it all together then you shouldn't be a lead agency," added Bond.

Although less common today than five years ago, agency integration at its worst is called "lobby integration," Bond explained. "That's when everyone introduces themselves in the downstairs lobby before they go up to meet the client."